Dec 14, 2011

Probability of a Fatal Fall in Aberrant

I've done a bit on the probability of death from falls from heights in the real world, and the average height a character would have to fall in order to die in various simulation systems.  Here is a closer look at how the Aberrant system specifically compares to real life. 

If you can even see the short blip at 30+ meters, you can understand how spectacularly Aberrant fails to simulate death by falling.  The average person has 8 health levels, but there are two types of damage.  Bashing damage hurts, lethal damage kills, and additional bashing damage becomes lethal damage after all 8 health levels have been damaged.  Damage from falls under 30 meters is bashing.  1 die is rolled for each 3 meters fallen, and there is a 40% chance of each die resulting in damage.  So, a 3 meter fall results in rolling 1 die with a 40% chance of suffering 1 level of bashing damage.  A 29 meter fall results in rolling 9 dice with a very tiny chance of taking 9 levels of bashing, which converts to 7 bashing and 1 level of lethal damage, but a still-alive character.  At the 30 meter level and above, however, 10 dice are rolled and all damage is lethal.  This gives us a whopping 1.4% chance of death for everyone for all heights over 30 meters.  This game is notorious for needing house rules, and I encourage game masters to crank up the falling damage in their campaigns.