Rules / Exploration / Hazards, Vision & Light
Hazards, Vision & Light
Environmental Hazards
Falling
At the end of a fall a creature takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage per 10 feet, to a maximum of 200 feet (treat longer falls as 200). The distance is set before any reduction to the effective distance. A creature that is conscious and able to move can use the Brace for Impact reaction (Acrobatics) to reduce the damage. The creature lands Prone unless it succeeds at that check.
Falling into water, snow or another fairly soft substance treats the fall as 20 feet shorter, or 30 feet shorter if you dove in on purpose; the reduction can't be more than the depth (falling into 10-foot-deep water treats the fall as 10 feet shorter).
Falling on a Creature
If you land on a creature, it must make a DC 15 Reflex save. Deliberately aiming to land on a creature after a long fall is all but impossible.
| Result | Effect on the creature landed on |
|---|---|
| Critical Success | No damage. |
| Success | Bludgeoning damage equal to ¼ of the falling damage you took. |
| Failure | Half the falling damage you took. |
| Critical Failure | The same damage you took. |
If you are larger or smaller than Medium, use your size on the falling objects table below for the damage the creature takes.
Falling Objects
A dropped object takes damage just like a falling creature. If it lands on a creature, that creature can make the same Reflex save as above, with the damage dice per 10 feet set by the object's (or creature's) size. Hazards and spells involving falling objects (a rockslide, for instance) have their own rules.
| Size | Damage per 10 feet fallen |
|---|---|
| Tiny | 1 |
| Small | 1d4 |
| Medium | 1d6 |
| Large | 1d8 |
| Huge | 1d10 |
| Gargantuan | 1d12 |
Suffocation
If you can't breathe (vacuum, an inert atmosphere, underwater without air): you can hold your breath for 1 minute. After that, at the end of each round you make a Fortitude save (DC 15, with 1 level of Disadvantage for each previous round you've saved): success, no effect; failure, Exhausted 1; critical failure, Exhausted 2. Reaching Exhausted 4 from suffocation kills you (see Death and Dying).
Vision & Light
Noticing danger, finding hidden things, hitting an enemy, aiming a spell: almost everything an adventurer does depends on seeing. An area can be lightly obscured (dim light, patchy fog, moderate foliage: 1 level of Disadvantage on sight-based Perception) or heavily obscured (darkness, opaque fog, dense foliage: vision is blocked entirely, and a creature in it is effectively Blinded).
- Bright light lets most creatures see normally. Even gloomy days are bright light, as is the area lit by a torch, lantern or fire.
- Dim light (shadows) is lightly obscured. It usually forms the boundary between bright light and darkness; twilight and dawn count as dim light, and a particularly brilliant full moon may bathe the land in it. Targets in dim light have Partial Concealment.
- Darkness is heavily obscured: outdoors at night (even most moonlit nights), in an unlit cave or vault. Targets in darkness have Total Concealment.
Concealment. Partial Concealment: the target is hard to see; you take 1 level of Disadvantage on Perception checks against it. Total Concealment: the target is effectively invisible, and you are treated as Blinded when trying to interact with it.
Blindsight. A creature with blindsight perceives its surroundings without sight within a set radius. Creatures without eyes, and those with echolocation or similarly sharp senses (such as bats), have it.