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[Chevaleresse]

Now, of course you want something IN the pit eventually, but how many Z-levels should a pit be dug so that if your average elf/gobbo/etc is dropped into it, it will die or be hopelessly crippled from the fall?

[Grahar]

In my experience, you can't make them deep enough. For Goblins I would say ten levels at least (if they have no armor). More if they do. You can put upright spikes on the bottom of the pit, it increases the chances of the victim being hurt, but if they survive they will be weapon masters. If you make a small pit, goblins will drop on the head of the previous goblin, injuring them.
Always secure the access to the bottom of the pit (with a drawbridge), so if someone survives, they don't enter your fortress. If you got spikes, you can link them to a lever, which you can use to eradicate survivors in the pit.

[Astrid]

Got an habit of digging my 1x1 pits 34 levels deep, whatever arrives down there is insta gibbed and splattered all across the room instantly.

[Chevaleresse]

In my experience, you can't make them deep enough. For Goblins I would say ten levels at least (if they have no armor). More if they do. You can put upright spikes on the bottom of the pit, it increases the chances of the victim being hurt, but if they survive they will be weapon masters. If you make a small pit, goblins will drop on the head of the previous goblin, injuring them.
Always secure the access to the bottom of the pit (with a drawbridge), so if someone survives, they don't enter your fortress. If you got spikes, you can link them to a lever, which you can use to eradicate survivors in the pit.

Oh yeah, the Shaft of Enlightenment bug.

Thanks, I'll do that.

[Panando]

As a rule 2 will normally cause injuries but doesn't often kill. 20 will nearly always kill. At a certain depth it becomes invariably lethal as the victim explodes on impact, a condition difficult to survive.

It should be noted that with pits, you can dig them out using up/down stairs. Once a victim is in freefall it will fall down (really; through) stairs as if they weren't there. This makes it a lot easier to designate. You just dig the shaft as up/down stairs, channel the top layer of floors, and remove the topmost layer of upstairs to create a 1-z open space to start the falling process. You'd probably also remove the stairs from the bottommost layer to stop anything using the staircases.

Apparently also, using a heavier material for floors results in more pain. A constructed lead floor will deal more damage than a constructed featherwood floor.

[Chevaleresse]

At a certain depth it becomes invariably lethal as the victim explodes on impact, a condition difficult to survive.

I don't know why but I love this. Sigged.

[Melting Sky]

I find at about 6 Z levels the pit will rarely kill but often cripple and always injure. It depends how you plan to use it as far as how deep it should be. Pave the floor with lead or gold to increase lethality and or increase the depth. Magma at the bottom will kill all but the inorganic monstrosities. Spears on repeaters will kill everything eventually.

I use my dodge pits first as defense but also for training my military. I generally make them about 6 Z levels deep since I want the fall to injure the enemy a bit to keep them from getting in a lucky hit at the start of the fight since they are armed. Injured organic foes are generally easy targets. Just watch out for the goblin weapon lords. They should probably be used for ranged practice rather than melee.