OK, so my monsters live at high altitude because too much oxygen bothers them. They also like heat - it's easier to magically heat a lair at to top of Everest-sized mountains than it is to magically thin the air in a jungle. So we have high altitude, low oxygen, heat-lovers. Now lets add humidity.
It all makes sense, since it's Fantasy, let's say our monsters are from another plane or something, and this is how they're setting up a home on a standard D&D world.
So our atmosphere is low on oxygen, high on water vapor, and very warm, though not dangerously hot.
What sort of rolls and checks would you expect the players to have to make to operate in such an environment? What sort of magical protections would be effective? I'm contimplating allowing Water Breathing to let PCs operate normally, or at a bonus to the checks, since the water vapor in the air would be converted to breathable air in their lungs.
Quote from: Name LipsOK, so my monsters live at high altitude because too much oxygen bothers them. They also like heat - it's easier to magically heat a lair at to top of Everest-sized mountains than it is to magically thin the air in a jungle. So we have high altitude, low oxygen, heat-lovers. Now lets add humidity.
It all makes sense, since it's Fantasy, let's say our monsters are from another plane or something, and this is how they're setting up a home on a standard D&D world.
So our atmosphere is low on oxygen, high on water vapor, and very warm, though not dangerously hot.
What sort of rolls and checks would you expect the players to have to make to operate in such an environment? What sort of magical protections would be effective? I'm contimplating allowing Water Breathing to let PCs operate normally, or at a bonus to the checks, since the water vapor in the air would be converted to breathable air in their lungs.
I suggest you get Frostburn, there are rules partaining to low-oxygen enviroments in it. I can't repost it here (not SRD material), but it involves Con checks to prevent fatigue and unconciousness. There is a feat in the book also, that allows people to ignore the con checks. And a prestige class suited for high mountain enviroments. This should be easy to emulate, even without Frostburn however, chose a decent DC that is not to high, say 15 to 20 depending on how hard you want it, make a roll each hour or so of ingame time, increasing it to once every 10 minutes during strenous activity. If there is time beforehand, and the players know that it is a low-oxygen environment, allow them to research a spell that will sorround them in a globe of fresh air.
Personally, I would think that Waterbreathing is not really useful. They aren't underwater after all.
Also, since the humidity is high, I would rule that visibility is reduced, give everything 10% concealment for each 10' or so between them.
Additionally, if the heat in the environment is produced by volcanic vents, sulphuric vapors should be mixed in with the thin air and mist, which would make firebased spells a little more effective, say +1 damage per dice.
Generally speaking they are going to suffer straight penalties across the board depending on just how thin the atmosphere gets. You lose your oxygen and you get weaker, dizzier and your focus diminishes. The more they exert themselves the more the penalty increases.
Quote from: Name LipsSo our atmosphere is low on oxygen, high on water vapor, and very warm, though not dangerously hot.
Sounds like high-altitude hot springs and geysers... ala Yellowstone Park, but higher.
Anyway, where I work, there's a slim chance of encoutnering oxygen dfeicent areas, due to cryogenic leaks. Here's a the training handout from our ODH Traingin couse. There's some good information there, to give you an idea about how low oxygen evironments might affect a person... ODH Safety Booklet (~8.0 MB .pdf) (http://www-esh.fnal.gov/CourseHandout_Mat/ODH_6_272.pdf)