AKA why yes, Matt Mercer was correct to kill Keyleth when she jumped off a cliff and turned into a goldfish, but turning into a goldfish is still a pretty viable strategy for surviving that, not because it’s a fish but because it’s tiny.
[for screen readers: video is an animation set to an audio clip from Critical Role. The druid Keyleth jumps incautiously off a cliff over the ocean and realizes she is falling towards the slope of the cliff face. She uses Gust to push herself out but is still heading towards the rocks at the foot of the cliff. She turns herself into a goldfish, hits the rock, takes 360 points of fall damage, and is insta-killed]
OK, so, there are a few things going on here. I do actually think Matt made the correct call here according to physics, biology, and the rules of 5th Edition. However…. there are lots of cases where I think the 5e rules handle fall damage poorly, and size Tiny creatures absolutely fall into that category. There was a way for Keyleth to use the goldfish beast shape here that would have accomplished what she was trying to do.
Topics Explored Below Cut:
1. Let’s talk about what terminal velocity is 2. Size tiny creatures have low terminal velocity and a high surface area to volume ratio 3. Tiny creatures can survive falls from remarkable heights 3a. If Keyleth had been a goldfish the whole time she was falling (rather than turning into one at the end) she probably would have survived. 4. Rule suggestions: You could try incrementing the damage dice for fall damage based on the size OR it might be easier to just exempt tiny creatures from fall damage and insta-KO huge and larger ones (wings make it fiddly though)
funeral-biscuit 