Very late to the party but this is nonsense. Gorrila's are much stronger than humans and they can't swim. Swimming has nothing to do with strength, you're not lifting the armour, you're trying to float, armour makes that extremely difficult to impossible,
Ok according to RAW your fighter in plate and carrying close to 200 lbs of gear can swim (poorly and slowly I hope) which we all recognize as real world nonsense. So the real question is how does the DM home brew a solution (or solutions) for this nonsense? Speaking from experience ( I’ve run gold dredges wearing extra weights of 35-50 lbs), you sink like the stone you now are with all that weight. No amount of strength is going to let you swim on the surface or in the water. If it’s shallow you might be able to walk out if you have the con to hold your breath long enough. So if your doing a bunch of water traveling you want your mage to have lots of water breathing spells available. If your in deep water you really need this and then hopefully a weighted line long enough to pull you back up. Realistically if you are on/in a boat you are not carrying all your gear - that is packed into/onto the boat. Similarly you should have lighter armor to wear on board - studded leather, elven, or Mithras breastplates or chain shirts that you might be able to swim in long enough to take off your leggings, tie the pants leg ends together and shut and whip it over your head filling it with air to create a sort of life preserver. If you are strong enough I can even see you being able to tread water in half plate long enough to do this.
Yes given the setting magic is really the way to go, items of water breaThing, water walking, cloaks of the manta ray etc. can a person manage to stay on the surface long enough to be rescued without? Possibly, when taking senior lifesaving years ago we did quarter mile swims at the start and end of every lesson with 25-40 pounds on our hips to simulate the dead weight of an unconscious person. Sometimes we had to tread water with only our legs as we held the rock as well. When dredging we generally had 40-50 lbs of weight to hold us down but we could still fight our way back to surface. So if all you are wearing is armour and weapons then yes it’s possible not to drown if you know what to do.
It should also be noted that previous editions of D&D, at least 3.5E, did have penalties to multiple skills for heavy armor. While D&D 5E does impose a penalty to Stealth, how, for example, are you going to perform the subtle nuances of Sleight Of Hand in a plate, plate and chain, or even plate and leather covered hand? Or how about jumping? Can a knight in full plate jump as far as a person of the same strength that is unarmored? Or how about acrobatics? In history, fully plated fighters were harassed by commoners by littering the field with cloth and ropes causing the plated fighters to become entangled and in many cases tripped due to the reduced mobility and reduced visibility of the suit of armor.
Personally, I think that any armor that has disadvantage on Stealth checks in D&D5E should also have disadvantage on all the skills (or corresponding skills) that it had in D&D 3.5E. This would be Balance (Acrobatics), Climb* (Athletics), Escape Artist (Acrobatics), Hide (Stealth), Jump** (Athletics), Move Silently (Stealth), Slight Of Hand (Slight Of Hand), Swim (Athletics), Tumble (Acrobatics).
* Climb should be penalized for speed if in armor (1/2 speed so 1/4 move). Checks would be normal or disadvantage depending on the style of climb. For example, a climb up a non-knotted rope in armor should be at disadvantage because the weight it working directly against the climber while when scaling a cliff side where the climber can stand, some of the weight can be taken up and thus the roll might be normal. ** Jump should be penalized for distance and height.
In my opinion, many helmets should also impose disadvantage to Perception. Many helmets were created to minimize the visor section to decrease the chance of a weapon striking the eye area. This, however, typically greatly decreased the peripheral view of the wearer putting him or her at disadvantage to see things that are not in front of them. Similarly a lot of helmets are provided no opening for the ears thus reducing the wearer's ability to hear things.
