How would you rule this? (Falling + Flying = Impact?)

[CrazyCrab]

Hi everyone,
I'll soon be playing an Aarakocra monk (LV 17) with insane speed - planning to use dash and haste as much as possible, giving me a max speed of 330 feet (240 feet flying). The whole idea is a classic stupid-good super hero build, super-speed.

So, here's an idea. The Monk's Slow Fall feature doesn't mention anywhere that it actually, mechanically, slows down the falling... as most people have previously rules out, it's just a name for techniques for landing, like tumbling and the like that you see in the circus. Now, if I were to fly up , let's say 200 feet, for the maximum damage (20d6, average 70, slow fall at 17 blocks all of it), then fold my wings and actively fall downwards, leaving me with 40 feet for aiming and accelerating and then bomb a creature from the skies, what the effect would be? With humanoids' falling speed being, in normal circumstances, a gravitational acceleration equal to approximately 9.8 m/s2 (32 feet, thanks Google) I'll bomb the ground in a little over two seconds, on the same turn as I started flying, or shortly after.

Who would take damage? What damage? Split evenly? All to the target? All to me? There really aren't any good answers around, or I'm just not looking well enough.
Would love to hear your thoughts on this. I know ultimately it will be up to the DM, but I know we'll both be confused next week.

[PloxBox]

I'd say that if you're dive bombing a creature, you both take the damage with no reduction from monk class. Probably even an acrobatics check to see how well you recover.

EDIT:
I say this because i had a character do this exact thing in the campaign i DM, though he was a barbarian instead so he took half damage because of rage. He also had to make a weapon attack with disadvantage to even hit, and both targets took max fall damage plus the enemy took the extra weapon damage.

[Coffee_Dragon]

As you may realize, asking this sort of thing on the internet will get you every possible answer.


The Monk's Slow Fall feature doesn't mention anywhere that it actually, mechanically, slows down the falling...

Because there is no "mechanical speed of falling" to slow down. Falling damage is mechanically a function of distance, not speed. And just as it says nothing about what actually happens, it says nothing about transfering damage.


Now, if I were to fly up , let's say 200 feet, for the maximum damage (20d6, average 70, slow fall at 17 blocks all of it), then fold my wings and actively fall downwards, leaving me with 40 feet for aiming and accelerating and then bomb a creature from the skies, what the effect would be?

Who would take damage?

You all that applies, certainly. (A DM who doesn't feel like playing along might easily say you don't get the benefit of Slow Fall if you're purposely diving into the ground at full speed.) The target some, if you hit, and the DM wants to play along.

[Arkhios]

I wouldn't bother with too complex math and would personally go with something like this:

If the objects collide vertically, add the distances moved together (up to max. 200 feet), and both objects take equal amount of falling damage depending on the total distance moved.

If the falling object hits the flying object while it's either stationary or flying horizontally, both objects take falling damage depending on the distance moved by the falling object.

I think the force of impact should affect both objects equally. A monk with slow fall would reduce his share as appropriate.