Big Rocks, and flying folk

[Ixahinon]

Let's say this is the scenario:

Medium Sized Human Mage is out in the wide open outdoors, sky's the limit, and Fly's the spell of choice. Said Mage is out on his own, exploring the island and what it has to offer and runs into a lone Stone Giant. (presumably heading back to his clan after a hunt, or something) Medium Sized Human Mage is a psychopathic pyromaniac, and gets Stone Giant's Attention by hurling a Fireball at him.

Medium Size Human Mage did not think about Stone Giant's impressive rock throwing ability, and finds himself within range (And struck) by a Large Boulder. Silly Medium Sized Human Mage.

Dilema: Fly does not take concentration to keep flight, so that is not the issue, but since the Large Boulder is bigger than the Medium Sized Human Mage, isn't there a chance that the Medium Sized Human Mage will get 'pinned' by the Large Boulder as it lands? Is there equally a chance that Large Boulder will knock the Medium Sized Human Mage out entirely? I'm trying to avoid relating this to me throwing a fist sized rock at your head...because I can see the 'you can't equate reality to fiction' threads now.

Also...I know there are a crap ton of spells out there that can be used to avoid this situation...I also know some clever chap out there is gonna come back with a 'just fly out of range' comment, thinking he's funny.

Let's all just pretend for a moment that, what you read is exactly what happened. In other words, you are in the shoes of a stupid retarded player that happens to be a mage, and didn't think about preparing for his actions.

thanks

[Tacoma]

The rock doesn't knockback the Wizard. It strikes him and continues going until it hits the sea (with no chance of hitting anything else important, even someone standing in front of the Wizard). He stays where he is, hovering in the air.

Unless you houserule it. But remember Wizards can throw big rocks too and players have long memories for ad hoc rulings. That said, 1 on 1d6 you're pinned. If you really feel the need.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

The rock bounces off the mage and crumbles, falling to the ground and hurting nothing else, and the mage(if he survived) remains in the same place.

[Ixahinon]

Really? Damn...so there really is no beating a mage with Fly in wide open areas. Assuming the opponent is non-spellcaster.

[Tacoma]

The opponent kills himself, denying the Wizard any XP.

Every enemy does this. Every obstacle topples automatically. At some point the Wizard's player gets the hint and either stops screwing with the game or plays a different character.

[Ixahinon]

The opponent kills himself, denying the Wizard any XP.

Every enemy does this. Every obstacle topples automatically. At some point the Wizard's player gets the hint and either stops screwing with the game or plays a different character.

haha...is sad, but true. I couldn't really see a Stone Giant sticking a sharpened tree trunk into his belly...but it is the best option, I suppose.

[Prometheus]

You could run it as a ranged trip, bull-rush, grapple (pin) attempt. A Stone Giant nor his rock would have these capabilities by default, but you could house-rule/homebrew that he does. This would allow the Stone Giant to perform the same task on a grounded upon as we would expect if you dropped a boulder on someone.

Alternatively, you could houserule that all projectiles count towards encumberance one round after they are issued. So a Barbarian loaded up with thousands of arrows would be slowed, no matter how much life he has, for the following round and your mage would only be able to fly if he could do so while carrying a boulder (which he could not, and would therefore fall for the next round).

Finally you could say that flying object being hit with an object are subject to physics and that the two stick together after the collision. You'd have to assign a speed, v, for the rock, say 150 ft/round and the mage would move horizontally alongside the rock at a speed = v*M/(M+m) where M is the mass (or in this case, weight works just as well) of the boulder and m is the mass of the mage. Of course, that would be in the x direction. In the y direction you'd have the maximum change in momentum a mage could do in one round, m*fs where fs is the fly speed (60 feet/ round yes?), versus the maximum change in momentum a rock could do M*g where g is how much an object falls in one round (in this case 150 ft) so the mage would move down (m*fs-M*g)/(m+M). Notice I kept everything in D&D units so you don't have to do any unit conversion.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

You could run it as a ranged trip, bull-rush, grapple (pin) attempt. A Stone Giant nor his rock would have these capabilities by default, but you could house-rule/homebrew that he does. This would allow the Stone Giant to perform the same task on a grounded upon as we would expect if you dropped a boulder on someone.

Alternatively, you could houserule that all projectiles count towards encumberance one round after they are issued. So a Barbarian loaded up with thousands of arrows would be slowed, no matter how much life he has, for the following round and your mage would only be able to fly if he could do so while carrying a boulder (which he could not, and would therefore fall for the next round).

Finally you could say that flying object being hit with an object are subject to physics and that the two stick together after the collision. You'd have to assign a speed, v, for the rock, say 150 ft/round and the mage would move horizontally alongside the rock at a speed = v*M/(M+m) where M is the mass (or in this case, weight works just as well) of the boulder and m is the mass of the mage. Of course, that would be in the x direction. In the y direction you'd have the maximum change in momentum a mage could do in one round, m*fs where fs is the fly speed (60 feet/ round yes?), versus the maximum change in momentum a rock could do M*g where g is how much an object falls in one round (in this case 150 ft) so the mage would move down (m*fs-M*g)/(m+M). Notice I kept everything in D&D units so you don't have to do any unit conversion.

But what about the Mage's Telekinetic control over his own location? And the fact that it is literally impossible to fall at more than 10' per round due to Fly?

[Epinephrine]

Really? Damn...so there really is no beating a mage with Fly in wide open areas. Assuming the opponent is non-spellcaster.

Tasty mages flying in the open attract attention. Mages learn to walk, or be very careful.

[Curmudgeon]

It's D&D, which is a system to streamline aspects of combat. The rock is gone after it hits.

[Prometheus]

But what about the Mage's Telekinetic control over his own location? And the fact that it is literally impossible to fall at more than 10' per round due to Fly?

As for the force of the mage's flying, they get to exercise it on their turn and the turn after, therefore it is already incorporated (as far as D&D is concerned).

As for the Fly spell's feather fall effect that occurs even after it ends or is dispelled, I really don't know how that works, even within the game's rules, let alone outside of them. Falling only 10 ft as the result of a boulder sounds pretty lame. The real question is whether you are pushed by the falling boulder, (nothing forbids you from being pushed in a downward direction more than 10 ft), or whether you and the boulder fall. They are describing the same physical situation, but not the same magical interpretation.