On level 4 in room 47b, the water cell, would a character whose class allows them to breathe under water still be able to, or would that be taken away since it's a class ability from a warlock patron?
It says:
Flood Trap. The water fills the cell at a rate of 1 foot per round, taking 10 rounds to fill the room. If the candle is left in its sconce, the rising water extinguishes it on the fourth round. Trying to stuff or block the holes doesn’t stop the water from pouring in. Because of the cell’s antimagic field, spells and magic items that enable characters to breathe underwater don’t function here. Any character who runs out of air begins to suffocate (see “The Environment” in chapter 8 of the Player’s Handbook).
I'm only asking for clarity in the future, we're not to this point yet, I'm just trying to be proactive. The character is a changling, he can't naturally breathe underwater and I figure since the ability is given by the warlock patron it's a magical ability and would be nullified by the antimagic field. I understand class features aren't specified, but the subclass wasn't a thing when the module was made, I don't know if there were any subclasses that just let you breathe underwater when this came out
i'd rule against it. since it's going so far as to cancel so many options then the obvious spirit of the trap is that no one should be comfortable. no one with an 'unnatural' water breathing power, anyway for sure. i'd be curious whether natural water breathing by triton, sea elves, or water genasi would function.
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TLDR: The fathomless ability to breath underwater continues to work fine in an antimagic field. The text from ToA explicitly lists spells and magic items for this particular antimagic field. It has no effect on racial or class abilities.
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The ToA text says:
"Because of the cell’s antimagic field, spells and magic items that enable characters to breathe underwater don’t function here."
It specifically only refers to spells and magic items. It does not refer to racial abilities or any other way to have the ability to breath underwater except for spells and magic items.
If you want to look up the antimagic field spell:
"This area is divorced from the magical energy that suffuses the multiverse. Within the sphere, spells can't be cast, summoned creatures disappear, and even magic items become mundane."
The spell text only gives details on suppressing spell effects and magic items. However it also has the following sentence which a DM might or might not treat as fluff.
"Spells and other magical effects, except those created by an artifact or a deity, are suppressed in the sphere and can't protrude into it. "
Then you have the ruling from the Sage Advice Compendium on what exactly is considered magical - cited at the end because it is a bit long and the description of the fathomless ability
"Gift of the Sea
1st-level Fathomless feature
You gain a swimming speed of 40 feet, and you can breathe underwater."
This ability is not described as magical, where the ability comes from doesn't matter, it may be a magic like ability but it isn't explicitly magical under the D&D 5e definition. An anti-magic field would have NO effect on this ability and it would work fine in the water trap from ToA.
"
Is the breath weapon of a dragon magical?
If you cast antimagic field, don armor of invulnerability, or use another feature of the game that protects against magical or nonmagical effects, you might ask yourself, “Will this protect me against a dragon’s breath?” The breath weapon of a typical dragon isn’t considered magical, so antimagic field won’t help you but armor of invulnerability will.
You might be thinking, “Dragons seem pretty magical to me.” And yes, they are extraordinary! Their description even says they’re magical. But our game makes a distinction between two types of magic:
the background magic that is part of the D&D multiverse’s physics and the physiology of many D&D creatures
the concentrated magical energy that is contained in a magic item or channeled to create a spell or other focused magical effect
In D&D, the first type of magic is part of nature. It is no more dispellable than the wind. A monster like a dragon exists because of that magic-enhanced nature. The second type of magic is what the rules are concerned about. When a rule refers to something being magical, it’s referring to that second type. Determining whether a game feature is magical is straightforward. Ask yourself these questions about the feature:
Is it a magic item?
Is it a spell? Or does it let you create the effects of a spell that’s mentioned in its description?
Is it a spell attack?
Is it fueled by the use of spell slots?
Does its description say it’s magical?
If your answer to any of those questions is yes, the feature is magical.
Let’s look at a white dragon’s Cold Breath and ask ourselves those questions. First, Cold Breath isn’t a magic item. Second, its description mentions no spell. Third, it’s not a spell attack. Fourth, the word “magical” appears nowhere in its description. Our conclusion: Cold Breath is not considered a magical game effect, even though we know that dragons are amazing, supernatural beings."
TLDR: The fathomless ability to breath underwater continues to work fine in an antimagic field. The text from ToA explicitly lists spells and magic items for this particular antimagic field. It has no effect on racial or class abilities.
