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Most of the environmental hazards provide an explicit frequency at which you make saves against them. Hot and cold conditions both demand saves every hour, every 10 minutes, or every minute depending on their severity. Thick and thin atmospheres both demand hourly saves, and severely thick atmospheres demand saves by the minute. It goes on like that.
But what about radiation? It's treated as a poison, but if you're standing in an irradiated area and pass your first save, when do you make another save against it? Do you just not make another save at all, unless you move into an area with more severe radiation? That doesn't seem right - if you pass your initial save, you can just stay there indefinitely and be fine. Is it with the same frequency as the poison? That doesn't seem right either.
Keep in mind that as a poison, radiation will deal DC-10 HP damage on initial exposure, whether you save against it or not. As a constitution poison specifically, once you're at Weakened or worse, radiation will deal DC-10 HP damage every time you make a save against it - once per round - whether you pass or fail. So one save against ambient radiation doesn't seem like enough, because you can just succeed and be fine indefinitely. Saving every round for initial exposure doesn't seem right either, because then radiation will kill you very quickly no matter what you do unless you leave.
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I have used my powers for good!!!
Radiation is save 1/rd. Failed save moves you down the CON poison track. At impaired and beyond, when you move to that stage ypu also have to save vs Radiation Sickness.
Wearing any armor, and turning on environmental protection makes you immune to low level radiation and gives +4 to save vs higher levels.
P403,404 for radiation.
P415,416 for poison and Con poison track
P196,198 for Environmental protection, then radiation protection
Poison frequency defines how often a character must make successive saves after failing their initial save; if a character successfully saves against a poison, they do not have to make further saves against that poison unless exposed to it again. By extension, a character who successfully makes their save against radiation does not have to make further saves against radiation as a poison unless further exposed to radiation.
So does ambient radiation count as new exposure every round you're in it? You can read it that way. But there is nothing in the rules that indicates you must read it that way. And given that as a poison, it automatically deals HP damage to you whether you pass your save or not when you're exposed, the rate at which you must make new saves against a new initial exposure to radiation is extremely important. Because if it's every round, then you're taking damage directly to HP whether you're passing the fortitude save or not every round. If it's every round, radiation will kill you outright if you're not immune to it, if you give it long enough.
If it's every round, it is functionally impossible to do anything in an irradiated area without immunity - and outside of Star Shamans getting a blanket immunity to cosmic rays, I'm not yet aware of anything that provides immunity to high or severe radiation.
Right
Ok, I see the issue.
The rules right above the "poison" effect for radiation state:
"A creature that leaves an area suffused with radiation is essentially cured of the poison effect. "
That makes me believe it is ONE Effect, and thus ONE initial exposure.
I read it as the initial exposure is stepping into the radiation area, or into a new higher radiation area.
Then Radiation acts as a poison. The Poison has a frequency of 1/rd, and no cure (until you leave).
Let's not do the Hokey Pokey just outside a radiation area. :)
The Irradiate spell assumes that environment radiation does hit you at some unknown frequency, but at any case isn't one and done, tough people don't get to live in the Chernobyl reactor indefinitely because they made the first save.
This spell floods the area of effect with dangerous radiation. The strength of the radiation you create depends on your caster level, as detailed below. The central irradiated area is always a 10-foot-radius spread that expands normally per the rules for radiation areas of effect (see page 403). Creatures within the area are exposed to the radiation only once; the radiation does not linger in the area.
By implication environmental radiation does expose you more than once if you hang out there.
Detect Radiation spell (is a radiation detector a cheap item assumed to exist under the equipment rules for 5 credits and L bulk?) and especially Remove Radioactivity spell are very important.
Exposure itself isn't the issue, its the initial exposure effect.
Exposure itself isn't the issue, its the initial exposure effect.
No, ongoing exposure will require you to keep saving against the initial exposure effect. Radiation is an ongoing thing, just like if someone injected a new poison in your veins periodically. The question is how frequently is that period.
Yes, Irradiate exists, and I had unfortunately forgotten about it when making this thread. A more accurate title would have been "non-instantaneous radiation" in retrospect, but we're well past the point where I can edit it. Still, by inference, it does enable us to rule out the single-save approach... probably.
Modern Geiger counters are a bit more expensive than 5 credits - at a glance, typically running for several hundred dollars - but I'd be very surprised if they couldn't be managed at all in the setting.
I was thinking more like radioactive sensitive film, a simple Physical Science skill check should let you know how much exposure you're getting based on how quickly it changes color.
They also should have published a full radioactivity detector in the core book, imho.
They also should have published a full radioactivity detector in the core book, imho.
It is 5 credits, has light bulk, and likely only requires one hand to hold/use properly; per the rules on page 218 of the Core Rulebook.
Gonna say, if after centuries of advancing tech they haven't improved the Geiger counter into a personal comm app ... then the tech sucks an egg.
They also should have published a full radioactivity detector in the core book, imho.It is 5 credits, has light bulk, and likely only requires one hand to hold/use properly; per the rules on page 218 of the Core Rulebook.
I can almost accept that, but Detect Radioactivity at level 1 instead of level 0 makes me doubt it.
Detect Radiation kind of baffles me, I have to admit. AFAICS it doesn't do anything that the basic tech available in the setting shouldn't be able to do, except it costs a spell slot. I guess maybe if you found yourself stranded in the wilderness with no gadgets?
I interpreted it as it warns you BEFORE you enter a square.
Keep in mind that armor provides some resistance against radiation damage.
Also all armor comes with some sort of environment protection system, which blocks most of the common "environmental hazards" (hot/cold temperature, poisonous atmosphere, no air etc.)
So passive environmental hazards aren't really a hazard in SF anymore.
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Keep in mind that armor provides some resistance against radiation damage.
Also all armor comes with some sort of environment protection system, which blocks most of the common "environmental hazards" (hot/cold temperature, poisonous atmosphere, no air etc.)So passive environmental hazards aren't really a hazard in SF anymore.
Environmental protections built into an armor require activation. So there's two limits to them. One is that they can only be used for a total of 1 day per item level of the armor before requiring recharging. The second is: are you really going to be walking around everywhere with your armor sealed up tight? (Or as it's known in Pathfinder: "really? You walk around town all day every day with your shield out and actively wielded?")
Radiation is one of the environmental hazards armor can protect against and as such you only get the bonus when the protections are activated.
Having said that, it's really easy to buy a radiation badge and just stop and put your protections up if it beeps to warn you that you are about to enter a square with radiation.
Sure it needs activation, but most times characters can withstand environment hazards for at least one round without getting really affected, so plenty of time to activate it.
And the "only 1 day per item level" is not really a restriction, because in most situations this gives them enough time to leave the hazard area (except you have a special adventure which embraces this (e.g. stranded on a desert moon)).
My group is now level 8 and we had never problems with environment hazards like we had in PF.
Hello.
Just like all of you, I'm running a party where we had some issue with radiation.
We didn't take the poison damage in count but still a medium radiation get reason of us in 4 round.
So did an official answer came out on how exactly the savez occur ?
Thx