Weather and Environment

[Bob_Loblaw]

How many people fully use the weather and environment rules? Have you found them to enhance your gaming experience? Have you found them to restrict your experience? Have you found that they are too much for some characters but not enough for others?

I ask because I like using them. I think they really force the characters to deal with things besides just the goblin at the end of the road. I also think that it gives characters a reason to invest in survival so they can plan farther ahead.

[Nathan Nasif]

Great to use at lower levels, more use setting a mood at higher levels.

[Bob_Loblaw]

I've found that it can have an impact on higher level play as well. Flying becomes harder in stronger winds. Penalties to hit due to weather can be enough to make a fighter just a little harder. It allows me, as the GM, to put a few creatures that are slightly lower CR against the party so I can use more but still have them be a threat since I can use more of them. Setting the mood is always good. I like the different distances for Perception checks and modifiers too.

[BillyGoat]

I love using them, but frequently forget to even think about doing weather rolls.

[Kimera757]

Bob_Loblaw wrote:

How many people fully use the weather and environment rules? Have you found them to enhance your gaming experience? Have you found them to restrict your experience? Have you found that they are too much for some characters but not enough for others?

I ask because I like using them. I think they really force the characters to deal with things besides just the goblin at the end of the road. I also think that it gives characters a reason to invest in survival so they can plan farther ahead.

The infamous Valley of Dust & Fire is a supplement for Dark Sun where PCs are more likely to get killed on their way to the city by the horrid climate and weather. It's basically Death Valley of Dune. Surviving a day there is probably a paragon-level encounter in 4e terms :)

But generally no. One thing I don't like are temperature rules. I only need to know if it's moderate, cool, cold, very cold, extremely cold... perhaps Resist Elements can reduce the effects of weather by two stages, or something like that.

Pathfinder has some good rules for tornadoes and other such effects. Having said that, weather is not usually deadly in places where lots of people live. Also lots of PCs adventure in dungeons, where weather is less of an issue. If the PCs are hunting orcs in a place where the weather is horrid, and the weather is literally killing off PCs, how are the orcs surviving this? Something quick and sharp, like a tornado, makes a good encounter IMO. The PCs are minding their own business when they see a funnel cloud. They try to outrun it, but it's faster than a horse and a lot bigger than it looks. Were the PCs expecting to fight a tornado? Not really. Can the druid stop it in time? Nope.

[Jasque]

I would like to use them more often in the future, but it is another set of rules and modifiers to keep up with. I'll throw in some weather or environmental hazards to a few encounters, but keeping up with the weather all the time would slow down my game quite a bit.

[Bob_Loblaw]

I wasn't really suggesting that there are constant tornadoes. Even just rain and fog affect combat.

I generally just write the modifies on a sticky note whenever it's going to be an issue.

[Mark Hoover]

I've used weather a few times, mostly fog and rain. In my experience it helps equalize the playing field. My games haven't gotten over 6th level lately, so I suppose these have been fine for my PCs levels.

[Umbranus]

I felt that at least the cold weather rules are way off. With those rules I would not have survived my childhood.

[knightnday]

I use them constantly in this and other games. I've found that that as Bob_Loblaw remarked it can change the fight or encounter a great deal. It also allows players who actually pack for such events to feel somewhat justified in their purchases rather than just hauling stuff around for no reason.

Several of our campaigns have been set in world that are quite inhospitable for portions of the year as well, which alters how the players travel and how much downtime and uptime they have.

[Coriat]

Umbranus wrote:

I felt that at least the cold weather rules are way off. With those rules I would not have survived my childhood.

Let's not even touch the >15,000ft high altitude rules.

In a morbid state of mind I once actually ran the numbers for myself, assuming an array of 12 Str, 11 Dex, 18 Con, and for mentals, 9 Wis.

There is only one reasonable conclusion: Ghosts can use the Internet.

