Swimming is not difficult terrain. It just inherently cost 1ft extra without a swim speed. This is an important distinction because it stacks with difficult terrain in regards to rough waters, causing each 1ft of move to instead cost 3 ft
Love this! I've always loved the idea of running a nautical-themed campaign, but struggled to think of ways to expand beyond encounters at sea between destinations. This gives me a lot to think about. Thanks for taking the time to lay it out!
Great video! A good idea for an (partially) underwater campaign where the party will have some means to negate the difficulty of being underwater, is to have at least a combat underwater with all disadvantages, so that they get a feel of how difficult it is. E.g. their ship is sunk and they need to fight Sauhagins with all disadvantages that exist underwater, and soon afterwards they are blessed with waterbreathing by a triton shaman.
Also if a creature is submerged in water, whether in a lake or perhaps jumping into a rain barrel, it gains resistance to fire damage. Per environmental rules in the DMG. bad placement in the book, it’s literally the last sentence if I remember correctly.
The reference is the last sentence under underwater combat rules in the PHB pg 198, I thought it was in the DMG. As far as electrical spells, I haven’t found anything regarding that. There are several references talking about the effects of deep waters on creatures without swim speeds traveling at 100-200ft causing taking up 2 hours of travel time per hour, and 2001ft+ counting as 4 hours each. After that there’s a reference for encounter distance being 60 and 30 feet for bright/dim light conditions in clear water, 10 ft in murky or dark water. Frigid water can be a good way to add some excitement to an environment. A creature without cold immunity/resistance has to make DC 10 con saves for every minute over its CON mod in minutes against exhaustion. Thin ice has a 3d10X10 pound weight per 10ft square. Go over that weight, everyone goes under
This was helpful. My party at level 6 explored a series of tunnels used by the thieves Guild that run the realm. At level 11 they were exploring a flooded forest and came across a dragon turtle whom they killed and revealed a hidden tunnel that quickly flooded and drained the forest. Now at level 14 They have discovered that the underground tunnel system has been flooded because of the actions with the turtle and have to go down through the system to save a group of deep gnomes that helped them when they explored the tunnels at level 6. They are high enough where 2 of them have the spell for underwater breathing but now I am excited to utilize the exhaustion and the lower swim speed. Anyways, thanks for the quick and clear break down.
Awesome video and super informative. Wish we could play together. You seem awesome. Our group has 9 people though LOL so that’s not an option. D&D forever!!!
Steam damage from fire ball could be worse than a burn from fire. Being surrounded by boiling water could be a DOT if you don't leave the area or if no current of cold water replaces it. Plus natural creatures adapted to cold water would avoid oxygen poor/hot water and be more likely to leave you alone. Like a campfire deters wolves. Fire spells could actually be MORE effective underwater. Being magic, it's physics aren't the same as bombs and guns. Plus, phosphorous burns underwater, as does sodium. There are explosives that could not only work underwater but also do damage from compression waves (ear damage, stun, KO) relative to the size of the sphere it makes when it explodes.
So what happens when you go to zero hit points due to combat damage and not due to suffocation? Can you still be magically healed and wake up? Or do the rules against you regaining hit points still apply?
@@ImaginaryJeremy well that sounds like a big oversight by them. But it is very helpful to know with some confidence that that oversight exists, so thank you for letting me know. I guess I need to do some research into whether or not people in real life will continue to hold their breath if knocked unconscious while underwater
I think its intended to prevent the evil idea of trapping and torturing creatures by drowning and healing them again and again. simular idea would be you should not heal your friend that had a arrow in their throat or in them still
What do you do about wearing heavy armour and carrying weapons as well as equipment while swimming? Do you just ignore it completely and swim like normal?
If I recall offhand there’s no penalty really for armor but if you’re just swimming through water and a check is required medium & heavy armor grant disadvantage. I think considering it difficult terrain is RAW. So each 1 foot of movements costs 2 feet. Cutting that further or imposing limits like saves against exhaustion after a certain amount of time in the water would probably make sense :)
@@ImaginaryJeremy Thanks. I took my plate armour off and left it there so I could swim without drowning so getting a swim rate penalty instead sounds much better for future missions.
Swimming is not difficult terrain. It just inherently cost 1ft extra without a swim speed.
This is an important distinction because it stacks with difficult terrain in regards to rough waters, causing each 1ft of move to instead cost 3 ft
Love this! I've always loved the idea of running a nautical-themed campaign, but struggled to think of ways to expand beyond encounters at sea between destinations. This gives me a lot to think about. Thanks for taking the time to lay it out!
Hey, no worries! Glad I could help :) Hope this helps get you set up for Saltmarsh or your own campaign!
Water breathing is such a simple spell cast as a ritual and last all day
Great video! A good idea for an (partially) underwater campaign where the party will have some means to negate the difficulty of being underwater, is to have at least a combat underwater with all disadvantages, so that they get a feel of how difficult it is. E.g. their ship is sunk and they need to fight Sauhagins with all disadvantages that exist underwater, and soon afterwards they are blessed with waterbreathing by a triton shaman.
Absolutely! This is a great principle for setting up narrative/mechanics in all respects! Great point, Nils!
Also if a creature is submerged in water, whether in a lake or perhaps jumping into a rain barrel, it gains resistance to fire damage. Per environmental rules in the DMG.
bad placement in the book, it’s literally the last sentence if I remember correctly.
Does it say anything about electrical spells or do I have to house rule it?
The reference is the last sentence under underwater combat rules in the PHB pg 198, I thought it was in the DMG.
