D&D 5E River rapids!

[aramis erak]

The PCs in my campaign are going down a river. We ended the session after a night on an island (defeating a shambling mound that came out of the water). In the next session they're going down some rapids called the White Death. It is a 2-3 mile stretch of very rough waters. They are on a halfling river barge and so aren't actually directly the boat, but I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to how I can make it a challenging situation. I won't make any rolls for the craft itself, or maybe make fake rolls as if I'm checking to see if it crashes, but I want there to be a sense of danger for the players, even the possibility of a character going overboard and smashed against the rocks (although I don't want any character deaths on account of river rapids!).

Any ideas? If they aren't tied down, maybe a Dexterity check every hundred yards or so until they wisely tie themselves down? Or maybe I should throw a minor water elemental into the mix? (They're only 3rd level).

slightly higher DC's but fewer rolls. Maybe 2-3 rolls per day.

 

[Quickleaf]

Good ideas from [MENTION=97077]iserith[/MENTION], and a fist bump (or maybe a head tap would be more appropriate) to fellow river guide [MENTION=57361]Melhaic[/MENTION]. I was a guide on the American River 2003-2004, and the Kern River 2004-2005.

I would suggest you actually map out the rapids in some detail, with various challenges (e.g. massive wave) or currents (e.g. eddy) drawn onto it along the way. You could do this in advance or on the fly. However, if you do it in advance, keep the section of the river the PCs cannot see covered with black paper.

Then according to the PCs' Perception/Survival checks (or according to their backgrounds or familiarity with the region), reveal a certain amount of the map including the obstacles coming ahead. This reflects sighting the river on the fly, which I think is the feel you're going for (e.g. rather than scouting in advance, which would be the prudent thing to do!).

Allow the PCs to take different exploration-type roles aboard the raft.

The oarsman can control heading.
A scout/spotter can call out hazards in advance.
Paddlers can push off rocks to avoid hitting them, and can alter the speed of the raft.
Maybe spellcasters can fill a special role.
If you want gear management to be a thing, you could have a supporting "gear boat" or "gear master" who makes sure they don't lose gear at perilous sections of the rapids.

Lastly, I'd use the vehicle rules on page 199 of the DMG as a guideline. In particular, I'd keep tabs on the raft's HP (and Damage Threshold, if any).

 

[Hand of Evil]

• Map out the rapids - not just the river but the currents/channels that the water flows down. Each channel can have a different base challenge rating. Channels can be crossed at obstacles just by going right or left.
• Place obstacles in the path, these become dangers and increase the challenge rating being faced. Think of them as traps.
• Think about all the things that could go wrong. Boat spins, boat catapults, rope breaks, oar breaks.
• Think about exciting words to use.
• Now have the player live role play the event. All they have to do is follow our commands.

Example:
DM: You hear the rush of white water and you see it ahead; what side of the river to you go to or do you stay in the center?
Players: We stay in the center.
DM: You enter the rapids, the cold water is splash in your faces, your vision is reduced. Who is doing what?
Players: Ranger Bob, I am trying to steer, Mage Jane: I am just hanging on, Cleric Pope: paddling hard
DM: You see a Rock sharp and jutting from the water in front of you...Right or Left? 1...2...3...BANG! The boat straps along the side of the rock, little damage but the boards weakened. You are now in the left side channel, the water is rougher...You see a dip in the river before you...Right or Hard Right or stay the course? 1...2...3...the boat splashes down hard into the dip, the back lifting and Ranger Bob roll save or be catapulted (roll for random direction)...

 

[Wik]

I agree that the challenge itself should just be the water - going down rapids on a boat made for it is hard. A barge? That's super tough!

I volunteer for the pacific Coast Guard Auxiliary fleet up here in BC, and I do a lot of calls involving distressed/lost/damaged boats. This is in an age of navigational aids, aluminium hulls, and marine radios. Imagine the difficulties in a fantasy setting!

Sandbars are a problem, but a minor one - on a barge, you'd just stop, pretty much. Rocks or reefs are going to be a bigger hazard - if you hit one, your barge could capsize, tilt, or (worse) take on water.

PCs going overboard in a river can swim to shore, most likely, but if the current is strong enough, this can be a real difficulty. Without floatation, even strong swimmers are in trouble. While rivers are a different beast than the ocean I work on, bear in mind that it's not hard to drown in almost any situation. Someone in water just trying to remain stationary can still be struck by debris and go under... or get caught in a bad current, get caught in a series of rocks and slowly drown, or whatever else.

This is where i make the obligatory coast guard comment to readers - if you're going to be on the water, wear a PFD! If you go overboard, it WILL save your life. My unit just had a call a few weeks ago to find someone who didn't have adequate flotation and died. So, yeah. Even if you're a strong swimmer, wear one. Anyways -

Visibility is a lot harder than you'd think. Because the water reflects off the water, it becomes hard to see someone even in calm water. In a thrashing sea, finding a person even fifty feet away is going to take work, unless they're wearing bright reflective clothing. And that light reflecting off the water plays tricks with your eyes. A few months back, we were trying to find a missing hiker wearing a red jacket. We had to do a full stop of the boat anytime anything red was seen - even stop signs. And again, this is on a boat with nightvision goggles, expensive imaging systems, and binoculars. Imagine being on a storm-tossed barge without any of that. Your eyes WILL play tricks on you.

