Environmental Effects: Difference between revisions

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==Water==
==Water==
Any character can wade in relatively calm water that isn't over his head, no check required. Similarly, swimming in calm water only requires Swim skill checks with a DC of 10. Trained swimmers can just take 10. Remember, however, that armor or heavy gear makes any attempt at swimming much more difficult (see the Swim skill description).


By contrast, fast-moving water is much more dangerous. Characters must make a successful DC 15 Swim check or a DC 15 Strength check to avoid going under. On a failed check, the character takes 1d3 points of [[Non-Lethal Damage]] per round (1d6 points of lethal damage if flowing over rocks and cascades).
See the [[Movement]] skill for most interactions with fairly shallow (less than a hundred feet) water, or similar fluids.


Very deep water is not only generally pitch black, posing a navigational hazard, but worse, deals water pressure damage of 1d6 points per minute for every 100 feet the character is below the surface. A successful Fortitude save (DC 15, +1 for each previous check) means the diver takes no damage in that minute. Very cold water deals 1d6 points of Non-Lethal Damage from hypothermia per minute of exposure.
Very deep water is not only generally pitch black, inflicting [[blind]] to all light-depended visual senses, but worse, deals water pressure [[crushing]] damage of 1d6 points per minute for every 100 feet the character is below the surface. Very cold water also deals 1d6 points of Non-Lethal Damage from hypothermia per minute of exposure, and if a character goes unconscious due to this insidious cold, they then start taking it as lethal damage, even though it is coded as non-lethal, bypassing most defenses.


===Drowning===
===Drowning===


Downing in water is exactly like Suffocation. See above for those rules.
If you don't bring a supply of air, or have some way of breathing in the water or other liquid you're swimming through, you start to Drown after one minute.
 
Drowning in water is exactly like Suffocation. See above for those rules.


Note that it is possible to drown in substances other than water, such as sand, quicksand, fine dust, gigantic piles of gold and jewels, blood, acid, and silos full of grain, just to name a few possibilities.
Note that it is possible to drown in substances other than water, such as sand, quicksand, fine dust, gigantic piles of gold and jewels, blood, acid, and silos full of grain, just to name a few possibilities.
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===Fast-Flowing Water===
===Fast-Flowing Water===


Large, placid rivers move at only a few miles per hour, so they function as still water for most purposes. But some rivers and streams are swifter; anything floating in them moves downstream at a speed of 10 to 40 feet per round. The fastest rapids send swimmers bobbing downstream at 60 to 90 feet per round. Fast rivers are always at least rough water (Swim DC 15), and whitewater rapids are stormy water (Swim DC 20). If a character is in moving water, move her downstream the indicated distance at the end of her turn. A character trying to maintain her position relative to the riverbank can spend some or all of her turn swimming upstream.
Large, placid rivers move at only a few miles per hour, so they function as still water for most purposes. But some rivers and streams are swifter; anything floating in them moves downstream at a speed of 10 to 40 feet per round (typically set in advance by the GM, although eddies and rapids might have varying water speeds every few seconds). This is treated as a [[Push]] in the downstream direction that cannot be opposed by Forced Movement resistance, unless you can get your feet on a solid bottom.  The fastest rapids send swimmers bobbing downstream at 60 to 90 feet per round. See the [[Movement]] skill for swimming in rough water.
 
in a row. Characters arrested by a rock, limb, or snag can't escape under their own power unless they strike out into the water and attempt to swim their way clear. Other characters can rescue them as if they were trapped in quicksand (see Marsh Terrain.)


===Floods/Flooding===
Swept Away: Characters swept away by a river moving 60 feet per round or faster suffers according to the [[Collision]] rules as they are bashed about in the water. A character may make a [[Might]] check as if trying to catch themselves while falling as they are swept away. The distance moved each round before the Might check is made is set each round by rolling a d8 times five feet, and that sets the difficulty of the Might check (this can be less than DC20 in this case).  When a Might check succeeds, they arrest their motion by catching a rock, tree limb, or bottom snag, and can escape the sudden flow.


See also: Fast-flowing water


In many wilderness areas, river floods are a common occurrence. In spring, an enormous snowmelt can engorge the streams and rivers it feeds. Other catastrophic events such as massive rainstorms or the destruction of a dam can create floods as well.
===Flashflood===


During a flood, rivers become wider, deeper, and swifter. Assume that a river rises by 1d10+10 feet during the spring flood, and its width increases by a factor of water becomes rough, and rough water becomes stormy). Rivers also become 50% swifter.
A Flashflood is just like a Tsunami, except it can happen almost anywhere. Yay!  A horrible avalanche of water and debris that Suffocates anyone it catches!  Yay!

Revision as of 20:45, 12 December 2018

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