Environmental Effects: Difference between revisions
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== Environmental Damage == | == Environmental Damage == | ||
Hazardous environments can inflict damage to characters attempting to pass through them. In general, this damage is treated identically to normal damage, with the exception that some equipment specifically provides resistance to environmental damage, while providing no resistance to normal damage. An example of this is a tent, which reduces environmental damage by 5 points. This is treated as ER 5/- and DR 5/-, but only for purposes of resisting damage caused by environmental effects. If a mountain troll comes along and smashes the camper in the face with a rock, the tent won't help at all. | Hazardous environments can inflict damage to characters attempting to pass through them. In general, this damage is treated identically to normal damage, with the exception that some equipment specifically provides resistance to environmental damage, while providing no resistance to normal damage. An example of this is a tent, which reduces environmental damage by 5 points. This is treated as ER 5/- and DR 5/-, but only for purposes of resisting damage caused by environmental effects. If a mountain troll comes along and smashes the camper in the face with a rock, the tent won't help at all. | ||
==Endurance Feat== | |||
Special mention must be made of the [[Endurance (Feat)]]. This feat gives you resistance to non-lethal damage, and that resistance applies to ALL forms of non-lethal environmental damage, even if you have fallen unconscious and would normally be taking lethal damage! Yes, Endurance lets you basically ignore the effects of environmental cold and heat once you get high enough level, and that is exactly how it is intended to work. Environmental damage, since it is usually Non-Lethal, is terribly insidious and can be EXTREMELY difficult to endure. The Endurance feat is almost the only way to do so, and in harsh climate campaigns, it is amazingly useful. | |||
Now against [[fire]] and [[cold]] damage, such as from a wildfire, or against [[falling]] damage, as from an avalanche or falling objects, the Endurance feat is less useful.... | |||
==Altitude== | ==Altitude== | ||
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* '''''Low Pass (lower than 5,000 feet):''''' Most travel in low mountains takes place in low passes, a zone consisting largely of alpine meadows and forests. Travelers might find the going difficult (which is reflected in the movement modifiers for traveling through mountains), but the altitude itself has no game effect. | * '''''Low Pass (lower than 5,000 feet):''''' Most travel in low mountains takes place in low passes, a zone consisting largely of alpine meadows and forests. Travelers might find the going difficult (which is reflected in the movement modifiers for traveling through mountains), but the altitude itself has no game effect. | ||
* '''''Low Peak or High Pass (5,000 to 15,000 feet):''''' Ascending to the highest slopes of low mountains, or most normal travel through high mountains, falls into this category. Most creatures labor to breathe in the thin air at this altitude. Each hour spent traveling at this altitude inflicts 1d6 points of environmental | * '''''Low Peak or High Pass (5,000 to 15,000 feet):''''' Ascending to the highest slopes of low mountains, or most normal travel through high mountains, falls into this category. Most creatures labor to breathe in the thin air at this altitude. Each hour spent traveling at this altitude inflicts 1d6 points of environmental non-lethal damage due to exposure. Furthermore, characters may only travel at this altitude a number of hours equal to their CON modifier before becoming [[fatigued]]. The fatigue ends after a full night's rest, or when the character descends to an altitude with more air. Acclimated characters can travel at this altitude for an additional 4 hours before becoming fatigued, and can reduce the environmental non-lethal by 1 point per hour. | ||
* '''''High Peak (more than 15,000 feet):''''' The highest mountains exceed 15,000 feet in height. At these elevations, creatures are subject to both high altitude fatigue (as described above) and altitude sickness, whether or not they're acclimated to high altitudes. Altitude sickness represents the inimical nature of such heights to normal life, and affects mental and physical prowess. Each hour spent traveling at this altitude, characters suffer 3d6 points of environmental | * '''''High Peak (more than 15,000 feet):''''' The highest mountains exceed 15,000 feet in height. At these elevations, creatures are subject to both high altitude fatigue (as described above) and altitude sickness, whether or not they're acclimated to high altitudes. Altitude sickness represents the inimical nature of such heights to normal life, and affects mental and physical prowess. Each hour spent traveling at this altitude, characters suffer 3d6 points of environmental non-lethal damage due to exposure, and must make a [[Might]] check versus a [[Skill DC|Challenging]] DC for their level or become [[Exhausted]]. The exhausted condition persists until a full night's rest. Creatures acclimated to high altitude receive a +4 competence bonus on their might checks to resist altitude sickness, and can reduce the environmental cold damage by 1 point per hour, but eventually even seasoned mountaineers must abandon these dangerous elevations. | ||
In all cases, if you are rendered [[unconscious]] by the non-lethal high altitude damage, you begin taking this non-lethal damage as lethal damage! It's almost primal.... | |||
==Avalanche== | ==Avalanche== | ||
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Nothing will put some tension into a game like a raging prairie fire sweeping over the horizon! Wildfires can happen in many ways, such as vast forest fires, volcanoes huffing out pyroclastic flows, the dawning of Furnace, enemy actors setting blazes, and many other things beside. Once a large fire gets going, its nearly unstoppable and unbeatable, so the players just have to deal with it, rather than fight it. | Nothing will put some tension into a game like a raging prairie fire sweeping over the horizon! Wildfires can happen in many ways, such as vast forest fires, volcanoes huffing out pyroclastic flows, the dawning of Furnace, enemy actors setting blazes, and many other things beside. Once a large fire gets going, its nearly unstoppable and unbeatable, so the players just have to deal with it, rather than fight it. | ||
The leading edge of a fire (the downwind side) can advance faster than a human can run (assume 120 feet per round for winds of moderate strength). | The leading edge of a fire (the downwind side) can advance faster than a human can run (assume 120 feet per round for winds of moderate strength). The exact speed of any fire is left to the GM to determine, and can be fairly slow to incredibly fast. Hey, at least Wildfire HAS a speed, unlike avalanches.... Note that it is not possible to fly over a Wildfire! Such large fire have heat and smoke that reach essentially so high that you will start suffering from altitude exposure (see above) before you get out of the wildfire effects. Nasty! | ||
Within the bounds of a wildfire, a character faces three dangers: heat damage, catching on fire, and smoke inhalation: | Within the bounds of a wildfire, a character faces three dangers: heat damage, catching on fire, and smoke inhalation: | ||
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===Catching on Fire=== | ===Catching on Fire=== | ||
::Characters engulfed in a forest fire suffer the [[Burned]] condition, with the CR determined by the CR of the area being travelled through. This condition cannot be removed until they are out of the area of the wildfire. | ::Characters engulfed in a forest fire suffer the [[Burned]] condition, with the CR determined by the CR of the area being travelled through. This condition cannot be removed until they are out of the area of the wildfire. This damage can always be resisted, thankfully. | ||
===Smoke Inhalation=== | ===Smoke Inhalation=== | ||
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Note that in most cases, environmental heat on a material plane ends when the sun goes down...although is many environments, that just means now you have to endure Environmental Cold. It is possible to encounter extreme heat that lasts through the night, but such things are rarer on the Prime material. | |||
reviewed to here | reviewed to here | ||