As far as electrical spells, I haven’t found anything regarding that. There are several references talking about the effects of deep waters on creatures without swim speeds traveling at 100-200ft causing taking up 2 hours of travel time per hour, and 2001ft+ counting as 4 hours each.
After that there’s a reference for encounter distance being 60 and 30 feet for bright/dim light conditions in clear water, 10 ft in murky or dark water.
Frigid water can be a good way to add some excitement to an environment. A creature without cold immunity/resistance has to make DC 10 con saves for every minute over its CON mod in minutes against exhaustion.
Thin ice has a 3d10X10 pound weight per 10ft square. Go over that weight, everyone goes under
Bobby Baker h b
On land you can be attacked from eight directions, in the water maybe from 26 directions. Pirahnas become more frightening!
This was helpful. My party at level 6 explored a series of tunnels used by the thieves Guild that run the realm. At level 11 they were exploring a flooded forest and came across a dragon turtle whom they killed and revealed a hidden tunnel that quickly flooded and drained the forest. Now at level 14 They have discovered that the underground tunnel system has been flooded because of the actions with the turtle and have to go down through the system to save a group of deep gnomes that helped them when they explored the tunnels at level 6. They are high enough where 2 of them have the spell for underwater breathing but now I am excited to utilize the exhaustion and the lower swim speed. Anyways, thanks for the quick and clear break down.
Cool video, helped me think of how to get my players ready for some big underwater fights. Thanks!
Thanks! Glad I could help. Have fun!
This is helpful! A party I'm DMing decided to jump into the water to try and get a drop on the enemies so this helps a lot!
Glad I could help! Have a good game!
Very helpful video. I am DMing an underwater one shot this weekend and this got me thinking about some aspects that I had not considered yet.
Glad to hear I could help! Good luck with the one-shot! I hope it goes well! Did you write it yourself?
@@ImaginaryJeremy The one shot was co-written by my husband and me. He's not participating though as it's for a Ladies Night (Mermaid theme 😅)
Haha, very cool! Have fun!
what a great briefing! suscribed and thanks for all that info, now i will run into Devourer submarine temple! wish me luck
Hey, thanks! Consider your luck, wished!
Jeff kaplan?
I get that a lot
xD I'm not the only one who thought that
Great angle to explore - thanks!
Thank you! Glad you dug it!
xD I'm not the only one who thought that
Awesome video and super informative. Wish we could play together. You seem awesome. Our group has 9 people though LOL so that’s not an option. D&D forever!!!
Thanks Nate! That's all very nice of you to say. 9 people is a huge group! I really appreciate the sentiment :)
My little sisters conned me to doing an ocean campaign so this will probably come in handy
Hope so! Have fun, Anne! And tell your little sisters good work ;)
Good video! Helped me out alot!
Glad to hear it!
Do centaur monks swim good?
Thanks, this video was really helpful 😁
Happy to help!
How fast can one travel to the bottom of the lake if it were 500-ft deep?
6 secs by rock.
This is amazing man. I'm planning to run an entirely underwater campaign at some point in the future and wanted to know if I was missing anything
Thanks, man! Glad I could help!
Can i use fireball?
Probably depends on your DM!
Asking the real questions
I'd say fire type spells only do half damage unless it's a critical and water type spells are automatic crits unless it's a 1.
Steam damage from fire ball could be worse than a burn from fire. Being surrounded by boiling water could be a DOT if you don't leave the area or if no current of cold water replaces it.
Plus natural creatures adapted to cold water would avoid oxygen poor/hot water and be more likely to leave you alone. Like a campfire deters wolves. Fire spells could actually be MORE effective underwater. Being magic, it's physics aren't the same as bombs and guns.
Plus, phosphorous burns underwater, as does sodium. There are explosives that could not only work underwater but also do damage from compression waves (ear damage, stun, KO) relative to the size of the sphere it makes when it explodes.
So what happens when you go to zero hit points due to combat damage and not due to suffocation? Can you still be magically healed and wake up? Or do the rules against you regaining hit points still apply?
I'm unsure if that's covered by RAW! I'd say it's up to the GM to decide.
@@ImaginaryJeremy well that sounds like a big oversight by them. But it is very helpful to know with some confidence that that oversight exists, so thank you for letting me know. I guess I need to do some research into whether or not people in real life will continue to hold their breath if knocked unconscious while underwater
I think its intended to prevent the evil idea of trapping and torturing creatures by drowning and healing them again and again. simular idea would be you should not heal your friend that had a arrow in their throat or in them still
What do you do about wearing heavy armour and carrying weapons as well as equipment while swimming? Do you just ignore it completely and swim like normal?
If I recall offhand there’s no penalty really for armor but if you’re just swimming through water and a check is required medium & heavy armor grant disadvantage. I think considering it difficult terrain is RAW. So each 1 foot of movements costs 2 feet. Cutting that further or imposing limits like saves against exhaustion after a certain amount of time in the water would probably make sense :)
@@ImaginaryJeremy Thanks. I took my plate armour off and left it there so I could swim without drowning so getting a swim rate penalty instead sounds much better for future missions.
@@Duncangkcl Good thinking, though! Now your character's figured out in game that it'll probably be fine ;)
I thought heavy objects were easier to lift under water due to bouyancy, with salt water being denser and being even more bouyant.
More cat pls. Alsp good vid
Haha, thank you! The cat will likely make more appearances
If you want to encourage underwater exploration, give your players an Apparatus of Kwalish
annoying audio problems, i would have liked to finish watching