Best rules for holding your breath?

Headless · December 13, 2017, 12:17:36 AM

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1013456wakka wakka wakka!

I'm glad somebody got it. I worked hard on that but all the other comments were drowning me out.

Gronan of Simmerya · December 13, 2017, 12:31:18 AM

Kick the player in the balls and then hold his head in the toilet. That's how long his character can hold his breath under combat conditions.

chirine ba kal · December 13, 2017, 12:35:56 AM

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1013464Kick the player in the balls and then hold his head in the toilet. That's how long his character can hold his breath under combat conditions.

I'm big on this method and I can think of a player or three I'd love to try it out on. Would a bucket of water be all right, if I don't have a toilet within arm's reach?

Gronan of Simmerya · December 13, 2017, 12:37:07 AM

Oh, very well!

chirine ba kal · December 13, 2017, 12:43:17 AM

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1013467Oh, very well!

Good; I want to make sure that I am using the Official, Authorized, and Approved For Tournament Play method, and avoiding BadWrongFun.

So, answer me this, O Oracle Of Gaming: New School RPGs use toilets, Old School RPGs use buckets, and us Pre-School Gaming types use the south forty? Just wanting to make sure I get it right for my next game...

Gronan of Simmerya · December 13, 2017, 12:52:25 AM

Or concrete galoshes!

chirine ba kal · December 13, 2017, 12:57:57 AM

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1013475Or concrete galoshes!

Ah! Gaming with the folks in New York and Chicago, then?

Omega · December 13, 2017, 02:17:34 AM

Having drown once, (I GOT BETTER!) I can tell you that it is not something I care to try again. My mom though could hold her breath an absurd amount of time. We later found out it was because she had extra large lungs. Could scream really well too. :eek:

All in all though 5es system isnt bad. It just about maps to human norm. The average Joe with a CON of 12 can hold their breath for 2 minutes. The max at 20 CON is 6 minutes and a Barbarian level 20 can possibly get up to 8 minutes with a 24 CON. Halve it for exertion and double it for extensive prep.

Steven Mitchell · December 13, 2017, 12:02:01 PM

Quote from: chirine ba kal;1013471Good; I want to make sure that I am using the Official, Authorized, and Approved For Tournament Play method, and avoiding BadWrongFun.

So, answer me this, O Oracle Of Gaming: New School RPGs use toilets, Old School RPGs use buckets, and us Pre-School Gaming types use the south forty? Just wanting to make sure I get it right for my next game...

A #3 washtub fits in that list somewhere. A lot better than a bucket. Will fit up to 3 players at once. You might even trick them into doing the work for you, if you throw a few apples in the tub first.

zx81 · December 15, 2017, 04:45:45 AM

This thread gave me a lot to think about, especially the amount of time one could last without air.
Let me ask this: how long do you expect an average PC to be able to hold his breath?
The game is D&D or Magic World, and the PC is doing basic activities like swimming under water; picking up coins from the bottom; or jogging (the last one obviously not under water - maybe holding ones breath in a cloud of gas).
I dont think I will bother with different times for rest or fighting.

Omega · December 15, 2017, 08:51:41 AM

About 1/2 5e's times should more or less simulate holding breath while doing stuff like swimming or running.
So half a minute for CON 10-11, 1 min for Con 12-13 and so on, and anyone under CON 10 is a quarter minute.

zx81 · December 15, 2017, 10:13:45 AM

Quote from: Omega;1013908About 1/2 5e's times should more or less simulate holding breath while doing stuff like swimming or running.
So half a minute for CON 10-11, 1 min for Con 12-13 and so on, and anyone under CON 10 is a quarter minute.

My houserule is pretty close to that, so I wasn´t too far off then.
For combat I could give them breathpoints equal to CON, and each round spends 1d3-1 points.

RPGPundit · December 17, 2017, 12:54:56 AM

In games I always do 1 (6-second) round per point of CON, after which you have to start making saves vs drowning.

As people pointed out, with training it is fairly easy to increase how long you can hold your breath.

I'm not a master yogi, but have trained enough that I can very easily hold my breath for 45 seconds and with some difficulty for well over a minute with no prior preparation, and for about double that if I spend about 5 minutes doing pranayama beforehand. If I do pranayama for about 15 to 20 minutes I can reduce my breathing to about 2 breath cycles per minute.

soltakss · December 17, 2017, 06:19:44 AM

Quote from: Headless;1012688Make them hold their breath in real life. When the player breaths the character drowns.

Its realistic but it does make it hard to describe their actions.

I have asthma, my PC doesn't. I am not physically well-developed, my PC has CON 18.

Generally, I am completely against this kind of ruling, unless I am proving that something is possible in a game.

joriandrake · December 17, 2017, 06:29:22 AM

Quote from: RPGPundit;1014286In games I always do 1 (6-second) round per point of CON, after which you have to start making saves vs drowning.

Do you mean saves vs losing consciousness or actual death?

Quote from: soltakss;1014330I have asthma, my PC doesn't. I am not physically well-developed, my PC has CON 18.

Generally, I am completely against this kind of ruling, unless I am proving that something is possible in a game.

In an earlier post in this thread I tried to be as clear as possible why that rule/idea is terrible and dangerous.