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Falling damage is the Damage a creature suffers to their Hit points, in the form of Bludgeoning damage, when they fall a sufficient distance. Falling damage is most commonly caused by Jumping from heights, being Shoved or Thrown from them, or being pushed from them by spells and abilities with knockback.
Falling damage formula
Baldur's Gate 3 does not use the standard D&D 5E ruleset for falling damage, in which creatures take 1d6 damage for every 10ft they fall [1], and instead uses it's own formula in which the damage is consistent and scales more discretely as the height of the fall increases. The calculations used in the game seem to involve a lot of rounding, so the exact damage taken may not always perfectly match what you would expect from calculating it.
The amount of damage taken from falls scales linearly based on the height of the fall, dealing a percentage of the creature’s maximum health:
- Falls of less than 4 m / 13 ft deal no damage.
- Falls over 4 m / 13 ft deal damage starting at roughly 2% of the creature’s maximum health and increasing by an additional 1% for every additional 0.2 m / 1 ft fallen. [Needs Verification]
- Falls become lethal at heights of around 21 m / 70 ft or if a creature falls out of the playable game area.
- Creatures using 1d8Psychic damage to any creature that takes falling damage as a result of their actions. will cause and additional
- If the fall is caused by one creature throwing or shoving another, instead of from a jump, then certain damage affecting items or conditions will also be added to the falling damage, such as Lightning Charges or the Callous Glow Ring[note 1]. These damage bonuses are applied even if the creature receiving the fall damage has the item or condition.
When jumping from a height great enough to deal damage, a tooltip will display the damage the creature will suffer if they jump to the targeted location. If the damage would be sufficient to kill the creature the text "Dead" will be displayed instead. This tooltip will accurately show the reduced damage from resistance to falling damage but will still incorrectly show the full damage amount for creatures resistant to bludgeoning damage. Any additional damage from displace or other effects will never be included in this tooltip.
Example
A creature that falls from a height of 5.4 m / 18 ft, with no resistance to falling damage, would be expected to take damage equal to 2% of their max health + 1% for every additional 0.2 m / 1 ft of height after damage begins, in this case giving us 2% + 7% or around 9% of a creatures max hit points from a 5.4 m / 18 ft fall. If the fall was caused by a shove or throw and either creature is wearing the Callous Glow Ring then the creature that falls will also suffer an additional 2 radiant damage.
Prone
Falls can also cause creatures to be knocked Prone when they land. A fall will always cause a creature to be knocked prone if it deals more than 25% of their maximum HP, meaning falls of around 8 m / 27 ft for characters without resistance to falling damage or 12.3 m / 41 ft for creatures with resistance to falling damage. Creatures that are resistant to bludgeoning damage but not falling damage specifically will still be knocked prone from falls of 8 m / 27 ft despite receiving only 12.5% of their maximum HP in damage.
Falling damage resistance and immunity
There are numerous sources of Resistance and Immunity to fall damage, some temporary from spells and consumables and some permanent from certain class or passive features.
Any source of resistance to bludgeoning damage will grant the creature resistance to falling damage and passive features such as Magical Plate will also reduce the damage, but in addition there are also sources that specifically provide resistance or immunity to only falling damage.
Sources of resistance
- rogues at level 3 if they choose the Thief subclass.[note 2] : Class feature granted to
- monks at level 4. : Reaction granted to
- Barbarians at level 6 or 10 if they chose the Wildheart subclass. : Class feature that can be taken by
- Enhance Ability availiable to bards, clerics, druids, and sorcerers at level 3 or from The Graceful Cloth. : Variant of
- Cats. : Passive feature unique to
Sources of immunity
- Potion of Feather Fall, Scroll of Feather Fall, and Corvid Token. : Condition granted by ,
- Web Surface created by this spell nullifies all fall damage from any height. : Landing in the
- Nyrulna. : Passive feature granted by
- Astral Plane and the Shadowfell. : Condition granted in the
- Poltergeists. : Passive feature unique to
Achievements
Footnotes
- ↑ This extra damage is only added from passives or conditions that use DamageBonus() but do not require the source to be an unarmed, weapon, or spell attack to trigger.
- ↑ Second-Story Work appears to incorrectly reduce falling damage by 75% instead of 50%, however this does not increase the distance you can fall without being knocked prone beyond that of regular resistance.