Collisions

Collisions

Adventurers frequently bash themselves into things through various circumstances. For example, a Barbarian sees a Drow Matriarch with no escorts, so he charges her full speed...only to find the Force Wall in the way. He smashes into the wall full speed, but how much does that hurt? This is treated as a collision, which is a more general case of Falling damage. In this case, since he was in a Charge maneuver, he was not considered to be moving cautiously. As a result, he takes 1d6 of damage per ten feet of his speed at the moment of the collision. If he has a base speed of 50 feet and a Haste spell to raise his speed to 80, then he takes 8d6 from this collision. Ouch.

It's made even worse by the Matriarch laughing....

Note that charges, overruns and other deliberate cases of a character ramming into things never causes damage to the character who instigates it, nor are the collision rules applied to the creature or object being rammed into. Collision rules only apply if the collision is unexpected, or outside of the control of the character. Combat maneuvers already deal damage, so the harm caused by an overrun is already built into the rules of that maneuver.

Collisions only happen when you are not moving in a cautious way. If you are swept away by a raging current or massive blast of wind in the Plane of Air, you are not moving cautiously. If you are making a Charge, you are not moving cautiously. Beware the Run maneuver! Running is VERY fast movement, and since you lose your Dex, you are not considered to be cautious. Running full speed into a Wall of Force can be deadly. The GM adjudicates any strange or unusual cases.

If a character is moving in a cautious manner, i.e., a normal move at his base speed, he would take no damage at all from bumping into things; the reward for moving cautiously! Note that making a double-move (converting your standard action to a move action and moving twice) is also considered cautious movement.

Collisions most obviously occur when a player character fails a Ride skill roll or is otherwise dismounted and falls off a horse or other mount. To put it mildly, falling off a horse at a full gallop, even though it is only a few feet down, still hurts a LOT. Similarly, falls off wagons and other close-to-the ground vehicles are resolved using collision rules, as are cases where wagons run into you. Indeed, collisions are used for many things, such as being swept away down a boulder-strewn gully by a flash flood, or being run over by a huge round stone that rolled out of the ceiling in a lost temple, or when that nobles carriage runs wild down the streets, or even when the hapless adventurer is being dragged along the ground behind a racing horse. Any time an object bangs into an adventurer in an uncontrolled and violent fashion, this can be resolved using these collision rules.

Note, being dragged by a horse really sucks; you want to get out of that as soon as possible.

Collisions rarely occur between creatures, who are assumed to duck, dodge, or otherwise allow a hurtling character to pass by.