falling rock damage rules?

[da newt]

Are there any rules for damage caused by falling objects? If a 50 lb rock is dropped 100' how much damage does it do? What if it's dropped 200' or weighs 100 lbs?

Stuff I have found:

4d10 for falling rubble in a collapsed tunnel
Fall damage for a creature/PC is 1d6 per 10 feet to a max of 20d6
Giant throwing a rock is 4d10+ST (60' range)
Trebuchet is 8d10 (300' range)
Mangonel is 5d10 (200' range)

[Zetakya]

Rocks fall; everybody dies. :smallbiggrin:

That said, just tailor the damage to something you consider reasonable for the party to endure. Dying to a rockfall sucks, so you shouldn't really kill your party that way unless you are actually wanting to kill the game. Every dice of damage you do is roughly a dice of healing that your are removing from the party.

[Esprit15]

Are there any rules for damage caused by falling objects? If a 50 lb rock is dropped 100' how much damage does it do? What if it's dropped 200' or weighs 100 lbs?

Stuff I have found:

4d10 for falling rubble in a collapsed tunnel
Fall damage for a creature/PC is 1d6 per 10 feet to a max of 20d6
Giant throwing a rock is 4d10+ST (60' range)
Trebuchet is 8d10 (300' range)
Mangonel is 5d10 (200' range)

I tend to treat it the same as falling damage just for ease if it's roughly person massed. Raise or lower the die size if it's much bigger or smaller, and capping the amount of dice lower than 20 for small rocks.

But what kind of situation is prompting this? If it's PC shenanigans, it's normally easier to say "It works" or "It fails" rather than try to make the mechanics do things that they were never meant to do. If it's something you're doing as a DM, just pick an amount that feels appropriate for their level.

[Magicspook]

Everybody knows that when rocks fall, you die.

[J-H]

Use the DMG guide for this based on how dangerous the situation and how big the rocks are.

I had a boss lose concentration on Reverse Gravity, and a few tons of coins (in a big room) fell 60' from the ceiling. 2d6 bludge damage, Dex DC 14 half. Individual coins aren't that dangerous to an armored party.

[Telok]

From experiments involving dropping anvils and such on enemies it appears to be random and dependent on DM.

Sometimes you roll to hit, sometimes you get proficency, sometimes they get a save, sometimes you make a stealth roll. Damage is anything from 3d6 at any height to andthing from 1d2 to 1d10 per ten feet.

[da newt]

In this instance, I'm a PC in a fort w/ 100' walls defending it from gnolls, so the party/allies would be the ones dropping stones on folks with the intent to harm them. My initial idea was most any PC can lift a 50 lb rock up and roll it over the rail onto the goobers below - a strong PC could lift a much heavier rock ... and a 50 lb rock should be big enough to create some serious damage. But how should this compare to say a heavy crossbow shot (1d10 + dex)?

Secondly - we have an Aarakocra in the party, so high altitude bombardment may be an option. If a fall from 200' can do 20d6 damage to a PC, surely a 50lb rock dropped from that height would do some real harm if it landed on someone.

[Esprit15]

Sounds like a question for your DM.

Personally, I would rule that it just works. Unless these same guys are going to be fighting you later, I see no reason to individually track their HP. If for some reason you do have to fight them, I would just set them to half health and call it a day.

As far as altitude bombardment in the middle of combat, probably 2d10 on a non-proficient attack roll with disadvantage. 200ft is a long way to accurately aim something like that, and you're not likely to hit them square in their body anyways. Heck, make it 4d10 if you're feeling generous - they only have one piece of ammunition, make it worthwhile.

***

Again, these are how I would rule it, your DM might say otherwise, and they're the final arbiter on rules that aren't in the books.

[Zetakya]

In this instance, I'm a PC in a fort w/ 100' walls defending it from gnolls, so the party/allies would be the ones dropping stones on folks with the intent to harm them. My initial idea was most any PC can lift a 50 lb rock up and roll it over the rail onto the goobers below - a strong PC could lift a much heavier rock ... and a 50 lb rock should be big enough to create some serious damage. But how should this compare to say a heavy crossbow shot (1d10 + dex)?

Secondly - we have an Aarakocra in the party, so high altitude bombardment may be an option. If a fall from 200' can do 20d6 damage to a PC, surely a 50lb rock dropped from that height would do some real harm if it landed on someone.

If you're defending in a siege, your primary objective when dropping rocks isn't to kill individual enemies, it's to break their siege equipment so they can't break through.

Also both boiling and flammable oils are worth using. Or Baked Lime.

[kaervaak]

How about dumping 5000 lbs of rocks onto a group of enemies by turning a bag of holding inside out while standing above them?