...
the spirit of the sentence seems to be 'no breathing assistance of magical origin.' a warlock patron's gift could easily be ruled as being 'of magical origin.' i feel that a DM could confidently in the moment say "nope, the lock is drowning too" without guilt or hessitation. unless they gave their minion gills in which case i recommend "oops, i mean vinegar. the pit is filling with ancient vinegar and you're drowning and it stings while you're drowning."
or, yeah, that long way might be right too. perhaps the real trap was designed so that one specific subclass had to watch all their friends die horribly. surviving is the real trap!
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Thank you very much for the in depth answer, I will more than likely go with it's fine for him in that room and he has as much time as it takes to figure it out if they go there
Thank you also for going in depth with your answer, I had the same thought about it being a trail that everyone was going to be uncomfortable. Being that it would be the second place that, that ability is hindered it wouldn't be too bad to say "no, your water breathing ability isn't working, you'll have to find another way out". If the Sage Advice says no, then I'll have to go with the Sage Advice
TLDR: The fathomless ability to breath underwater continues to work fine in an antimagic field. The text from ToA explicitly lists spells and magic items for this particular antimagic field. It has no effect on racial or class abilities.
...
the spirit of the sentence seems to be 'no breathing assistance of magical origin.' a warlock patron's gift could easily be ruled as being 'of magical origin.' i feel that a DM could confidently in the moment say "nope, the lock is drowning too" without guilt or hessitation. unless they gave their minion gills in which case i recommend "oops, i mean vinegar. the pit is filling with ancient vinegar and you're drowning and it stings while you're drowning."
or, yeah, that long way might be right too. perhaps the real trap was designed so that one specific subclass had to watch all their friends die horribly. surviving is the real trap!
My personal take on it is that when the characters have cool abilities that let them deal with, bypass, or shine in content then I let them use it. It is more fun for the players when they get to shine and I can make adjustments to the plot if they succeed where the module expected them to fail.
In addition, if the player has some way to use the character abilities to deal with an encounter then that is awesome. Even if that ability is just breathing under water. If I created an encounter, even a plot critical one, where a character is able to bypass it then I designed the encounter wrong, I don't change the encounter or the rules in the moment to counter player abilities. I adjust how the plot develops afterward since the DM has total control over the ongoing events in the world.
In this case, where the OP is running published content, I look at which would be more fun and logical. In this case, I wouldn't change a thing. Let the room fill with water, (vinegar would feel way too contrived), let the character breathe underwater the way they can and let them have extra time to figure out the trap. Hopefully, they won't need it anyway. However, if they have companions with them who can't swim or breathe underwater ... it will add to the tension and not diminish it as the problem solution falls on the character who won't start drowning after a while.
Final point, in context, this is only one part of a four (?) part trap leading to another room (air, earth, water and fire themed if I recall) ... so it is completely insignificant if one character can actually breathe underwater for that one room (the sand, vacuum or flames might still get them :) ).
On level 4 in room 47b, the water cell, would a character whose class allows them to breathe under water still be able to, or would that be taken away since it's a class ability from a warlock patron?
It says:
Flood Trap. The water fills the cell at a rate of 1 foot per round, taking 10 rounds to fill the room. If the candle is left in its sconce, the rising water extinguishes it on the fourth round. Trying to stuff or block the holes doesn’t stop the water from pouring in. Because of the cell’s antimagic field, spells and magic items that enable characters to breathe underwater don’t function here. Any character who runs out of air begins to suffocate (see “The Environment” in chapter 8 of the Player’s Handbook).
I'm only asking for clarity in the future, we're not to this point yet, I'm just trying to be proactive. The character is a changling, he can't naturally breathe underwater and I figure since the ability is given by the warlock patron it's a magical ability and would be nullified by the antimagic field. I understand class features aren't specified, but the subclass wasn't a thing when the module was made, I don't know if there were any subclasses that just let you breathe underwater when this came out
Because, as you said, the class feature is not specifically labeled as a magical effect, I would rule that the anti-magic field has no effect on it.
Of course, however, you are free to rule how you see fit.
i'd rule against it. since it's going so far as to cancel so many options then the obvious spirit of the trap is that no one should be comfortable. no one with an 'unnatural' water breathing power, anyway for sure. i'd be curious whether natural water breathing by triton, sea elves, or water genasi would function.
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
TLDR: The fathomless ability to breath underwater continues to work fine in an antimagic field. The text from ToA explicitly lists spells and magic items for this particular antimagic field. It has no effect on racial or class abilities.
-----
The ToA text says:
"Because of the cell’s antimagic field, spells and magic items that enable characters to breathe underwater don’t function here."
