I am picturing my player's characters all being fatigued after traveling for a day in the mountains. How did other tables handle this problem?
They could cast spells that protect them from becoming effected but I was wondering if any groups found it a hinderance bordering on frustration.
I am picturing my player's characters all being fatigued after traveling for a day in the mountains. How did other tables handle this problem?
They could cast spells that protect them from becoming effected but I was wondering if any groups found it a hinderance bordering on frustration.
Creative Director
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my group just spent their first full 24 hours in the Kodar Mountains and when confronted by the Altitude rules, they whined and b*#!#ed like babies, claiming that when they go skiing in Tahoe they don't get fatigued etc. etc. they also tried to claim that Endure Elements get's them out of having to deal with altitude.
they're just going to have to deal with it. it's a game rule that's vital to understanding the geography of the place.
You should ask your players to go skiing in the Himalayas, then, since the Kodar Mountains are much more like the Himalayas than they are the Sierra Nevadas. Much of the adventure takes place at altitudes two to three to even four times higher than "easy mode mountaineering" like you get going to Tahoe. Endure elements would certainly help with the cold... but that's about it.
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Director of Narrative
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Most of the party loaded up on items to help with some of the effects, but the real kudos goes to the party wizard who ended up going old school and researching and developing a new spell to assist with the effects of altitude. After that downtime once they got into the mountains, he'd cast the spell on himself and the party and rock through the day.
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Most of the party loaded up on items to help with some of the effects, but the real kudos goes to the party wizard who ended up going old school and researching and developing a new spell to assist with the effects of altitude. After that downtime once they got into the mountains, he'd cast the spell on himself and the party and rock through the day.
I did something similar in my campaign, I had the party find a spellbook in the Vault of Greed in Runeforge that contained a new spell that allowed [caster + 1 target per 3 levels] to breathe at high altitude without problems.
My party dealt with it by not being outside in the mountains for long enough for the altitude sickness to really affect them. I mean they aren't going to fail the first couple of saves and when it became a problem they simply popped Magnificent Mansion and rested. This means the DC on the Altitude sickness resets for the next day. At one point they switched tactics and turned themselves into air elementals.
Correct me if I'm wrong but, doesn't altitude sickness effect people at high altitude even indoors? I think it has something to do with smaller amounts of oxygen to air ratio and a difference in air pressure... which wouldn't change much indoors unless you have a pressure chamber and oxygen tank on hand.
*EDIT* Just read the spell, and saw the mansion is extra-dimensional. I guess that would work.
It's just air pressure (there is a very slight difference in the proportion of oxygen to nitrogen, but not enough to matter). So in theory, there should be a howling gale blasting out through the door of the Mansion if created at altitude. It's like opening the window on a jet airliner, sans the 600mph movement.
You could shut the door, of course. Opening it might be hard. At 20,000 feet (which is still well in the safe zone, if tiring) the difference is about 500mBar, or a force of about 5 tons on a typical door.
I suppose you could fit the Mansion with an airlock, or just [de]pressurise the whole thing as required.
It's been so long since I ran Runelords that I don't remember how my party dealt with it. But in Jade Regeant when they were forced to trek over high altitudes, they spent a month at a local village acclimating. This was after they had taken care of a small problem the locals were having with a dragon and for that portion they still had to deal with constant fort saves.
Speaking as someone who each year goes to the Ragged Mountains in Colorado (though only 9,000 feet up), it only takes a day or so to acclimate. Further, you acclimate faster when you are moving around compared to just lying down and suffering. While the PCs are going further up in elevation, the basic principle is still the same. Further, once they get INTO Xin-Shalast, it's a gradual increase in altitude while traveling to the city, which would provide a bit of time to acclimate to the altitude.
The real problem for this crew is they're going into a dead zone which would in theory be higher than even the top of Everest. Even so, there are magic items that help cope with this, and they only need worry in a relatively small region and thus can probably use magic to cope. Once they get into the building on top of the peak, atmospheric pressure is breathable once more.
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There is a spell, I believe in Ultimate Magic, that allows a Cleric to cast the same kind of spell. Its calls Life Bubble and I think its a Cleric 6, that is how my group got around it. The Spell mirrors the Necklace of Adaptation so they can live in a vacuum and with the Endure Elements they negated all of the effects of the Kodar Mountains.
You should ask your players to go skiing in the Himalayas, then, since the Kodar Mountains are much more like the Himalayas than they are the Sierra Nevadas. Much of the adventure takes place at altitudes two to three to even four times higher than "easy mode mountaineering" like you get going to Tahoe. Endure elements would certainly help with the cold... but that's about it.my group just spent their first full 24 hours in the Kodar Mountains and when confronted by the Altitude rules, they whined and b*#!#ed like babies, claiming that when they go skiing in Tahoe they don't get fatigued etc. etc. they also tried to claim that Endure Elements get's them out of having to deal with altitude.
they're just going to have to deal with it. it's a game rule that's vital to understanding the geography of the place.
For what it's worth, I have climbed (though not skied) in the Himalayas, and I think the high altitude rules are a bit silly. For one thing, if they were accurate, I'd have statistically insignificant odds of having survived to write this post.
(even assuming acclimatization and 18 Con (for a +8 to the save), the save against ability damage for being over 15,000 ft would have gotten to natural 20 only territory, on average, in under three days, which would have meant rapid debilitation and not much less rapid death).
That said, it doesn't bother me that much (it's not like those rules are a central part of the game), and I know they aren't Paizo's rules originally. It's totally understandable to me that players might whine about them a bit though. Also not surprised how many people in this thread chose to dodge dealing with the high altitude rules by magic, as the rules are not only inaccurate but also somewhat cumbersome.