D&D General How many air-blown waterskins are needed, if wearing metal armors, to prevent sinking in water?

[greg kaye]

You can't strip off armor quickly. It takes 5 minutes to get out of heavy armor. ...

Others have made the argument that air can be trapped in clothing. In deep ~water it could be a contest of strength/race against time to get clear of the weight.

I'd just write up a monk or barbarian if I chose to play at all. ..

There are lots of choices when going on a sea-faring or similar campaign. Given a few levels, you might well get water breathing and a swimming speed. It's just at previous stages that characters might need to take more care.

 

[Oofta]

Others have made the argument that air can be trapped in clothing. In deep ~water it could be a contest of strength/race against time to get clear of the weight.

There are lots of choices when going on a sea-faring or similar campaign. Given a few levels, you might well get water breathing and a swimming speed. It's just at previous stages that characters might need to take more care.

Did you know that historically, up through the 19th century most sailors did not know how to swim? There really wasn't much of a reason to because a sailing ship wasn't coming back for you anyway. In fact navies frequently discouraged learning how to swim so that you were more likely to stay with the ship at all costs.

Of course there are exceptions to all rules, including this one. But many sailors, particularly in the North Atlantic which is quite frigid would rather not attempt to swim because there was no reason to delay the inevitable. The more you know.

 

[mamba]

If you replaced a waterskin with an empty bag of holding - would that work?

no, because you do not get the water displacement you need

 

[mamba]

That's just awesome!!
Are there any other penalties that may be entertainingly given to a swimmer in, say, chainmail, buoyed by 12 skin balloons??

the fact that the bags get in the way of you swimming, so you do not sink but float instead, with little impact on the direction you are going in (you are better off being tied to a rope and dragged / pulled to the destination than trying to reach it by swimming)

 

[Willie the Duck]

Swamps and aquatic.
I'm considering a sea-based introduction to Ghosts of Saltmarsh.
But availability isn't an issue. I'm asking what might logically be required.

Otherwise, it could be a case of striping off quick, and bye-bye to that expensive chain armour.

In swamps, characters have been known to tie one skin to a rope so as to leave a buoy in the location where a character may have sunk. then other party members could grab the rope and haul the sinker back up.

In my groups, we've traditionally either ruled that the PCs are sufficiently heroic and mighty that they can swim in armor (at least sufficient to get back to the surface and aided by allies), or that they are cagey enough to have their armor stowed in packs tied to boats, and only wear something expendable/quickly-jettisonable when doing swamp-born adventures. Although I share Oofta's concern that -- in a game system where there are twelve ways from sunrise to play a high-AC character that doesn't wear heavy armor -- this just makes it one more reason not to play a knight-in-armor type. For that reason, I am all on board with this kind of inventiveness.

Swamps are the natural habitat of the North American Floating Log.
Also, the alligator, which is a log that's also an autonomous melee weapon.

Not to mention the North American Banjo-Playing Frog. They tend to hang out on North American Floating Logs. I saw a documentary* about one that went to Hollywood to become a star.
*I least I recall it being a documentary. I was rather young at the time

 

[greg kaye]

... this just makes it one more reason not to play a knight-in-armor type. ...

D&D could certainly benefit from some good armour and shield-using builds. It would be great if some leads were taken from the likes of Pathfinder.