"What are you attacking with?" "Gravity"

[ChampionWiggles]

So, I wanted to know what people think the logistics should be if someone tries to use a falling character to deal damage to a monster. Based off the "Fling" mechanics from the MM, it would seem fair to have falling on top of something follow the same rules. Both creatures are dealt 1d6 bludgeoning for every 10 feet the falling creature falls. I just wanted to gather the opinions of others on it as well as thoughts on if falling onto something should be considered an attack action or just something that happens. Could the falling character deal more damage by trying to do a "People's Elbow" or something of that like while falling onto the other? I'm just curious what people's thought would be.

What prompted this was the ridiculous (But hilarious) idea of a Bard grappler fighting something and knocking it prone. It then proceeds to use Dimension Door to go 500 feet straight up (Spell says any direction). The party then proceeds to hear a raging battle cry get louder and louder as the bard descends from the clouds and dive bombs into his opponent, supposedly killing them both. Or perhaps the bard had Death Ward and only NEARLY died. Or perhaps the bard Polymorhped into a Giant Ape in the air to soak up the damage with temporary HP, and now King Kong is belly flopping onto the creature.

[sir_argo]

So, I wanted to know what people think the logistics should be if someone tries to use a falling character to deal damage to a monster. Based off the "Fling" mechanics from the MM, it would seem fair to have falling on top of something follow the same rules. Both creatures are dealt 1d6 bludgeoning for every 10 feet the falling creature falls. I just wanted to gather the opinions of others on it as well as thoughts on if falling onto something should be considered an attack action or just something that happens. Could the falling character deal more damage by trying to do a "People's Elbow" or something of that like while falling onto the other? I'm just curious what people's thought would be.

What prompted this was the ridiculous (But hilarious) idea of a Bard grappler fighting something and knocking it prone. It then proceeds to use Dimension Door to go 500 feet straight up (Spell says any direction). The party then proceeds to hear a raging battle cry get louder and louder as the bard descends from the clouds and dive bombs into his opponent, supposedly killing them both. Or perhaps the bard had Death Ward and only NEARLY died. Or perhaps the bard Polymorhped into a Giant Ape in the air to soak up the damage with temporary HP, and now King Kong is belly flopping onto the creature.

I see no problem with skydiving onto a foe and causing damage to both. But as someone who has done skydiving, I can tell you that hitting a target is really, really hard. Expert skydivers can get their accuracy down to a measurement of centimeters, but most people (and this would include your average medieval hero) have no experience targeting a spot on the ground while falling. Not only would you be off by 10' or more, but exactly where you hit will just be random.

So yeah, I'd allow it... no reason not to... but it would be very, very hard to actually hit. But if you want to use the rule of cool, then by all means, make the chance to hit plausible.

[Mellack]

Agree with Sir above. It would be super hard to hit. You have virtually no control once you start falling, and it is pretty easy to step out of the way. But if you think the fun outweighs that, make it as usefull as you want. Wouldn't be stranger than having spiked chains be a viable weapon.

[ChampionWiggles]

Yea, that's essentially what doing this would be is one of those "Rule of cool" mechanics. XD

[sxmedicus]

Id go with randomness unless the pc has access to flight (flying races or polymorph forms) since they could adjust their direction while still falling #lotsofdamage #mutualyassureddestruction

[Beelzebubba]

I'd allow it once without much fuss - i.e. a good roll, or a bad one with an Inspiration spend - because Rule Of Cool. You want people to talk about their gaming experiences because they were so awesome.

But, when they start discussing trying it again, then start talking up how lucky it was. And tell them how lucky they can be when they come up with other clever ideas.

See what I mean? It gets old if it becomes a habit, but every once in a while is awesome.

[Fey]

Apply disadvantage to the attack roll as a simple, straightforward way of showing the attack is harder to perform than a normal attack.

[Hrugner]

It's an attack with an improvised weapon, but also sort of like a trap so we'll combine the two. If you attack at beyond 60ft then any unrestrained target who can see you can just step out of the way. You have disadvantage hitting someone beyond 20ft even if proficient. If the target can see you dropping the object and isn't restrained, they get a DC 13 dexterity saving throw to get out of the way, the same as avoiding a hunter's trap. The object does 1d6 damage to a target the same size as the object dropped. If the object is larger or smaller than the target, increase or decrease the size of the dice by one for each difference in size category. For every ten feet the object is dropped, increase the dice pool by one. The dropped object can't do more damage than it could take.

I think that should work.

[Zakhara]

In my group, an attack action can be "timed" such that you can crash-land and make the weapon attack at the same time, since the situation is so rare and because Dark Souls-like plunging attacks are cool. Usually the incoming damage towards both parties is so severe that it evens out anyway. It hasn't come up yet, but I would impose Disadvantage for a Medium target and Advantage if it gets above Large (maybe Huge?).