Does a creature performing a dive attack take falling damage?

[rrwoods]

(I'm only looking for RAW and citations; I suspect RAI and "what makes sense" is going to vary a lot from table to table on this subject.)

https://www.d20srd.org/srd/environment.htm#falling indicates what happens when a creature "deliberately jumps" a height that would induce falling damage, but I don't think that explicitly covers dive attacks, which are described at https://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#fly .

I'm interested in what Rules Compendium has to say on the topic as well, but I can't find anything in it myself. The "Falling" section appears to be a restatement of what's the the SRD; if it is different, it definitely doesn't cover dive attacks. There's no section titled "Dive Attacks", or "Flight". The "Charge" section repeats the SRD "fly" note on dive attacks and nothing more. The "Fly" subsection of "Movement" covers maneuverability in great detail but has nothing on dive attacks.

[Venger]

No. A flying creature (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/movement.htm) only takes falling damage if it neglects to maintain minimum forward speed for its maneuverability and doesn't land. Diving imposes neither of these restrictions.

[KillianHawkeye]

I'm pretty sure a diving attack doesn't usually involve crashing into the ground yourself, so falling damage wouldn't even enter into the equation. I don't think D&D has a rule about taking damage from intentionally slamming your body into a hard surface, either.

[Morty_Jhones]

a creature pwerforming a power dive, is like a dive bomber droping a bomb,,,,


A huge dive to build up speed, for acuracy
A sharp pull up, just before slaming into the target

in this case the weapon being swunge has the benafite if the extra force involved, the creature probbly using all its srenght to actualy retaine it.

and if well timed . masive impact damage to the target.

personaly if I was a flyer it would be the last thing i would do.....

even quite a small stone being firred in this way would do loads of damage. ok so reloading could be a pain, but we have magic for that, say a pouch of endless sling bullets.

but yes the only way a flyer doing a flyby can take damage is if
1 it dosn;t move far enough to keep flying (fall)

2 it trys to 'Overrun' attack a target and fail's the str test, which would bring it to an emedate stop (collishion)

[rrwoods]

Not “usually”, which is probably why they didn’t write it in... but the build I’m looking at essentially does exactly that :P

I think I was reading the dive attack rules with that particular attack in mind rather than the general case they’re clearly designed to cover.

EDIT: this is referring to the “doesn’t usually crash into the ground” comment from earlier (I’m on a phone and can’t find the quote button)

[hamishspence]

Regarding "damage done to person from the velocity of a collision" you could use the velocity a character has after falling 10 ft (such a character takes 1d6 damage)

Velocity = Square root of (2 x acceleration x distance)

Acceleration = 32.17 (feet per second per second), Distance = 10 feet, Velocity = 35.36+ feet per second = 152+ feet per round.

So - if you were travelling 150 feet-odd per round, then you are travelling dangerously fast, and if you undergo an unanticipated collision, then it makes sense to award damage.

But if the speed is less than that, then it makes less sense to award damage. Also, just as a character can make a Jump or Tumble check to avoid taking damage in an intentional fall, then a character who is deliberately colliding with another, might be expected to know how to absorb the shock of their own collision.

[KillianHawkeye]

Not “usually”, which is probably why they didn’t write it in... but the build I’m looking at essentially does exactly that :P

I think I was reading the dive attack rules with that particular attack in mind rather than the general case they’re clearly designed to cover.

EDIT: this is referring to the “doesn’t usually crash into the ground” comment from earlier (I’m on a phone and can’t find the quote button)

I think you should explain what the attack is then, because it doesn't match how dive attacks work in game.

[rrwoods]

I think you should explain what the attack is then, because it doesn't match how dive attacks work in game.

It's the IC Blade Dancer winner, which takes a mercury dragon's 200' fly speed, stacks many multipliers on it to make you able to dive from over 2 miles up, and uses the Roof Jumper feat's Death From Above option add bonus damage that scales linearly with the distance traveled.

If you conceptualize this as a "normal" dive attack but from a great height, it makes sense that you wouldn't take any falling damage. But when I read it the first time, I read the backstory first (which involves flowery language describing pummeling the target into the ground) followed by build description, and so my perspective was immediately "wait how is this character not dead from their own impact?"

Build is here: https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24561869&postcount=90

[Celestia]

No. A flying creature (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/movement.htm) only takes falling damage if it neglects to maintain minimum forward speed for its maneuverability and doesn't land. Diving imposes neither of these restrictions.
Which is its own dysfunction, really.

DM: "Rocks fall. Everyone dies."

Player: "Oh, actually I'm playing a dragonborn, so I'm immune to falling damage."