Fall damage in the cosmere

[Tamriel Wolfsbaine]

The cosmere has limited flight in nearly all of the systems to some extent.  But what about those who can't fly?  

One of the most memorable scenes from any movie for me was from the movie "The Covenant".  The scene has the main cast standing at the edge of a cliff and then they all step off only to land in sweet poses before walking away unscathed.

In the spirit of having a cool cinematic scene in some table top games, I have often thought that a standard piece of gear for any adventurer once medallion tech is everywhere would have to be an iron medallion.  

Even if I am not gifted the ability to fly or shove on metal at least if an assassin in white were to toss me into the air my chances at survival would be far higher with some F iron on me.  

But what about other methods?  

Awakened leggings?   Is this pants that just absorb most of the shock from a fall? Would they have to be large wraps that reach out like springs and almost act as an egg drop device for a squishy human body?  

What about for a kandra... sure human bones would likely shatter.  But what metals might you get away with using to not be too mangled after falling off the empire state building? 

Any other options people have in mind I may be missing?  

 

[Trusk'our he/him]

8 hours ago, Tamriel Wolfsbaine said:

The cosmere has limited flight in nearly all of the systems to some extent.  But what about those who can't fly?  

One of the most memorable scenes from any movie for me was from the movie "The Covenant".  The scene has the main cast standing at the edge of a cliff and then they all step off only to land in sweet poses before walking away unscathed.

In the spirit of having a cool cinematic scene in some table top games, I have often thought that a standard piece of gear for any adventurer once medallion tech is everywhere would have to be an iron medallion.  

Even if I am not gifted the ability to fly or shove on metal at least if an assassin in white were to toss me into the air my chances at survival would be far higher with some F iron on me.  

But what about other methods?  

Awakened leggings?   Is this pants that just absorb most of the shock from a fall? Would they have to be large wraps that reach out like springs and almost act as an egg drop device for a squishy human body?  

What about for a kandra... sure human bones would likely shatter.  But what metals might you get away with using to not be too mangled after falling off the empire state building? 

Any other options people have in mind I may be missing?  

 

We know that Sand Mastery can be used to make "springs", which can cushion your fall.

ToES spoilers-

Spoiler

At the very least, Verdant Spores could be used similar to Sand Mastery's ribbons. Use a Spore gun, fire at the ground before you hit, create a cushion/bunsh of reaching vines to slow you down and stop you from becoming a puddle.

An Allomantic pewter/Feruchemical steel Twinborn could burn their metals faster when they tap more speed. Tap enough and they could potentially even fall at their terminal velocity and walk away unscathed.

Kandra could potentially spit their bones out of all together as they fall and shield them with the softer parts of their body. The soft parts of their bodies heal and their bones walk away unscathed after they reassemble themselves.

[alder24]

8 hours ago, Tamriel Wolfsbaine said:

Awakened leggings?   Is this pants that just absorb most of the shock from a fall? Would they have to be large wraps that reach out like springs and almost act as an egg drop device for a squishy human body?  

Or Awakened wings? https://www.17thshard.com/forum/topic/116284-its-a-bird-its-a-plane-its-an-awakener/ That's not a shameless self promotion!

Or Awakened rope that will catch something and act like a bungee rope to decrease your energy. Awakened sheet of cloth to act like a parachute.

8 hours ago, Tamriel Wolfsbaine said:

Any other options people have in mind I may be missing?  

Fabrials of course. Primar cubes as well. Aons. Sleepless don't have to worry at all, their hordlings are so small that they'll reach terminal velocity before reaching deadly speeds. Or you know, any form of healing, just fall, break your body and heal, like Wayne did it in BoM.

[aetherbound he/him]

soulcast the ground into a trampoline

[Quantus he/him]

Be on Roshar, it has lower gravity, so reduced damage for a given fall distance. 

[aetherbound he/him]

12 hours ago, Trusk'our said:

 

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At the very least, Verdant Spores could be used similar to Sand Mastery's ribbons. Use a Spore gun, fire at the ground before you hit, create a cushion/bunsh of reaching vines to slow you down and stop you from becoming a puddle.

 

Kandra could potentially spit their bones out of all together as they fall and shield them with the softer parts of their body. The soft parts of their bodies heal and their bones walk away unscathed after they reassemble themselves.

Kandra could also create flaps like a flying squirrel and glide down safely.

A stupid way to survive fall damage - forge yourself to have never fallen in the first place.

[Trusk'our he/him]

3 minutes ago, Aetherbound said:

Kandra could also create flaps like a flying squirrel and glide down safely.

That could be interesting. I wonder what the people watching from the ground would think 

[alder24]

10 hours ago, Aetherbound said:

Kandra could also create flaps like a flying squirrel and glide down safely.

While they could, they're too heavy with too small surface area to do so. Wingsuits are like that and they always have to have parachutes to land safely.

10 hours ago, Aetherbound said:

A stupid way to survive fall damage - forge yourself to have never fallen in the first place.

That's not stupid, that's smart. Until you forgot to soulstamp yourself one day and die of fall injuries. That would be stupid.

[Tea Leaf]

2 hours ago, alder24 said:

While they could, they're too heavy with too small surface area to do so. Wingsuits are like that and they always have to have parachutes to land safely.

13 hours ago, Aetherbound said:

You can remove 15% of your weight by removing your bones, if you were to become just a massive kite with steering bones you probably could fly or at least float. The issue is that the Kandra no longer has bones.

[Quivil]

15 minutes ago, The Last Fæ said:

You can remove 15% of your weight by removing your bones, if you were to become just a massive kite with steering bones you probably could fly or at least float. The issue is that the Kandra no longer has bones.

Bones by themselves are strong enough to not break when they hit. What causes them to break when we fall is the fact that we tense up before hitting the ground, which prevents the bones from flexing as much - and then they just break. This is also why drunk people tend to walk away from car accidents while sober people get broken. So if the kandra got rid of all the muscles and turned themselves into a goopy jellyfish-with-bones-floating-around-inside-it, they and all their bones should survive just fine. They don't need to jettison the bones entirely.

[cometaryorbit]

I think a sufficiently skilled kandra could flatten out enough to have a safe terminal velocity, and still keep the bones in their body. They could get a surface area a lot larger than a wingsuit. And they're tougher than humans anyway.

However, most kandra in Era 1 can't do changes very quickly, and have only really learned to imitate humans. I still don't think a fall would kill one though (they're hard to kill with anything that doesn't directly destroy cells, like fire or acid).

[Tamriel Wolfsbaine]

I appreciate all of these responses! There is a ton to play around with here and some great ideas I hadn't thought about.