alcore

Ummm... Why are they surrendering their height advantage?

They should be throwing rocks. Rocks that gain energy from falling.
I would model this as the Trolls "picking up and dropping" rocks that
they would never be able to throw for a normal attack and applying
large damage dice, possibly including some adjustment for the height
fallen before they hit the PCs.

Now with that said: If the trolls choose to become their own missile,
I would apply the same falling damage to anything they hit that they
themselves would be subject to.


Not that I've noticed... but note my suggestion: Apply the same
damage to what they land on that they would be subject to from the fall.
Gene P. <alcore@uurth.com>
Slidell LA

tetsubo

My thoughts on this are, "Why are the trolls 'softening' themselves up
for the party?"

Also, why surrender the height advantage?

--
Tetsubo
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stupid strategy, but potentially awesome.


nothing official. in the past, i've used...

death from above
you hurl yourself down onto a foe, pointy end first.

+2 to hit, -1 per 10 feet fallen
take 1d6 points of damage per 10 feet fallen, max 20 dice
deal one weapon die of damage per 10 feet fallen, max 20 dice

e.g. making an attack from 100' with a dagger deals 10d4
points of damage, plus strength and any other modifiers.
making the same attack with a greataxe deals 10d12 damage.

steel thyself for flying barbarians hurtling recklessly from the sky
onto dragons. --
._n_______n_. drow@bin.sh (CARRIER LOST) <http://www.bin.sh/>
| --------- |== -----------------------------------------------------------
I"/""|"|Z7""' "That which does not kill me makes me stronger.
lJ | | That which does is fracking toast after I respawn."
|_l

darin mcbride

I don't think the greataxe from 100' is going to do that much more damage
than the dagger from 100'... I'd go with the same "bonus damage" that the
rest of the game uses: extra d6's. Like sneak attacks, or energy modifiers
to your weapons, we just add an appropriate number of d6's.

From 10', count it as just the weapon (your body, barring natural armour
that may make it count as a weapon, is improvised, so maybe 1d4 for a medium
creature). For each additional 10', add an amount of dice based on the
overall size of the projectile. Whether the troll is wielding a dagger or a
greataxe, it's a large creature. Add dice for the overall large creature.
(Dragons diving and smooshing you can hurt.) A maximum of 200' - after
that, assume terminal velocity (not that accurate, but close enough for
government work).

So, your greataxe is 1d12, +1d6 for each 10' after the first 10', or
19d6+1d12. Still painful.

At least, that'd be the way I look at it.

baird stafford

Seems to me it's essentially a Charge from a different direction. I
might insinuate falling damage into the mayhem, though, with unprepared
characters taking the d6/10' and prepared characters adding it to damage
done by set weapons. Maybe not all of it, but certainly some of it.

Baird

--
In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice
there is. -Yogi Berra

glenn dowdy

It's got to be more fun, too.

Glenn D.

keith davies

I agree with d6/10', but I'm simpler than you. I wouldn't bother
treating the "first 10'" differently.

Jump 200' down to hit someone? You're at a net -18 to hit (+2 to hit,
-1 per 10 feet fallen) and will do +20d6 (70 points) of damage.

Hmm. Honestly, may not be worth it. I've seen PCs do rather more than
70 points on normal crits (and the +20d6 here isn't multiplied).


Keith
--
Keith Davies "I think everyone in a 4e D&D world must
keith.davies@kjdavies.org have a huuuuuge fear of heights."
keith.davies@gmail.com -- Violist, #nethack-ot-dnd IRC channel
http://www.kjdavies.org/

keith davies

10 dice of damage might be a little light, considering the cost (10d6
damage, -8 to hit). If you were to go with normal damage (weapon + mStr
+ etc.) you might be a little more in line with what you picture.

You might allow ignoring a certain amount of armor bonus (ignore +1
armor bonus per 10' fallen?) instead of the +2 bonus. You get a benefit
against someone heavily armored (and I can't help but think you'd get

Str 24 Bbn12 diving 100' with a greataxe? This would come to
10d12 + 100 + 10*magic = 165+10m on a successful hit. BAB +12, +7 for
Str, -8 for fall = +11 net, +magic and weapon focus. I think you might
want to limit crits to the base damage, not the whole thing. Though the
thought of 30d12 + 300 + 30*magic = 495 + 30m on a dragon is pretty
cool.

Hell, he might still be able to afford some Power Attack on this, for
+20 per BAB spent (+60 on a crit...).

Okay, now *this* is worth it.

I fail to see a problem with this.


Keith
--
Keith Davies "I think everyone in a 4e D&D world must
keith.davies@kjdavies.org have a huuuuuge fear of heights."
keith.davies@gmail.com -- Violist, #nethack-ot-dnd IRC channel
http://www.kjdavies.org/

maybe, but i never had a lack of eager jumpers as it was,
so i left well enough alone.


agreed. --
n_n n_n drow@bin.sh (CARRIER LOST) <http://www.bin.sh/>
|"|n_n_n|"| ---------------------------------------------------------------
| | " " | | "Ryan Dancey put a portable hole inside a bag of holding,
|_|_[T]_|_| and no void appeared -- out of fear of Ryan Dancey."
-- der_kluge

keith davies

I remember a DM I had telling me about a campaign he was in where they
had a flying ship, and troll assault troops. Parachutes? Who needs
'em, they slow you down!

Then, after the DM ruled that a troll can regenerate from each piece
(chop a hand off, you'll end up with a troll from the hand and one from
the rest of the body) his players installed woodchippers on the ship....

Yeah, that was a quickly changed rule.


Keith
--
Keith Davies "I think everyone in a 4e D&D world must
keith.davies@kjdavies.org have a huuuuuge fear of heights."
keith.davies@gmail.com -- Violist, #nethack-ot-dnd IRC channel
http://www.kjdavies.org/