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Some may say that the most dangerous part ofDungeons & Dragonsis the Dungeon Master, but an arguably more dangerous part is the player. Many campaigns have ended with good ideas going badly, bad ideas going well, or just straight-up bad ideas going bad.
The stronger a player character gets and the more powerful gear and skills they gain, the more they transform into a walking glass case of nitroglycerin. One way that players tend to hurt themselves beyond recognition is by falling, but there are multiple factors to take into effect when you calculate fall damage.
Updated June 04, 2025 by Jack Filsinger:With the release of the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide, some additional guidance has been given on how to improvise damage, including fall damage. We’ve updated this guide to reflect those changes.
How To Define Fall Damage
Unlike a majority of video games, Dungeons & Dragons players take realism very seriously, save for all the fantastical elements that define it. Although there is awide range of species, each with its strengths and weaknesses,most of them will still take plenty of damage from fallinga long way to the ground.
Player characters and NPCs are eligible to receive fall damage once they fall further than ten feet. However,take into effect equipment, racial bonuses, class bonuses, passive skills, and active magicbefore you dish out the damage dice.
How To Calculate Fall Damage
Based on the current version of Dungeons & Dragons, characters will take fall damage in batches of ten feet. After falling the first ten feet,a character has a chance to receive 1d6 of fall damage. Every additional ten feet adds another d6, for a maximum of 20d6.
This has amax damage output of 120 hit points, which is enough to kill a majority of player characters.
Depending on the type of ground (rocky, spiky, grassy, etc.), you may add or subtract damage at your discretion.If they fall past the 20d6 mark, you don’t add any additional damage dice, so this leads to the interesting scenario where a bulky character can fall thousands of feet and still only take a little over 100 points of damage.
For flying creatures, calculations are a bit different. If anything happens to the flyer to cause it to stop flying (being knocked prone, stunned by an attack, etc.)it starts falling from the distance it was when it was stopped.
However, for the sake of realism, most flyers will react somehow to reduce their speed when falling, like flapping. To calculate this,subtract the speed that the flyer was moving at from the fall heightto get the right amount of d6s.
When it comes to falling during combat, you can discuss how best to treat it. A generalrule of thumb is to treat falling as instantaneous. As an example, imagine a battle where two players are fighting an orc archer positioned on a watch tower. One player launches a spell at the orc, causing him to lose his balance and fall.
The watch tower is 30 feet up (so the orc would take 3d6 fall damage),but the orc can hit the ground the moment he falls,or the group can discuss a scenario where player two tries to stop his descent somehow.
Falls from extreme height, however, cannot be considered instantaneous. If a creature falls from greater than590 feet(the distance it would fall in six seconds, which is the time represented in a single round of combat), you’ll have to determine how long it takes to reach the ground. This is only truly relevant when falling from a flying dragon or a hot air balloon or something.
How To Improvise Fall Damage
Sometimes, in the heat of battle, it can be difficult to stop the flow of things to calculate fall damage. If you needto quickly improvise fall damage, the 2024 DM’s Guide offers guidance on how tocome up with damage numbers on the spot.
There aretwo thingsto keep in mind here.Character level, and the level of consequenceyou want to impose on your players.See the below chartfor reference.
1-4
5 (1d10)
11 (2d10)
5-10
22 (4d10)
11-16
55 (10d10)
17-20
99 (18d10)
What Affects Calculating Fall Damage?
There are a number of spells, items, and abilities that can affect fall damage. Essentially,anything that grants flight prevents fall damage(provided that creature is still actively flying), andanythingthat provides resistanceor immunity to bludgeoningalso prevents fall damage. A few of these sources are listed below.
Barbarian
Rage
Provides resistance to bludgeoning damage, which cuts fall damage in half.
Feather Fall
1st Level Spell
Reduces a falling creatures descent to 60 feet per round, takes no fall damage upon reaching ground.
Levitate
2nd Level Spell
Target levitates 20 feet above the ground, and gently floats to the ground once the spell ends.
Fly
3rd Level Spell
Provides a flying speed of up to 60 feet. Lasts 10 minutes (at which point the creature will fall if it’s not on the ground).
Winged Boots
Uncommon
Grants flying speed equal to walking speed. When duration expires, descend at a rate of 30 feet per round.
Wingwear
Gain flying speed of 30 ft. At the end of each turn, your altitude drops by five feet.
Mingle with the Wind
