My game is moving to the ocean for the next few sessions and underwater combat is unavoidable. The official rules on underwater combat are a bit sparse (disadvantage with most weapons, limited range, fire resistance) and I'm seeking advice on additional options underwater. My thoughts so far
Acid Damage- Extra fire damage from the reaction between acid and water (small amount, maybe 1d4)
Thunder damage- it depends on how deep but in general it will move farther and might do more damage, not sure. This might be important for the party druid.
Lightning- this is my big concern since the Sorcerer is going to be reliant on his Witch Bolt over Fireball. I'm not positive how to go about Lightning damage. Maybe make it a radius around the caster that does double damage but also hurts the caster. But Salt Water is a conductor so it doesn't spread that much, which might allow the Lightning to hit the target more dead on. I'm not sure about that one.
Most other damage types should work the same, but if you guys have any suggestions I'd love to hear them. I want to make it a cool and interesting experience that doesn't inhibit them too much (it shouldn't be easy but it also shouldn't be impossible). If you're wondering the party (5th level) is a Wood Elf Thief, Fallen Aasimar Shadow Sorcerer, Centaur Wild Fire Druid, Tabaxi Lore Bard, and Human Battle Master Fighter. I'm most concerned about the Druid and the Sorcerer, so in trying to figure out more options I can give them.
My personal suggestion is to never add crunch you don't have to. I can see why that wouldn't be welcome advice, but it's sincere advice. It just bogs combat down.
It Is up to you to decide if, for example, magical electricity is affected by water the same way regular electricity is. Because it is magical, mundane water could do nothing to it if you so choose.
But if you want to do stuff like that I’d probably just add 1d4 lightning dmg or something simple like that.
Realistic underwater movement won't be much fun for the PCs, as an awful lot of things will work poorly or not at all. Basically, any attack that doesn't do lightning, or thunder damage will be unusable beyond melee range, and most (other than a few piercing attacks) will work poorly even at melee range, unless it is capable of ignoring intervening obstacles. Water isn't that good armor per unit thickness, but you tend to have an awful lot of it.
Yeah that's some of the stuff I was thinking about. I like a more minimalist approach but with some extra flavor. Typically just add a die of damage to the spell and change its range. Bogging down combat is definitely an issue now that the games are online, so I'll consider dialing back some of my ideas. As I said, the Sorcerer and Druid are getting hurt pretty bad by having their fire spells halved underwater, so I wanted to explore other options I could give them.
I've got to agree with Tim on not adding complexity. Magic inherently doesn't obey the laws of physics. Once you've created energy from nothing -- energy that somehow dissipates back into nothingness as quickly as it was created -- worrying about how that energy interacts with water seems like splitting hairs. It's magic; it just works.
Session went well, combat went smoothly, and it wasn't much of an issue. Thank you guys for your opinions. Keeping things simple is definitely important when these online games can have communication issues.
My game is moving to the ocean for the next few sessions and underwater combat is unavoidable. The official rules on underwater combat are a bit sparse (disadvantage with most weapons, limited range, fire resistance) and I'm seeking advice on additional options underwater. My thoughts so far
Acid Damage- Extra fire damage from the reaction between acid and water (small amount, maybe 1d4)
Thunder damage- it depends on how deep but in general it will move farther and might do more damage, not sure. This might be important for the party druid.
Lightning- this is my big concern since the Sorcerer is going to be reliant on his Witch Bolt over Fireball. I'm not positive how to go about Lightning damage. Maybe make it a radius around the caster that does double damage but also hurts the caster. But Salt Water is a conductor so it doesn't spread that much, which might allow the Lightning to hit the target more dead on. I'm not sure about that one.
Most other damage types should work the same, but if you guys have any suggestions I'd love to hear them. I want to make it a cool and interesting experience that doesn't inhibit them too much (it shouldn't be easy but it also shouldn't be impossible). If you're wondering the party (5th level) is a Wood Elf Thief, Fallen Aasimar Shadow Sorcerer, Centaur Wild Fire Druid, Tabaxi Lore Bard, and Human Battle Master Fighter. I'm most concerned about the Druid and the Sorcerer, so in trying to figure out more options I can give them.
Thanks in advance if you give advice, by the way.
My personal suggestion is to never add crunch you don't have to. I can see why that wouldn't be welcome advice, but it's sincere advice. It just bogs combat down.
It Is up to you to decide if, for example, magical electricity is affected by water the same way regular electricity is. Because it is magical, mundane water could do nothing to it if you so choose.
But if you want to do stuff like that I’d probably just add 1d4 lightning dmg or something simple like that.
Realistic underwater movement won't be much fun for the PCs, as an awful lot of things will work poorly or not at all. Basically, any attack that doesn't do lightning, or thunder damage will be unusable beyond melee range, and most (other than a few piercing attacks) will work poorly even at melee range, unless it is capable of ignoring intervening obstacles. Water isn't that good armor per unit thickness, but you tend to have an awful lot of it.
Yeah that's some of the stuff I was thinking about. I like a more minimalist approach but with some extra flavor. Typically just add a die of damage to the spell and change its range. Bogging down combat is definitely an issue now that the games are online, so I'll consider dialing back some of my ideas. As I said, the Sorcerer and Druid are getting hurt pretty bad by having their fire spells halved underwater, so I wanted to explore other options I could give them.
I've got to agree with Tim on not adding complexity. Magic inherently doesn't obey the laws of physics. Once you've created energy from nothing -- energy that somehow dissipates back into nothingness as quickly as it was created -- worrying about how that energy interacts with water seems like splitting hairs. It's magic; it just works.
Session went well, combat went smoothly, and it wasn't much of an issue. Thank you guys for your opinions. Keeping things simple is definitely important when these online games can have communication issues.