Coriat's Last Climb:

Coriat is acclimatized to high altitude, giving him a +4 to all altitude related Fortitude saves. Exercise assumes a temperate high altitude zone with negligible dangers from cold or other weather.
Estimated Str 12, Dex 11, Con 18, Wis 9 (lowest mental) for a total Fortitude save of +8
Saves are DC 15+1 per save. First number is the chance of failing a save, and each row down is the next 6 hour period.
.3
.35
.4
.45 (1 day, average of 1.5 failed saves, heal 1 point of ability damage =~ delete 1 failed save = .5)
.5
.55
.6 (1.75 day, average of 2.15 failed saves, inflict -1 to subsequent saves. Coriat's Str has fallen to 10
and his gear threatens to go over his heavy load of 100lb. Eat some more food, Coriat!)
.7 (2 days, average of 2.85 failed saves, heal 1 point of ability damage = 1.85 failed saves, clear -1)
.7 (2.25 days, average of 2.55 failed saves, inflict -1 to subsequent saves)
.8 (2.5 days, average of 3.35 failed saves, Coriat's Str has dropped to 9 and the weight of his gear exceeds a heavy load. Coriat's Wisdom has also dropped to 6. Throw away the food first, Coriat!)
.85 (2.75 days, average of 4.2 failed saves, inflict -2 to subsequent saves
.95 (3 days, average of 5.15 failed saves, heal 1 point of ability damage = 4.15 failed saves. Natural 20 only, cease to track saving throw modifier)
.95
.95 (3.5 days, Coriat's Wisdom has fallen to 3 and he is likely becoming deranged. Why are you looking at me like that, Coriat? Put down the ice axe, Coriat!)
.95
.95 (4 days, average of 7.95 failed saves, heal 1 point of ability damage = 6.95 failed saves)
.95
.95 (4.5 days, Coriat's Dexterity has fallen to 3. Don't slip, Coriat!)
.95 (4.75 days, Coriat's Wisdom has fallen to 0, and he is incapable of rational thought and unconscious. Oh no!)
.95 (5 days, average of 10.75 failed saves, heal 1 point of ability damage = 9.75 failed saves)
.95
.95 (5.5 days, Coriat's Dexterity has fallen to 0 and he is incapable of moving. Oh no!
.95 (5.75 days, Coriat's Strength has fallen to 0 and he is too weak to move in any way and unconscious. Oh no!)
.95 (6 days, average of 13.55 failed saves, heal 1 point of ability damage = 12.55 failed saves)
.95
.95
.95
.95 (7 days, average of 16.35 failed saves, heal 1 point of ability damage = 15.35 failed saves)
.95
.95
.95 (7.75 days, average of 18.2 failed saves, Coriat's Constitution has fallen to 0 and he is dead. Oh no! LD50 from altitude reached).

[Kaushal Avan Spellfire]

Usually environmental-based modifiers prove to be too much for my players to keep track of, so it often restricts the gaming experience. Personally, I love weather and think it makes a great addition to any encounter (rain-slick rooftop duels, anyone?), but it just doesn't work for my group.

[blahpers]

Whenever possible. A lot of theorycrafted builds get crushed by environmental effects, and some abilities that otherwise wouldn't be considered useful become much more so under such conditions.

If it seems complicated, keep the actual rules in short (FastPlay) form next to the mechanism you're using to determine the weather/environmental condition. For example, if you're using a table to randomly determine the weather that day, don't just say "91-99: Storm", say "91-99: Storm (3/4 visibility, ranged no (siege -4), impedes Medium, blows away Small, Fly & Listen -8, ext. flames (prot 50%))". Simple enough to keep track of.

[cap708]

Hello all,

I have created an automated weather generation system based on the Ultimate Wilderness rules. I plan to continue to modify it into the future as requested, so please check it out and let me know any suggestions you might have:

FantasyWeatherGenerator.com

[cap708]

Thanks everyone for the positive feedback by email. I have found the time recently to work out more of the bugs, improve formatting slighting, include support for generating 31 days, and (most significantly) include support for the metric system!

Thanks so much for all the support and encouragement. If you have any further suggestions for improvements, do let me know.