Encumbrance – A swimmer’s effective rank is reduced by 1 if clothing is worn and by 1 (plus 2 times DEX penalty) if armour is worn. This applies to TMR and combat, but not to holding your breath.
Non-Swimmers - Characters with no levels in swimming or diving do not know how to swim and will lose 1 hit point cumulative every round (1 point the first round, 2 points the second round, 3 the third, etc.).
Surface TMR - A Swimmer has a base TMR of 15 in the water (10 for gnomes and 5 for dwarves). TMR increases by 3 per rank.
Subsurface TMR – Equal to Surface TMR * .75 (round up)
Endurance - Swimmers can move at half TMR with no use of END/NL damage. 1x TMR uses 1d4 END/NL per round. This doubles for 2x TMR, which is the maximum speed that non-aquatic creatures can swim.
Holding your Breath – A swimmer can hold their breath for 15 + WP + (2 x rank) seconds without preparation, or 30 + (WP x 2) + (3 x rank) with preparation.
Diving – A Swimmer can safely dive into the water from a height of 10 + (CON / 2) + (Rank x 2) feet with a successful diving roll ((Rank x 5) + DEX bonus) The roll is modified by minus 1 per foot beyond safe diving distance. The distance is multiplied by 1.5 if the person jumps feet first and is wearing some type of foot protection. The depth of the water must be at least 25 feet (minus 1 foot per 4 ranks, minimum of 15 feet). The diving roll is made on the static maneuver table. Those with no skill in Swimming or Diving gain no DEX bonus and have a safe diving distance of (10 + (CON / 2)) feet. A result of less than Success indicates that the diver took damage from the dive, as indicated below:
- Blunder - Really bad news. 4d6 damage. Roll two Grievous injuries. Stunned 2d6 rounds.
- Absolute Failure - Bad news. 3d6 damage. Roll one Grievous injury. Stunned 2d4 rounds.
- Failure - Ouch. 3d6 damage. Stunned 1d3 rounds. Hopefully someone is around to help.
- Partial Success - Not so smooth. 2d6 damage.
- Near Success - Slight miscalculation. 1d6 damage.
- Success - Smooth dive. No damage.
- Absolute Success - Smooth dive. No damage.
Staying Afloat – A swimmer can keep himself afloat for (CON + Rank) hours before they begin to lose hit points. Thereafter, they lose 1 hit point, cumulative every (CON + Rank) minutes (1 point after X minutes, 2 more points after another X minutes, 3 more points after another X minutes, etc.). Staying afloat does not allow for any movement. The character stays afloat in one location.
Endurance Swimming – A swimmer can swim at base TMR for a number of rounds equal to (CON + Rank) before beginning to lose 1 hit point per round. Hit points lost is this fashion recovers at 1 point per minute once the diver can rest (by resting on a solid surface).
The Effect of Turbulent Seas – Turbulent seas should reduce the effective rank of a swimmer swimming on or near the surface. For example, swimming in the ocean on a relatively calm day, but where there is still a gentle swell, might reduce the effective rank of a swimmer by one so that someone with only one rank in swimming will drown.
The Effects of Swimming Skill on “Bottom Adventures” – On some occasions, the adventurers may undertake adventures on the bottom of the sea, protected by such spells as water breathing and free action. In such cases, swimming skill is still useful for determining subsurface swimming speed. Free action magic will allow the character to fight normally while standing on the bottom, regardless of whether they have swimming skill.
The Effects of Water Pressure (how deep can you go) - A character can safely withstand the pressure of depths down to (CON x 3) feet. Beyond this, the character suffers 1 damage per round per CON feet beyond their “safe” depth. For example, a character with a 20 CON could safely withstand depths down to 60 feet. Between 61 and 80 feet, they suffer 1 damage per round.. Between 81 and 100 feet, they suffer 2 damage per round, etc.
Other abilities
Rank 3 – The swimmer can fight in melee while swimming on the surface. Effective Strike Chance is equal to half normal Strike Chance. Damage is half normal damage for all weapons (roll damage normally but then cut the total in half). This applies to many other action skills as well. For example, a swimmer with Rope Mastery skill can throw a lasso and perform other Rope Mastery abilities, but their effective bonus is halved.
Rank 7 – The swimmer’s ability to fight while swimming on the surface improves. Strike Chance is equal to three quarters normal Strike Chance. Damage is reduced by 3 points, or half damage, whichever is more (roll damage normally and then deduct 3 points or cut in half).
Rank 8 – An endurance swimmer can “rest” in the water to recover hit points lost due to Endurance Swimming. HP Are recovered at a rate of one point per two minutes of rest. The endurance swimmer can recover all hit points except 1 per 30 minutes spent in the water. Thus, a rank 8 swimmer who has been swimming for four hours, can recover all but 8 hit points.
Rank 12 – Similar to the Rank 8 ability except that the endurance swimmer can recover all hit points except 1 per hour spent in the water. Also, the swimmer can fight equally effectively on shore as they can while swimming on the surface. |