Swimming and Combat
Posted: Sat May 11, 2019 5:24 am
In an upcoming session my players are going to be fighting something underwater. I have some ideas sketched out on how to handle this, but wanted feedback.
The world implied by the core rulebook is probably one in which most people can't swim and would only be a trained skill to those with the relevant occupation. However, it's already going to be hard enough to fight a Leviathan underwater so I am fine saying that all characters (levels 4-5) have the ability to roll this trained under the notion that they are capable of heroic feats at this point.
Swimming
When characters enter the water they must make a Swimming check (1d20 + Str Mod). This allows them to make a single movement and maintain position afterwards.
The base DC is 10, which allows them to take a normal action but they receive no Agility bonus to their AC.
Characters who roll 15+ get their Agility modifier to AC.
Moving will require another check, which uses an action die.
Failure means the character cannot move or maintain position but spends the round flailing wildly.
If a character rolls a natural 1 on their swim check, they begin Drowning (see below).
Drowning
Characters can hold their breath for a number of rounds equal to their Stamina score divided by 2 (ie, a character with 10 stamina has 5 rounds before they begin drowning).
Characters who are drowning suffer 1dX damage/round where X is equal to their Hit Die.
Characters who are drowning cannot attempt any action and also count as withdrawing from the combat as they begin sinking to the bottom of the sea.
Spellcasting Underwater
It is still possible, but is done at -1d on the die chain due to the muddying of speech and movement being less agile. Additionally, any turn in which a character casts a spell advances counts as two rounds for the purposes of tracking when they begin drowning.
Thoughts?
The world implied by the core rulebook is probably one in which most people can't swim and would only be a trained skill to those with the relevant occupation. However, it's already going to be hard enough to fight a Leviathan underwater so I am fine saying that all characters (levels 4-5) have the ability to roll this trained under the notion that they are capable of heroic feats at this point.
Swimming
When characters enter the water they must make a Swimming check (1d20 + Str Mod). This allows them to make a single movement and maintain position afterwards.
The base DC is 10, which allows them to take a normal action but they receive no Agility bonus to their AC.
Characters who roll 15+ get their Agility modifier to AC.
Moving will require another check, which uses an action die.
Failure means the character cannot move or maintain position but spends the round flailing wildly.
If a character rolls a natural 1 on their swim check, they begin Drowning (see below).
Drowning
Characters can hold their breath for a number of rounds equal to their Stamina score divided by 2 (ie, a character with 10 stamina has 5 rounds before they begin drowning).
Characters who are drowning suffer 1dX damage/round where X is equal to their Hit Die.
Characters who are drowning cannot attempt any action and also count as withdrawing from the combat as they begin sinking to the bottom of the sea.
Spellcasting Underwater
It is still possible, but is done at -1d on the die chain due to the muddying of speech and movement being less agile. Additionally, any turn in which a character casts a spell advances counts as two rounds for the purposes of tracking when they begin drowning.
Thoughts?