Ok according to RAW your fighter in plate and carrying close to 200 lbs of gear can swim (poorly and slowly I hope) which we all recognize as real world nonsense. So the real question is how does the DM home brew a solution (or solutions) for this nonsense? Speaking from experience ( I’ve run gold dredges wearing extra weights of 35-50 lbs), you sink like the stone you now are with all that weight. No amount of strength is going to let you swim on the surface or in the water. If it’s shallow you might be able to walk out if you have the con to hold your breath long enough. So if your doing a bunch of water traveling you want your mage to have lots of water breathing spells available. If your in deep water you really need this and then hopefully a weighted line long enough to pull you back up. Realistically if you are on/in a boat you are not carrying all your gear - that is packed into/onto the boat. Similarly you should have lighter armor to wear on board - studded leather, elven, or Mithras breastplates or chain shirts that you might be able to swim in long enough to take off your leggings, tie the pants leg ends together and shut and whip it over your head filling it with air to create a sort of life preserver. If you are strong enough I can even see you being able to tread water in half plate long enough to do this.
Heroic fantasy/magical world is enough explanation, really. It is not a realistic setting. However if a DM wanted to rule otherwise that is fine too.
Rather than lots of water breathing spells, taking the time and effort to enchant a helm of water breathing would likely be the better way to go, though, and possibly rings of water walking and swimming as well.
If it is not a realistic science based setting that follows predictable rules (that’s the science base) then you have chaos. Yes it is heroic fantasy, yes it has magic that seemingly breaks the rules of science but that doesn’t mean it isn’t realistic. If it weren’t almost identical to our world we couldn’t play the game because we couldn’t understand whatever rules it follows. What it is, is a realistic world to which we have added a set of rules for magic (effectively a type of science that some can access in somewhat the same way quantum physics and/or relativity are different sets of rules for special situations outside/beyond the normal range of experience. When you apply these rules to normal situations they reduce down to standard Newtonian physics. the problem with enchanting something is that you have to be at certain levels and it takes a long time. Potions at least potentially can be created by anyone with the herbalism kit, the right materials and (probably) the ability to cast spells/the spell the potion mimics. So a ton of potions of water breathing are possible for lower level parties and work well for higher levels as well.
Dungeons & Dragons is a game, not a realistic life simulator. Its use of armor is abstract (and frankly unrealistic) enough that we don't need to be adding extra things based on "realism." It's supposed to be fun to play, not accurate to reality. We only need enough realism to provide a decent framework from which to play.
I mean, we could increase the realism by adding rules to realistically depict the issues caused by wearing armor for long periods of time and the resulting effects that has on personal hygiene, or rules about weapons and armor breaking through use, but would anyone actually find the game more fun because they're suffering penalties from their character having severe dermatitis and wearing a suit of chainmail that's been poorly repaired after it was chewed on by a hydra?
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Ok according to RAW your fighter in plate and carrying close to 200 lbs of gear can swim (poorly and slowly I hope) which we all recognize as real world nonsense. So the real question is how does the DM home brew a solution (or solutions) for this nonsense? Speaking from experience ( I’ve run gold dredges wearing extra weights of 35-50 lbs), you sink like the stone you now are with all that weight. No amount of strength is going to let you swim on the surface or in the water. If it’s shallow you might be able to walk out if you have the con to hold your breath long enough. So if your doing a bunch of water traveling you want your mage to have lots of water breathing spells available. If your in deep water you really need this and then hopefully a weighted line long enough to pull you back up. Realistically if you are on/in a boat you are not carrying all your gear - that is packed into/onto the boat. Similarly you should have lighter armor to wear on board - studded leather, elven, or Mithras breastplates or chain shirts that you might be able to swim in long enough to take off your leggings, tie the pants leg ends together and shut and whip it over your head filling it with air to create a sort of life preserver. If you are strong enough I can even see you being able to tread water in half plate long enough to do this.
Heroic fantasy/magical world is enough explanation, really. It is not a realistic setting. However if a DM wanted to rule otherwise that is fine too.
Rather than lots of water breathing spells, taking the time and effort to enchant a helm of water breathing would likely be the better way to go, though, and possibly rings of water walking and swimming as well.
If it is not a realistic science based setting that follows predictable rules (that’s the science base) then you have chaos. Yes it is heroic fantasy, yes it has magic that seemingly breaks the rules of science but that doesn’t mean it isn’t realistic. If it weren’t almost identical to our world we couldn’t play the game because we couldn’t understand whatever rules it follows. What it is, is a realistic world to which we have added a set of rules for magic (effectively a type of science that some can access in somewhat the same way quantum physics and/or relativity are different sets of rules for special situations outside/beyond the normal range of experience. When you apply these rules to normal situations they reduce down to standard Newtonian physics. the problem with enchanting something is that you have to be at certain levels and it takes a long time. Potions at least potentially can be created by anyone with the herbalism kit, the right materials and (probably) the ability to cast spells/the spell the potion mimics. So a ton of potions of water breathing are possible for lower level parties and work well for higher levels as well.
