Did I rule this right?

[Lupine]

I was running a session with my party, in they were fighting a dragon.
It was round three, and the dragon had already wiped half the party, due to some lucky recharge rules (NOTE: I use the AngryGM's "charge up" variant. Basically, it forces the monster to wait a turn before using a recharge ability, to give players time to prepare. my party did not, sadly)
The dragon was just flying by, multiattacking, waiting for the recharge. Our halfling monk, however, decided to run up a wall, and leap onto the dragon's back (using the "climb onto a bigger creature) action as found in the DMG. He made it on, barely. The dragon then flew up high, to avoid the bard's sunbeam spell. The monk starting using stunning strikes, and the dragon made the save.
Well, eventually the dragon's luck ran out, and he failed the save. I ruled that a creature stunned that is flying falls. This meant that the dragon fell to the ground, and the fall damage (50-ish) happened to kill it. The monk, using slow fall, took one damage.

It was a pretty cool event, but I wonder if I ruled it the right way. (Also, yes the dragon tried to shake him off. Didn't work; the monk maxed his dex, and I think he was acrobatics proficient.)

[carrdrivesyou]

Not only does that sound like you ruled it right, but it also sounds like it was pretty cool.

I suppose the only item of contention would be if the monk's slow fall would apply to when he fell off the dragon, or when the overall fall began. Mechanically, its a grey area, as far as I am aware; by physics, the monk should have taken fall damage, minus his slow fall prevention.

Sounds like you did the right thing bud.

[CheddarChampion]

Not only does that sound like you ruled it right, but it also sounds like it was pretty cool.

I agree with this.

Regarding fall damage, while holding on to another creature the monk could have intentionally let go before the dragon hit the ground and used slow fall.

Only thing I can think of is that more damage might have been inflicted if the dragon fell on top of the monk, crushing them.

[J-H]

Good job. whitespace

Your party will be talking about that battle for a long time to come.

[stoutstien]

Sounds like you did it great.bard pushed the dragon up to avoid the spell and the monk knocked it out of the sky to use falling/environmental damage to its highest effect. Teamwork should always be rewarded.

[BRC]

Now, I'll start by saying your ruling was correct, regardless of rules it sounds like a really cool finish to the fight, and that's always a good thing.

Now, let's look at some rules.

According to the PHB (page 191), a flying creature without the Hover ability falls if it is knocked prone, it's speed is reduced to 0, or it is otherwise deprived of the ability to move.
A Stunned creature can't move, as per the condition. So, RAW backs you up. a Stunned dragon starts falling.

Now, if you want to not have this happen, you could say that a Stunned flying creature can still glide on instinct, even if it cannot aim itself or flap it's wings to gain height. It might crash into something on it's way down, but it wouldn't necessarily plummet directly to the ground, although this approach leads to Math about determining the angle of descent and how long it would take to reach the ground.

[thoroughlyS]

I echo everyone above. I can't see any questionable rulings. It sounds like your table achieved peak D&D that session: the rules working to tell a story your table enjoyed.

[Sniccups]

With something cool like this, I'm not sure it actually matters whether it matches the rules.

[KorvinStarmast]

yes, yes you did.

What a memorable dragon battle.
At the next family reunion, your halfling can have the following discussion.
Hey, Uncle Bilbo, you paying attention?
(Tells that story)
Now that's how you kick a dragon's behind!
:smallbiggrin:

My nephew helped our fight with a green dragon immeasruably by casting Tasha's Hideous Laughter on a Dragon coming in for a breat weapon run ... and the dragon failed his save.
We had one massive nova round of the whole party whaling on the dragon and the next round it was over.
If he'd made the save, uh, we might all have been gassed - Green Dragon.

[JNAProductions]

By RAW? I think you did it right.

By RAI? Same.

By what's fun? Also good!

Really, by all measures, I think you did good. :)

[SpawnOfMorbo]

I see a huge problem.

Did you describe the monk riding the dragon all the way down as if they were surfing or performing some crazy martial arts move? No?

You go to DM hell, you go to DM hell and you get no dice!

Ok, but seriously, good job! Sounds like you run a game that isn't just your run of the mill d&d game amd it actually has some cool moments in it. You should be proud, you're better off than many DMs already.

[redwizard007]

Only thing I can think of is that more damage might have been inflicted if the dragon fell on top of the monk, crushing them.

If the monk and the dragon fell from the same height, but the dragon fell at full speed and the monk used slowfall then I don't see this being much of an issue.

[Magicspook]

Awesome. Sounds like you had a blast!

As far as I can see, there's no problem with RAW as others have said. Perhaps more importantly, it is what one would suspect would happen when you knock a flying creature unconscious; IMO, meeting the players' and my own expecitations of realism is more important than following the rules to the letter.