I'm looking at pages 169-170 and I'm left wondering:
Should I be reducing characters' fly, climb, swim and burrow speeds if they are wearing medium or heavy armor? It seems realistic to do so, but the character sheet only shows an armored/unarmored speed for base land movement — hence it's got me wondering.
Because medium and heavy armour reduces base speed (unless you're a fighter or a dwarf), they also slow swimming, burrowing etc.
With fly, I'd say only medium or heavy load should slow you down, and medium or heavy armour should affect maneuverability.
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If a character has a swim speed (a Gillman in this case) and is wearing heavy armor, what exactly does this mean for the character?
I have no problem with saying that the armor reduces his Swim speed as it does land speed, but how does it actually affect his ability to swim?
Does he immediately sink like a stone and have no ability to resurface on his own?
If the weight of the armor is within the character's carrying capacity, and is still a Light Load, can he swim normally?
First, why resurrect a thread that died almost 4 years ago? Just start a new thread.
Armor check penalties apply to all Strength-based skills, which includes Swim. So thats a -6 penalty (-5 if masterwork) on all Swim checks. Heavy armor (medium as well) reduces your speed, and that applies to all movement modes, including swimming. So you would swim slower in full plate.
Other then that, wearing full plate while swimming does nothing. It doesn't cause you to sink, you can still swim in it (though with a hefty penalty on the check, and at reduced speed.)