Ok, so "realism" in a game isn't a relative concept varying from table to table thing but a set line that you're arbitrating or at least something that can be arbitrated ... where spamming water breathing magics is the way to go.... And I suppose potions of spider climbing if they have to do any arduous climbing...
If Bron can pull a drowning armored Geoffrey out of a river in GoT ... and as I thought it made good television, I'm fine with different swimming encumbrance standards in game just as I'm pretty darn sure you all ain't having characters leave the heavy stuff behind when making treacherous ascents, and acclimate just fine in thin air, or wearing full plate in arctic climbs etc. There's all sorts of considerations on which different tables are going land differently. Best advice: rather than assert your way is the best one for the good of all games, when you find yourself at a novel table, and you've come to novel terrain in your experience at that table, ask what you all should do. I'm pretty sure the deliberation will be shorter than three pages of message board.
I'm pretty sure I read somewhere in someone's account Lancelot swam a lake while armored. It made sense in the story.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Forgive me if this irrelevant to the goal of the thread, but I wrote a house rule for swimming in armor, if anyone is interested
Swimming in Armor (House Rule) [Edited]
When wearing armor, you must have a minimum Strength score to be able to swim while wearing the armor. Otherwise, you sink while the armor is donned. The requirements are as follows:
Light Armor: Str 12
Medium Armor: Str 13
Heavy Armor: Str 14*
*If the armor has a minimum Strength requirement to wear without penalty to your speed, you must exceed that score by 2 to be able to swim while wearing it. For example, for plate armor a character must have a minimum strength score of 15 to wear it without penalty to their speed and a minimum strength score of 17 to be able to swim while wearing it.
If you have a swim speed granted by a feature, magic item, or spell effect you can ignore this requirement and move normally regardless of the type of armor you are wearing.
That just seems like it hoses heavy armor more than 5E's rules already do.
I think "soaks" or "sinks" is more what's going on than "hoses".... ;D
In a game where they want armor to have a greater a burden factor I think the house rule works just fine. I think that's sort of the point of the house rule.
If you say so. Idk, I have no problem with players being able to swim in armor but I expect it to be more difficult to swim and tread water (i.e require a certain amount of superhuman strength) compared to being unarmored. Unless I have missed something, RAW a character wearing armor can swim just as easily as a character which is naked
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If you say so. Idk, I have no problem with players being able to swim in armor but I expect it to be more difficult to swim and tread water (i.e require a certain amount of superhuman strength) compared to being unarmored. Unless I have missed something, RAW a character wearing armor can swim just as easily as a character which is naked
Yes, and your proposed house rule applies only to heavy armor because medium and light armor don't have minimum strength requirements.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
If you say so. Idk, I have no problem with players being able to swim in armor but I expect it to be more difficult to swim and tread water (i.e require a certain amount of superhuman strength) compared to being unarmored. Unless I have missed something, RAW a character wearing armor can swim just as easily as a character which is naked
Yes, and your proposed house rule applies only to heavy armor because medium and light armor don't have minimum strength requirements.
That's fair. Ill probably make a change to that.
