D&D 5E [ToA] Heat & Heavy (armor)

Cap'n Kobold · Sep 26, 2017

CapnZapp said:
Sorry what?

If I want to talk about making the jungle environment challenging for D&D heroes, I'm bloody well not satisfied by concluding a cantrip neutering the challenge.

I don't understand you. Perhaps what you're saying is you don't believe the jungle environment *should* challenge level 5 heroes, in which case I kindly ask you to talk about that somewhere else, since that's exactly what I'm talking about!

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So don't bother tracking how much water the party is carrying. - Just assume that they can use the water collectors to get enough to keep going - until something goes wrong.
They wake up to find their water collector is full of tree-frog spawn or monkey poo and have to track down an alternate water source for example.

Their clothes and armour start growing mould and rotting away.

They start suffering severe social penalties towards most other races due to their stink due to wearing the same clothes for days.

The cleric starts suffering a crisis of faith because he's pretty sure the lice in his hauberk have developed civilisation and started worshipping him. They have declared a crusade against the ticks in his hose over occupation of the crotch region.

The wizard flunks a Survival check during a latrine stop and wipes with what turns out to be the local equivalent of the suicide bush.

Now I'm sure that a party of sufficient level will be able to mitigate a lot of those things using spells - which is not a problem. Burning a Create Food and Water spell to avoid some jungle complications or using a fly spell to cross a churning river is more resources than some combat encounters will use up. Every spell slot spent to mitigate the dangers and inconveniences of the area is weakening the party as much as if it was used to heal HP dealt in combat.

Flexor the Mighty! · Sep 26, 2017

Cap'n Kobold said:
I'm pretty sure that people will have to take off their armour to sleep anyway. As you say, it gets rather cold, and anyone trying to sleep in the sweat-sodden clothing that they were wearing during the day is just asking to catch a chill.

If the rules don't have a penalty for it I doubt they will take it off to sleep. My players would have their PC wear full plate to dinner, they put it on before they leave their rooms in the morning even if they are going shopping. If I try to tell them that a person would not wear heavy uncomfortable armor 24/7 they immediately think I'm setting the up for an ambush. 30 years of D&D will do that to some.

ddaley · Jun 24, 2019

I like these ideas. I just started running ToA for my group. Luckily, no character has armor beyond light armor in this group. But, even at that, I am having them purchase "Chultian" versions of the armor... as you mentioned, armor made from fish scales (check out arapaima) or or dinosaur bones/scales or in such a way that they provide protection while still being breathable.

aco175 said:
I might expect some items to combat wearing armor. A potion applied to the armor to keep it cool or a ring of warmth changed to protect from heat. Armor with 'air conditioning' quality. Even new armor types like plant fiber armor, or shell armor that helps protect you.

Depending on how many encounters there are PCs may wear the armor just before they go into a dungeon or cave instead of all day walking through the jungle. If you are expecting trouble, you suit up otherwise you leave your pro-mask at home with no NBC threat.

ddaley · Jun 24, 2019

Oops... I clicked laugh instead of XP!

Tony Vargas said:
Oh, random thought, how 'bout using DarkSun type non-metallic armors, presumably more suited to the heat (albeit, a very dry heat)?

ddaley · Jun 25, 2019

That's one reason they wore surcoats.... blocks the sun from metal armor.

Sacrosanct said:
Metal absorbs the heat of the sun way more than leather does. Also, the book states Chult is in the mid 90s (so hotter than the Amazon). With humidity, the heat index is way over 100.

Nebulous · Jun 26, 2019

Flexor the Mighty! said:
If the rules don't have a penalty for it I doubt they will take it off to sleep. My players would have their PC wear full plate to dinner, they put it on before they leave their rooms in the morning even if they are going shopping. If I try to tell them that a person would not wear heavy uncomfortable armor 24/7 they immediately think I'm setting the up for an ambush. 30 years of D&D will do that to some.

Maybe I'm mistaken, but I thought there was a rule somewhere if you wear medium or heavy armor to bed you don't get a full night's rest? Was that from a past edition? My run of ToA didn't really convey the misery of the jungle as much as I wanted it to, even though I did manage to get them not to wear heavy armor because of the exhaustion penalties.

ddaley · Jun 26, 2019

My group is just starting out in this adventure. They just arrived in the port. Any advice people have for what worked and what didn't when they ran this would be appreciated.

Also, I plan to reduce the deadly-ness of the adventure somewhat... especially from traps. I am not a fan of traps and Camp Righteous could easily be a TPK right off the bat. I would like to penalize them for failing, but not wipe out the party based on a saving throw/skill check.

Nebulous said:
Maybe I'm mistaken, but I thought there was a rule somewhere if you wear medium or heavy armor to bed you don't get a full night's rest? Was that from a past edition? My run of ToA didn't really convey the misery of the jungle as much as I wanted it to, even though I did manage to get them not to wear heavy armor because of the exhaustion penalties.

Oofta · Jun 26, 2019

Nebulous said:
Maybe I'm mistaken, but I thought there was a rule somewhere if you wear medium or heavy armor to bed you don't get a full night's rest? Was that from a past edition? My run of ToA didn't really convey the misery of the jungle as much as I wanted it to, even though I did manage to get them not to wear heavy armor because of the exhaustion penalties.

There's an optional rule in Xanathar's Guide to Everything
"When you finish a long rest during which you slept in medium or heavy armor, you regain only one quarter of your spent Hit Dice (minimum of one die). If you have any levels of exhaustion, the rest doesn’t reduce your exhaustion level."

Personally I ignore the rule because I have no clue how much more uncomfortable it would be to sleep in medium or heavy armor vs say studded leather. All I know is that when I've been backpacking sleeping on rock didn't stop me from getting a good night's sleep and other than a minute or so of stretching in the morning it was fine. I think a lot of penalties go back to outdated notions like having to have a crane lift you onto horseback if wearing plate.

ddaley · Jun 26, 2019

I kinda like this rule actually. I would probably penalize people who wear light armor as well... maybe not as much... recover half their spent hit dice? In practice though, I may not use this rule... too much to keep track of as it is. We'll see.

Oofta said:
There's an optional rule in Xanathar's Guide to Everything
"When you finish a long rest during which you slept in medium or heavy armor, you regain only one quarter of your spent Hit Dice (minimum of one die). If you have any levels of exhaustion, the rest doesn’t reduce your exhaustion level."

Personally I ignore the rule because I have no clue how much more uncomfortable it would be to sleep in medium or heavy armor vs say studded leather. All I know is that when I've been backpacking sleeping on rock didn't stop me from getting a good night's sleep and other than a minute or so of stretching in the morning it was fine. I think a lot of penalties go back to outdated notions like having to have a crane lift you onto horseback if wearing plate.