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Can I be swimming in water, and use a bow? Anything rules wise saying that you can't?
So, let's say it's rough waters for a DC 15 check to swim, and you fail by 5 or more, and begin to struggle and all that jazz. Now, you make another check, and fail by 4 or less. Do you regain your composure to not have to hold your breath under the 4 or less check?
The rules for swimming don't mean you sink, but just that you're underwater (need to hold your breath). What I want to figure out is if "you don't make any progress" would mean that you don't move any distance, or could it mean that if your last state was going underwater, that you remain in that state. I would imagine that it would be that you don't make any distance.
Ranged Attacks Underwater: Thrown weapons are ineffective underwater, even when launched from land. Attacks with other ranged weapons take a –2 penalty on attack rolls for every 5 feet of water they pass through, in addition to the normal penalties for range.
That should clear up the ranged attacks issue.
My feeling on swimming is that if you fail by 5 or more, you sink, less than 5, no progress but must hold breath, and successful check is progress and breath resets (unless intentionally underwater).
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The rules for swimming don't mean you sink, but just that you're underwater (need to hold your breath). What I want to figure out is if "you don't make any progress" would mean that you don't move any distance, or could it mean that if your last state was going underwater, that you remain in that state. I would imagine that it would be that you don't make any distance.
No, the rules do not say that you sink, but depending on the situation, common sense says you do...such as when a character is wearing 30 lbs of armor (30 lbs of non-buoyant is a lot when dealing with water).
The rules also don't talk about the results of not brushing your teeth, having children, developing bad eyesight, answering the call of nature, etc, etc, etc.
Just because a rule is not in the book does not mean the answer is 'Yes'. It means the rule is not in the book and the GM may need to adjudicate using common sense. Personally, I look for real world answers and then decide to what degree I want real world affects in my game. I also tend to learn some pretty interesting stuff in the process.
If you would actually sink by a certain distance, the answer to this question would have been intuitive. But you don't. By RAW, it seems that so long as you're still attempting swim checks, you haven't moved from your space until you succeed at one. Or die, and become a sinking object. Unless, of course, there are external forces or tides at work.
Unfortunately, swimming seems to be the one scenario with no Immediate unrecoverable penalty for going underwater, so it's tough to tell. In games I've been in, a successful swim check alone allows you to breathe again. I'd actually love to know the final answer.
The four or less is too ambiguous, but are there rules about specifically treading water?
Nothing specific about treading water that I can see, just if you fail swim check you are now "underwater" and holding your breath. I guess you can be underwater and still in the same 5' space though. RAW apparently you can't sink into a new 5' space by failing a swim check.
What I want to figure out is if the fail by 4 or less is good enough for you to be able to stabilize yourself so you're not having to hold your breath underwater.
"If you fail by 4 or less, you make no progress. If you fail by 5 or more, you go underwater."
No progress means stay where you are, if you were underwater, you're still underwater.
Progress I figure means to move distance. You're occupying a 5ft square that includes the threshold of the surface, in which you can (I assume) as a free action to pull your head above water, unless you fail by 5 or more (struggling). I'm hoping someone can cite rules i don't know about to make this less ambiguous and open to interpretation.
If you fail by more than 5, you are underwater. If you succeed, you can position yourself. If you fail by less than 4, you make no progress. I assume if you are underwater, and potentially drowning, you are trying to progress to the surface. Therefore, if you are underwater, and trying to reach the surface, and fail by less than 4, you are still underwater.
Ranged Attacks Underwater: Thrown weapons are ineffective underwater, even when launched from land. Attacks with other ranged weapons take a –2 penalty on attack rolls for every 5 feet of water they pass through, in addition to the normal penalties for range.
Be sure and get Brilliant Energy arrows, otherwise you will eat a heavy penalty using that bow.
/cevah