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Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews!Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
1) yes earlier editions did have actual GP values for Each and every magic item listed - obviously the DM was free to adjust them. 2) swimming with weight - you can do it I spoke about that in an earlier post here. I personally have done quarter mile swims with a 35 lb rock on my hip (the “dead” weight of an unconscious adult) so I don’t really have a problem with someone in light or medium armour with weapons swimming around. We have records of Roman auxiliaries doing it against the British during the Roman conquest as well. 3) treading water with lots of weight - again from personal experience as a 10 year old integrationist living in what we discovered were segregated apts I was a target for all the racist and often had as many as 4-6 middle and high school students trying to push me under but was able to keep my head above water with just my feet when my arms were held. If a 10 year old skilled in treading water can hold up that many folks trying to push him under I can see folks in heavy armour being able to make it back to the surface if they fall in and to keep their head above water at least for a while so they have a chance of rescue. 4) potions vs items - my point was that finding/making potions was going to be far easier and less time consuming than trying to find/make items - especially for low level parties. If you are at a decent table the DM is likely to provide things you can acquire that will solve the problem. I know my recent DMs have done so. If your going to spend a lot of time on the oceans or large lakes you should learn to swim or make the effort to acquire items to let you breath and swim in the water.
1) yes earlier editions did have actual GP values for Each and every magic item listed - obviously the DM was free to adjust them. 2) swimming with weight - you can do it I spoke about that in an earlier post here. I personally have done quarter mile swims with a 35 lb rock on my hip (the “dead” weight of an unconscious adult) so I don’t really have a problem with someone in light or medium armour with weapons swimming around. We have records of Roman auxiliaries doing it against the British during the Roman conquest as well. 3) treading water with lots of weight - again from personal experience as a 10 year old integrationist living in what we discovered were segregated apts I was a target for all the racist and often had as many as 4-6 middle and high school students trying to push me under but was able to keep my head above water with just my feet when my arms were held. If a 10 year old skilled in treading water can hold up that many folks trying to push him under I can see folks in heavy armour being able to make it back to the surface if they fall in and to keep their head above water at least for a while so they have a chance of rescue. 4) potions vs items - my point was that finding/making potions was going to be far easier and less time consuming than trying to find/make items - especially for low level parties. If you are at a decent table the DM is likely to provide things you can acquire that will solve the problem. I know my recent DMs have done so. If your going to spend a lot of time on the oceans or large lakes you should learn to swim or make the effort to acquire items to let you breath and swim in the water.
1) Funny. I just double checked my 2e DMG and found no such lists. Each and every item had an xp value for the xps gained if you make such an item, but no such price list. There is a section on buying magic items but it gives vague guidelines mostly regarding availability. Prices for everything implies these things are mass produced with standardized pricing. No edition has promoted that kind of model.
2) Great! Now have you done so in a magical world where Gods (usually plural) are not merely believed to exist but typically have openly demonstrable power?
3) See (2)
4) Yes, it is easier to make potions than to make items. This is for obvious balance reasons. However see (1). If the party can simply easily make whatever solution is proposed, then you mess up the economy. You say you have been playing a long time but you haven't noticed this?
4) (a) If the DM simply provides the solution every time, then what is the difference between that and the DM simply ruling that it is a magical world and people can, actually, swim in heavy armour? Either way the answer is 'magic' and in the latter case, the answer is self contained to that situation.
ad1. Check 3e dungeon master guide i believe around page 216 (at least in Polish version) You have clear tables with base prices for any magic item.
As for people advocating for more realism, Why don't you just play 3.5e or Pathfinder instead of trying to break 5e? It's really that simple.
An ability check tests a character’s innate talent and training in an effort to overcome a challenge. If the DM deem that swimming in heavy armor is one, he or she can always ask for an ability check, such as a Strenght (Athletics) check since it covers difficult situations you encounter while swimming.
Athletics: Your Strength (Athletics) check covers difficult situations you encounter while climbing, jumping, or swimming.
