Effects of being waist deep in water

[Oly]

I was wondering what the effects of being waist or chest deep in water would be? I'm not sure if it would be so far as to be a balance check or not but I'm thinking of restricting the use of dodge. Any suggestions?

 

[GhostWolf69]

Improvising on the spot I'd probably give them:

Waist Deep = 1/2 Movement and -2 penalty to all rolls incl. ToHit.
Chest Deep = 1/4 Movement unless they swim and -4 penalty to all rolls incl. ToHit.

Then again... the target for an attack might also be in the water just as deep... so maybe that ToHit penalty should be canceled out? Hmmm... lets make the penalty aply to AC as well then, so two combatants in the same water will be balanced against eachother just as if they were both on solid ground. While they would be in real trouble if they took a Spear attack from someone standing on the docks.

/wolf

 

[Jotenbjorn]

i would say give only half dodge. dodge requires the defender be able to move freely. while the character can still shuffle a little and move from the waist up, he certainly is hampered. a parrying character doesn't have to worry about this.

 

[urdinaran]

How about this:

waist high water -

-2 to hit, No DEX bonus to dodge (but would count as in cover from ranged attacks), 1/2 move rate

 

[Thoth Aw C'mon]

I was wondering what the effects of being waist or chest deep in water would be? I'm not sure if it would be so far as to be a balance check or not but I'm thinking of restricting the use of dodge. Any suggestions?

I'd say if the PCs are in the water for an extended period of time the GM should dock some CHA points due to the character getting all wrinkly and prunie.

 

[Thoth Aw C'mon]

I was wondering what the effects of being waist or chest deep in water would be? I'm not sure if it would be so far as to be a balance check or not but I'm thinking of restricting the use of dodge. Any suggestions?

Also, there is the issue of "shrinkage" that needs to be taken into account... :lol:

Haw haw! :wink:

 

[lastbesthope]

As well as effecting the TO hit and AC, wouldn't the water also have a DR effect, or do the other two take that into account???

LBH

 

[slaughterj]

Waist deep would have less impact on swinging to hit than chest deep where the weapons may or may not be swung underwater.

 

[Mark Dunder]

There is the problem of losing your footing, particularly in a river bed. Those rocks are slimy and slippery. Each fighter would need to make some sort of saving throw every time they moved.

 

[argo]

From the SRD section on "Wilderness, Weather, and Environment"

Bogs
If a square is part of a shallow bog, it has deep mud or standing water of about 1 foot in depth. It costs 2 squares of movement to move into a square with a shallow bog, and the DC of Tumble checks in such a square increases by 2.

A square that is part of a deep bog has roughly 4 feet of standing water. It costs Medium or larger creatures 4 squares of movement to move into a square with a deep bog, or characters can swim if they wish. Small or smaller creatures must swim to move through a deep bog. Tumbling is impossible in a deep bog.

The water in a deep bog provides cover for Medium or larger creatures. Smaller creatures gain improved cover (+8 bonus to AC, +4 bonus on Reflex saves). Medium or larger creatures can crouch as a move action to gain this improved cover. Creatures with this improved cover take a -10 penalty on attacks against creatures that aren’t underwater.

Deep bog squares are usually clustered together and surrounded by an irregular ring of shallow bog squares.

Both shallow and deep bogs increase the DC of Move Silently checks by 2.


Attacks from Land
Characters swimming, floating, or treading water on the surface, or wading in water at least chest deep, have improved cover (+8 bonus to AC, +4 bonus on Reflex saves) from opponents on land. Landbound opponents who have freedom of movement effects ignore this cover when making melee attacks against targets in the water. A completely submerged creature has total cover against opponents on land unless those opponents have freedom of movement effects. Magical effects are unaffected except for those that require attack rolls (which are treated like any other effects) and fire effects.

Hope that helps.

 

[Oly]

Thanks for all the responses.

I'm probably going to drift away from the SRD seeing as how Conan has broken AC into parry and dodge. Dodge I can see as being crippled in water, parry will be hindered but less so.

As GhostWolf69 suggests I'll limit movement down to 1/2 or 1/4. I may even just cut it down and say walking pace only. It seems easy enough to go through water at a normal walking pace it's when you try and run that I recall having problems (though you can do the Baywatch style slow-mo run, +2 CHA Thoth Aw C'mon?).

Dunderm's comment about slipping has turned me back to consider just using the balance rules, I'd like the chance for players to end up getting dunked.

Also, there is the issue of "shrinkage" that needs to be taken into account...

It's warm water so no, just no, no no no.....