Freedom of Movement and water pressure

[Reyzoul Soulstorm]

In Wake of the Watcher installment of the Carrion Crown adventure path, it states on page 46 that "freedom of movement" is proof against the damaging effects of water pressure.

I cant' find any evidence that supports this however. Am I missing something? I plan on using it for this purpose tomorrow and would rather avoid a long discussion if its clearly spelled out somewhere in the core rules.

[Morgen]

Well the mod can just say that happens and it's just fine. It certainly isn't unreasonable to have that effect from water pressure and the PC's will likely have enough to worry about even with Freedom of Movement.

What exactly are you trying to do?

[Reyzoul Soulstorm]

I am researching the needed gear to launch an operation to retrieve underwater sunken treasure..

I was positive that there was a spell which protected against water pressure, and had to do some research to come up with that answer from Wake of the Watchers.. by the way it is noted in that paragraph... it is not noted in the module as something to inform the players about. It is not mentioned as an explanation to something the NPC's are doing.. it is stated in a way, in my opinion, as an off hand reminder to what is assumed most everyone should know... (except that hardly anyone ever actually needs to know underwater environments.. so here's the reminder).. that freedom of movement protects against water pressure.

And if that's the case.. that's wonderful.

5x scroll of freedom of movement
5x scroll of water breathing

and we are good to go!

I can combine underwater breathing with freedom of movement, both last for hours.. I can buy those for the whole party, and probably I can get everything we need done in the hours the spells will last. In my back pocket is an alternative that I will not buy for the whole party... elemental body I - water elemental.

I could instead go with life-bubble which gives you water breathing, protection from pressure and cold.. but doesn't give you freedom of movement features *so making melee attacks are still going to be a problem*.. the biggest issue here is that it is a 5th level spell. That is an issue because it is possibly unavailable as the city description claims 8th level spell casting.. and even more importantly, really hard for me to cast myself as I am using use-magic-device.

Yes I know wands are much easier to use with UMD.. (for spells of lvl 4th and less) I just don't know *yet* if we are allowed to buy partially charged wands in this campaign. I would guess that we can't.. If it were my campaign I wouldn't allow it.

[James Risner]

Reyzoul Soulstorm wrote:

I cant' find any evidence that supports this however.

"The spell also allows the subject to move and attack normally while underwater"

The pressure is one of the issues with being underwater. The force or friction if you will of the water is what makes it hard to move underwater. The spell allows you to essentially pretend the water doesn't exist.

[Reyzoul Soulstorm]

that might be the line which is not quite clear... I'm not sure.. i mean obviously that line makes it clear that you take no penalties to movement or melee attacks due to being underwater.. got that.

The effect I am trying to avoid is the 1d6 damage per minute per 100ft the character is below the surface. This damage effect due to pressure is mentioned on page 445 of the core rulebook... and the wake of the watchers reference (half way down the 2nd column on page 46) claims freedom of movement protects you from this.

[James Risner]

Reyzoul Soulstorm wrote:

avoid is the 1d6 damage per minute per 100ft

I understand. My point is that in order for pressure to deal damage, it must apply pressure. Since it is not doing so for the purpose of movement, it certainly makes more sense that it isn't doing so for other effects (like the damage.)

In any event, there is not going to be a rule confirming this.

[Reyzoul Soulstorm]

*shrug*

I guess I will try my real life diplomacy skill.

[Reyzoul Soulstorm]

I found the reference.

In another unrelated thread I was trying to find out how to decipher the city stats block. Turns out that is in the GameMastery Guide core book.. a book I had forgotten i even owned and apparently I haven't read much of it. Or if I did, I've forgotten most.

Within its pages, not only are the very interesting city-block stats described (I was looking for the market place description, but the rest of the city effects are very cool as well... we were totally glossing over all these effects), but it also talks about aquatic environments.. where it very explicitly states that freedom of movement can be used to avoid water pressure. Whalla!

Just what I was wanting.. a reference to this effect in a core rulebook.

[Might be Mighty Mite]

sorry for the Thread Necro ... I have a related question and would like to tap into the vast pool of knowledge here (see what I did there?)... anyway. I ran across Pressure Pills as another way to adapt to the depth, but is there anything else long term to protect vs. the effects of deep water (prevents the Pressure Damage for depths greater than 100 feet)?

Wake of the Watcher:

In "Wake of the Watcher" it looks like they have commoner humans at > than 100' depth for extended periods of time, as in years long. How are they not dead? is there rules for adapting to the depth?

so a couple of rules questions...
* are there rules for adapting long term to the depth?
* is there any other spells or items like Pressure Pills that protect vs. the damage from the depths?

And thank you in advance for your help!