Ran into a little problem last night with my party. I had them swim under freezing water in order to solve a problem. Under the spell "Endure Elements", it says that you can survive the elements that you encounter surviving in cold to hot weather. But it says that it does not protect you from environmental hazards. I was planning to have them take cold damage and save from hypothermia, but they kinds foiled that.
do you guys have any thoughts on this? would Endure Elements protect you from swimming in freezing waters?
Note that Endure elements states. It can exist comfortably in conditions between –50 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit without having to make Fortitude saves
That covers even extreme cold by the rules so they won't freeze but they can drown.
If its cold cold it would stil hurt them, Theres alot of places where Endure elements wouldnt protect you in the winter once wind chill is addredd.
So by cold water are you talking 'polar bear swim' cold weather? or When i up-end a mug of hot water its frozen before it hits the ground but the adventueres need to swim into the ocean sort of cold?
The first Endure elements would probly be fine, the second no.
Extreme cold goes down to -20 so it and the spell to -50 so there aren't even rules for cold that low.
And I think at that instant freeze level we are past anything on the prime material plane at all.
Endure Elements is meant to protect from weather, but it definitely should have at least some effect. Depending on just how cold it is, you could apply the 3.0 rule of Cold Resist 5, or make it 1d6 points nonlethal per hour instead of per minute.
On the other hand, the spell would likely be used by sea-faring races like aquatic elves and sahuagin. It probably makes sense to simply grant the full benefit - or to narrow the range a bit. Technically though, water can't really get much colder than 32 F, nowhere near the limit of the spell (earth record of 27.3 F).
Endure elements is a very circumstantial spell to begin with. Majuba makes a good point as well: the water is a natural environment just like any other terrain, and the temperature is well within the spell's range.