It specifically only refers to spells and magic items. It does not refer to racial abilities or any other way to have the ability to breath underwater except for spells and magic items.
If you want to look up the antimagic field spell:
"This area is divorced from the magical energy that suffuses the multiverse. Within the sphere, spells can't be cast, summoned creatures disappear, and even magic items become mundane."
The spell text only gives details on suppressing spell effects and magic items. However it also has the following sentence which a DM might or might not treat as fluff.
"Spells and other magical effects, except those created by an artifact or a deity, are suppressed in the sphere and can't protrude into it. "
Then you have the ruling from the Sage Advice Compendium on what exactly is considered magical - cited at the end because it is a bit long and the description of the fathomless ability
"Gift of the Sea
1st-level Fathomless feature
You gain a swimming speed of 40 feet, and you can breathe underwater."
This ability is not described as magical, where the ability comes from doesn't matter, it may be a magic like ability but it isn't explicitly magical under the D&D 5e definition. An anti-magic field would have NO effect on this ability and it would work fine in the water trap from ToA.
"
Is the breath weapon of a dragon magical?
If you cast antimagic field, don armor of invulnerability, or use another feature of the game that protects against magical or nonmagical effects, you might ask yourself, “Will this protect me against a dragon’s breath?” The breath weapon of a typical dragon isn’t considered magical, so antimagic field won’t help you but armor of invulnerability will.
You might be thinking, “Dragons seem pretty magical to me.” And yes, they are extraordinary! Their description even says they’re magical. But our game makes a distinction between two types of magic:
In D&D, the first type of magic is part of nature. It is no more dispellable than the wind. A monster like a dragon exists because of that magic-enhanced nature. The second type of magic is what the rules are concerned about. When a rule refers to something being magical, it’s referring to that second type. Determining whether a game feature is magical is straightforward. Ask yourself these questions about the feature:
If your answer to any of those questions is yes, the feature is magical.
Let’s look at a white dragon’s Cold Breath and ask ourselves those questions. First, Cold Breath isn’t a magic item. Second, its description mentions no spell. Third, it’s not a spell attack. Fourth, the word “magical” appears nowhere in its description. Our conclusion: Cold Breath is not considered a magical game effect, even though we know that dragons are amazing, supernatural beings."
the spirit of the sentence seems to be 'no breathing assistance of magical origin.' a warlock patron's gift could easily be ruled as being 'of magical origin.' i feel that a DM could confidently in the moment say "nope, the lock is drowning too" without guilt or hessitation. unless they gave their minion gills in which case i recommend "oops, i mean vinegar. the pit is filling with ancient vinegar and you're drowning and it stings while you're drowning."
or, yeah, that long way might be right too. perhaps the real trap was designed so that one specific subclass had to watch all their friends die horribly. surviving is the real trap!
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
Thank you very much for the in depth answer, I will more than likely go with it's fine for him in that room and he has as much time as it takes to figure it out if they go there
Thank you also for going in depth with your answer, I had the same thought about it being a trail that everyone was going to be uncomfortable. Being that it would be the second place that, that ability is hindered it wouldn't be too bad to say "no, your water breathing ability isn't working, you'll have to find another way out". If the Sage Advice says no, then I'll have to go with the Sage Advice
My personal take on it is that when the characters have cool abilities that let them deal with, bypass, or shine in content then I let them use it. It is more fun for the players when they get to shine and I can make adjustments to the plot if they succeed where the module expected them to fail.
In addition, if the player has some way to use the character abilities to deal with an encounter then that is awesome. Even if that ability is just breathing under water. If I created an encounter, even a plot critical one, where a character is able to bypass it then I designed the encounter wrong, I don't change the encounter or the rules in the moment to counter player abilities. I adjust how the plot develops afterward since the DM has total control over the ongoing events in the world.
In this case, where the OP is running published content, I look at which would be more fun and logical. In this case, I wouldn't change a thing. Let the room fill with water, (vinegar would feel way too contrived), let the character breathe underwater the way they can and let them have extra time to figure out the trap. Hopefully, they won't need it anyway. However, if they have companions with them who can't swim or breathe underwater ... it will add to the tension and not diminish it as the problem solution falls on the character who won't start drowning after a while.
Final point, in context, this is only one part of a four (?) part trap leading to another room (air, earth, water and fire themed if I recall) ... so it is completely insignificant if one character can actually breathe underwater for that one room (the sand, vacuum or flames might still get them :) ).