Freedom of Movement Spell on Heavy Armor Underwater

[Hunch]

If someone who is wearing say plate mail armor and has the Freedom of Movement spell cast on them underwater, do they sink to the bottom but can still move and fight normally? Do they need to make swim checks? Do they just float about?

I understand that it doesn't grant them the ability to breath underwater, just trying to understand fully how this spell would work in this situation.

Thanks!

[Gauss]

In Pathfinder plate mail armor does not cause creatures to sink to the bottom unless they fail swim checks.

A character with a strength of 28 who weighs 150lbs could carry 1200lbs of gold and still swim with nothing more than the -6 penalty due to having heavy encumbrance.

Does it make sense? Absolutely not, but this is Pathfinder, where the rules do not have to make sense.

So, Freedom of Movement would work the same as on any other character.

[Hunch]

Thanks Gauss!

So I guess, armored or not, whomever has the FoM spell cast on them can travel in any direction they choose without having to make swim checks? Is that correct?

[Nixitur]

Hunch wrote:

So I guess, armored or not, whomever has the FoM spell cast on them can travel in any direction they choose without having to make swim checks? Is that correct?

The speed is limited by their armor and encumbrance, but apart from that, yes.

[Dave Justus]

FoM does not give a character a swim speed anymore than it gives them a fly speed.

If you don't want to be on the bottom, you will have to make swim checks. You can however walk across the bottom just as quickly as you could walk across a floor that was not submerged.

[_Ozy_]

Dave Justus wrote:

FoM does not give a character a swim speed anymore than it gives them a fly speed.

If you don't want to be on the bottom, you will have to make swim checks. You can however walk across the bottom just as quickly as you could walk across a floor that was not submerged.

According to the Aquatic Adventures book, someone with Freedom of Movement automatically makes all swim checks.

[JDLPF]

Yeah, it was a much needed clarification of the rules. Aquatic Adventures cleared up a lot of miscellaneous questions about underwater combat and movement and I highly recommend picking it up.

So yes, essentially Freedom of Movement lets you move a quarter your land speed as a move action, or half your speed as a full round action, per the Swim skill rules, and you automatically succeed on your checks.

Otherwise, if you gain a Swim speed from a different source such as a spell, this overrides the previous speeds.

[Hunch]

JDLPF wrote:

Yeah, it was a much needed clarification of the rules. Aquatic Adventures cleared up a lot of miscellaneous questions about underwater combat and movement and I highly recommend picking it up.

So yes, essentially Freedom of Movement lets you move a quarter your land speed as a move action, or half your speed as a full round action, per the Swim skill rules, and you automatically succeed on your checks.

Otherwise, if you gain a Swim speed from a different source such as a spell, this overrides the previous speeds.

Ahhh, that makes much more sense! Thank you _Ozy_, JDLPF! Much appreciate the clarification guys.

~Hunch

[Pizza Lord]

Gauss wrote:

In Pathfinder plate mail armor does not cause creatures to sink to the bottom unless they fail swim checks.

Aquatic Terrain; Underwater Combat wrote:

Creatures have firm footing when walking along the bottom, braced against a ship’s hull, or the like. A creature can only walk along the bottom if it wears or carries enough gear to weigh itself down: at least 16 pounds for Medium creatures, twice that for each size category larger than Medium, and half that for each size category smaller than Medium.

Unless this has been changed, it would seem it takes typically 16 pounds of weight to sink a medium person. GM can adjust this in the case of really buoyant characters or carrying buoyant gear, but it looks like wearing plate mail would definitely do it in most cases. Carrying bags of coins would do it too.

You could certainly counter the sinking with a successful check (at the penalties for armor or encumbrance, like Gauss mentioned,) but I would say there is clear indication that weights will cause you to sink, so at least that part makes sense. How fast one sinks doesn't seem to be noted unless Aquatic Adventures has taken the time to clear that up.

[_Ozy_]

Yeah, they do give sinking rates in Aquatic Adventures:

10 feet per round, increasing by another 10 feet per round until you max out at 30 feet per round. Also, moving against your buoyancy (either up or down) takes twice your movement.