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Very late to the party but this is nonsense. Gorrila's are much stronger than humans and they can't swim. Swimming has nothing to do with strength, you're not lifting the armour, you're trying to float, armour makes that extremely difficult to impossible,
Man, I thought everything without a swimming speed could be killed with drowning, I've been playing this game wrong for decades.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Ok according to RAW your fighter in plate and carrying close to 200 lbs of gear can swim (poorly and slowly I hope) which we all recognize as real world nonsense. So the real question is how does the DM home brew a solution (or solutions) for this nonsense? Speaking from experience ( I’ve run gold dredges wearing extra weights of 35-50 lbs), you sink like the stone you now are with all that weight. No amount of strength is going to let you swim on the surface or in the water. If it’s shallow you might be able to walk out if you have the con to hold your breath long enough. So if your doing a bunch of water traveling you want your mage to have lots of water breathing spells available. If your in deep water you really need this and then hopefully a weighted line long enough to pull you back up. Realistically if you are on/in a boat you are not carrying all your gear - that is packed into/onto the boat. Similarly you should have lighter armor to wear on board - studded leather, elven, or Mithras breastplates or chain shirts that you might be able to swim in long enough to take off your leggings, tie the pants leg ends together and shut and whip it over your head filling it with air to create a sort of life preserver. If you are strong enough I can even see you being able to tread water in half plate long enough to do this.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Yes given the setting magic is really the way to go, items of water breaThing, water walking, cloaks of the manta ray etc. can a person manage to stay on the surface long enough to be rescued without? Possibly, when taking senior lifesaving years ago we did quarter mile swims at the start and end of every lesson with 25-40 pounds on our hips to simulate the dead weight of an unconscious person. Sometimes we had to tread water with only our legs as we held the rock as well. When dredging we generally had 40-50 lbs of weight to hold us down but we could still fight our way back to surface. So if all you are wearing is armour and weapons then yes it’s possible not to drown if you know what to do.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
If you don’t want to give them a magic item then just homebrew up some gillyweed for the encounter
Or have some merfolk or sea elves save them with some of their seaweed that allows water breathing.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
It should also be noted that previous editions of D&D, at least 3.5E, did have penalties to multiple skills for heavy armor. While D&D 5E does impose a penalty to Stealth, how, for example, are you going to perform the subtle nuances of Sleight Of Hand in a plate, plate and chain, or even plate and leather covered hand? Or how about jumping? Can a knight in full plate jump as far as a person of the same strength that is unarmored? Or how about acrobatics? In history, fully plated fighters were harassed by commoners by littering the field with cloth and ropes causing the plated fighters to become entangled and in many cases tripped due to the reduced mobility and reduced visibility of the suit of armor.
Personally, I think that any armor that has disadvantage on Stealth checks in D&D5E should also have disadvantage on all the skills (or corresponding skills) that it had in D&D 3.5E. This would be Balance (Acrobatics), Climb* (Athletics), Escape Artist (Acrobatics), Hide (Stealth), Jump** (Athletics), Move Silently (Stealth), Slight Of Hand (Slight Of Hand), Swim (Athletics), Tumble (Acrobatics).
* Climb should be penalized for speed if in armor (1/2 speed so 1/4 move). Checks would be normal or disadvantage depending on the style of climb. For example, a climb up a non-knotted rope in armor should be at disadvantage because the weight it working directly against the climber while when scaling a cliff side where the climber can stand, some of the weight can be taken up and thus the roll might be normal.
** Jump should be penalized for distance and height.
In my opinion, many helmets should also impose disadvantage to Perception. Many helmets were created to minimize the visor section to decrease the chance of a weapon striking the eye area. This, however, typically greatly decreased the peripheral view of the wearer putting him or her at disadvantage to see things that are not in front of them. Similarly a lot of helmets are provided no opening for the ears thus reducing the wearer's ability to hear things.
If it is not a realistic science based setting that follows predictable rules (that’s the science base) then you have chaos. Yes it is heroic fantasy, yes it has magic that seemingly breaks the rules of science but that doesn’t mean it isn’t realistic. If it weren’t almost identical to our world we couldn’t play the game because we couldn’t understand whatever rules it follows. What it is, is a realistic world to which we have added a set of rules for magic (effectively a type of science that some can access in somewhat the same way quantum physics and/or relativity are different sets of rules for special situations outside/beyond the normal range of experience. When you apply these rules to normal situations they reduce down to standard Newtonian physics.
the problem with enchanting something is that you have to be at certain levels and it takes a long time. Potions at least potentially can be created by anyone with the herbalism kit, the right materials and (probably) the ability to cast spells/the spell the potion mimics. So a ton of potions of water breathing are possible for lower level parties and work well for higher levels as well.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Dungeons & Dragons is a game, not a realistic life simulator. Its use of armor is abstract (and frankly unrealistic) enough that we don't need to be adding extra things based on "realism." It's supposed to be fun to play, not accurate to reality. We only need enough realism to provide a decent framework from which to play.
