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If you look at the Aarakocra's dive attack it deals +1d6 damage for every 30 ft. in the air. If every 10 ft. does 1d6 fall damage to something that is falling, shouldn't a character be able to use that velocity to hit a target and deal the 3d6 "Velocity damage" rather than dealing 1d6 "Velocity damage"?

By velocity damage I mean the damage dealt to a character from falling at 9.8/s/s downwards, or hitting a wall at that speed. Sorry if I worded this weirdly. It's hard to explain what I'm asking.

Rubiksmoose
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Liga
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    Is the question something like Why does a falling aarakocra suffer more damage than a diving aarakocra deals? – Hey I Can Chan Feb 25 '18 at 17:50
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    @HeyICanChan no, he/she's asking "how is it that falling deals 3d6 damage every 30 ft. but a falling attack deals only 1d6 for the same distance?" – motoDrizzt Feb 25 '18 at 21:16
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    What are you asking? Are you asking "Why does the Aarakocra's dive attack do less damage than it would take from falling?" or "Should I increase the damage of the dive attack so that it makes sense to me?" or what? Are you asking for rules explanations? – Rubiksmoose Feb 26 '18 at 00:20

1 Answers1

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No

If the Aarakokra is free falling to make the attack, it would also take fall damage. The attack gets extra damage because of the extra velocity from gravity, yes, but it has to pull up at the last second to avoid hitting the ground meaning it only gets an additional 1d6 damage per 30 feet. Essentially it is trained to decrease its speed by one-third so it can make the attack before flying off again,

Note: Gravity and air resistance do not necessarily work in D&D in the same way as in our universe. In the base rules all falling happens in one round (6 seconds) and in Xanathar's Guide to Everything, you fall 500 feet per round meaning the creature accelerates to terminal velocity in under 6 seconds and falls that way forever regardless of body shape.

David Coffron
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