I mean, we could increase the realism by adding rules to realistically depict the issues caused by wearing armor for long periods of time and the resulting effects that has on personal hygiene, or rules about weapons and armor breaking through use, but would anyone actually find the game more fun because they're suffering penalties from their character having severe dermatitis and wearing a suit of chainmail that's been poorly repaired after it was chewed on by a hydra?
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Ok, so "realism" in a game isn't a relative concept varying from table to table thing but a set line that you're arbitrating or at least something that can be arbitrated ... where spamming water breathing magics is the way to go.... And I suppose potions of spider climbing if they have to do any arduous climbing...
If Bron can pull a drowning armored Geoffrey out of a river in GoT ... and as I thought it made good television, I'm fine with different swimming encumbrance standards in game just as I'm pretty darn sure you all ain't having characters leave the heavy stuff behind when making treacherous ascents, and acclimate just fine in thin air, or wearing full plate in arctic climbs etc. There's all sorts of considerations on which different tables are going land differently. Best advice: rather than assert your way is the best one for the good of all games, when you find yourself at a novel table, and you've come to novel terrain in your experience at that table, ask what you all should do. I'm pretty sure the deliberation will be shorter than three pages of message board.
I'm pretty sure I read somewhere in someone's account Lancelot swam a lake while armored. It made sense in the story.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Forgive me if this irrelevant to the goal of the thread, but I wrote a house rule for swimming in armor, if anyone is interested
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
That just seems like it hoses heavy armor more than 5E's rules already do.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I think "soaks" or "sinks" is more what's going on than "hoses".... ;D
In a game where they want armor to have a greater a burden factor I think the house rule works just fine. I think that's sort of the point of the house rule.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
If you say so. Idk, I have no problem with players being able to swim in armor but I expect it to be more difficult to swim and tread water (i.e require a certain amount of superhuman strength) compared to being unarmored. Unless I have missed something, RAW a character wearing armor can swim just as easily as a character which is naked
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
Yes, and your proposed house rule applies only to heavy armor because medium and light armor don't have minimum strength requirements.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
That's fair. Ill probably make a change to that.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
GoT Geoffrey was wearing half plate I'd gauge and Bron was likely wearing light armor ... it was good television. I'm gonna keep saying that.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Several things from this peanut gallery
1) yes earlier editions did have actual GP values for Each and every magic item listed - obviously the DM was free to adjust them.
2) swimming with weight - you can do it I spoke about that in an earlier post here. I personally have done quarter mile swims with a 35 lb rock on my hip (the “dead” weight of an unconscious adult) so I don’t really have a problem with someone in light or medium armour with weapons swimming around. We have records of Roman auxiliaries doing it against the British during the Roman conquest as well.
3) treading water with lots of weight - again from personal experience as a 10 year old integrationist living in what we discovered were segregated apts I was a target for all the racist and often had as many as 4-6 middle and high school students trying to push me under but was able to keep my head above water with just my feet when my arms were held. If a 10 year old skilled in treading water can hold up that many folks trying to push him under I can see folks in heavy armour being able to make it back to the surface if they fall in and to keep their head above water at least for a while so they have a chance of rescue.
4) potions vs items - my point was that finding/making potions was going to be far easier and less time consuming than trying to find/make items - especially for low level parties. If you are at a decent table the DM is likely to provide things you can acquire that will solve the problem. I know my recent DMs have done so. If your going to spend a lot of time on the oceans or large lakes you should learn to swim or make the effort to acquire items to let you breath and swim in the water.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
ad1. Check 3e dungeon master guide i believe around page 216 (at least in Polish version) You have clear tables with base prices for any magic item.
As for people advocating for more realism, Why don't you just play 3.5e or Pathfinder instead of trying to break 5e? It's really that simple.
An ability check tests a character’s innate talent and training in an effort to overcome a challenge. If the DM deem that swimming in heavy armor is one, he or she can always ask for an ability check, such as a Strenght (Athletics) check since it covers difficult situations you encounter while swimming.