Depending on the time of year, hypothermia can be an issue. In the ocean, you can get hypothermia even in July (the ocean's temperature here raises less than a degree in the summer from the coldest part of the winter, and we're a fairly mild climate... you can get hypothermia even in California!). Rivers are a different beast, because the water temperature fluctuates a bit more, but if you think it might be a factor, here's the info:

In cold water, you have what we call the 1-10-1 rule. That means you have one minute to get your breathing under control and collect yourself (harder than it sounds. I've done this, and in icy water, you'll naturally start hyperventilating). You then have ten minutes of strong motor control - this is where you start swimming to shore if you can, or doing whatever needs to be done. After that, you're hooped... and you have about one hour before hypothermia will really set in.

It's not pretty. You'll lose basic motor controls. You'll be confused, unable to think clearly, and in many cases, you'll get angry and violent if people try to help you. Your limbs will start to freeze as your body goes into shock and keeps as much blood in the core and head as possible. In bad cases, moving a hypothermic person can kill them - icy water in the veins of the arms and legs gets dislodged, goes right to the heart, and causes cardiac arrest.

(again, going into real life coast guard mode, if you're treating someone that may be hypothermic, just wrap them up in a blanket, don't let them move too much, and make sure they're wearing dry clothing. And get help immediately. Weird thing to be talking about in July, but there it is).

On a barge, footing is going to be an issue. The deck will heave, and it's easy to be tossed aside. Encourage PCs to be wearing no armour (even leather would kill you). It's not uncommon for medieval sailors to strap themselves to the boat (we still do it today, in some situations). Water on deck is going to be an occurence, without a doubt.

Anyways. Here's hoping it gives you a few ideas, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask. This stuff is a bigger hobby of mine than even D&D. There's a reason I volunteer. It's a passion, and I'm all for sharing information for a good cause (even if "a good cause" is a just a fun night of D&D!)

 

[Zaruthustran]

Former whitewater river guide here (paddle slap to [MENTION=5788]me[/MENTION]lhiac and [MENTION=20323]Quickleaf[/MENTION]): Wenatchee & Skykomish, WA state.

I've been noodling on just such a challenge for a couple years. Nothing written down, just various thought exercises while commuting, flying, dozing off, or other mental downtime. I agree with the consensus: let the rapids be the challenge. At least at first. Introduce some mechanics, ease the players into the minigame, let them develop some mastery, and only then get crazy with the ambushes, monsters, and magic. Make this barge trip a major component of your campaign; D&D games are stories, and nothing makes for an epic story like a wacky road (or river) trip with your best friends.

I said minigame up above and that's one of the routes I was exploring. The best whitewater rafting sim I ever played is Formula De. (Board Game Geek, Tabletop episode). The way the turns of the track force player choice & movement feels very much like the way rocks force water (and rafts) through channels and chutes.

If you & your players are up for it, I encourage you to consider modding this classic game for your purposes. I haven't fully thought it out, but I was thinking of something like:

• Go over a Formula De track with blue highlighter or blue watercolor. Point being: turn it into a river. Paint the banks green to cover up the racing paraphernalia.
• Chop up the track to form tiles (keep the turns/curves intact). You'll lay these out two at a time: the tile the raft is currently on, and the tile coming up. Remove tiles that the raft has left: that's upriver--the past, man--and thus no longer matters. You only care about where you are right now, and what's ahead. #riverratphilosophy
• Create some obstacle tokens. Exposed rocks: can't go over these, and they can trap or tip you. Submerged rocks: boats can get stuck on these if the water is shallow and slow, and they can create dangerous holes if the water is higher and fast. Trees: crazy dangerous linear obstacles dangerous in high and low water that can capsize or puncture boats and trap and drown swimmers. Columns: bridge supports, old towers, drowned upright trees, and other vertical obstacles that boats can bump off of or get pinned against. Standing waves: these are the fun & classic whitewater that form fun rolling rides if little, or super fun wet splashes when crashed through if big.
• Each of these obstacles should modify the spaces around them. Exposed rocks give +1 to the space upriver, and +2 to +3 speed to the spaces on either side, and create an eddy (-1 to -5 speed) immediately behind. Submerged rocks act similarly if shallow, or give big bonuses to speed right over the top of them if deep. Vertical obstacles work like exposed rocks. Trees deal damage and force skill checks. Standing waves can sap speed, soak gear, and potentially eject crew--they also elicit cheers. Speed bonuses stack; if there's a rock, open water, and another rock, then the open water between the two rocks will have two overlapping speed bonuses: both apply.
• A bunch of speed bonuses near each other = rapids, and they work like this: if you end your movement in a space adjacent to a space with a speed bonus, you get drawn into that space if that space has a higher speed bonus than the space you're currently in. Sounds complex. Let me try again: if you end your movement in an open water space (no speed bonus) that's adjacent to a space with a +1, you get drawn into the +1. If that space is adjacent to a +2, you then get drawn into the +2. If that space is adjacent to a +3, you then get drawn into the +3. If that space is adjacent to another +3, or some +2s, or open water, or anything other than a +4 or higher, then your turn ends.
• That forced movement only happens when you end your turn.
• Normal movement: captain of the boat can call for three speeds: stop, regular paddle, hard paddle. Stop means you're floating with the river. Regular paddle means you roll 2d4 and choose which result to keep. Hard paddle means you roll 3d6 and take the highest die (and each of your crew makes a Con save with advantage, and takes 1 level exhaustion if fail). You "spend" this resource to move the raft. Spend 1 to move 1 space downriver, 1 to move sideways, and 2 to move 1 space upriver (backpaddle). You can also spend movement to negate forced movement, on a 1:1 basis. After spending any movement, move the raft 1 space downriver (unless your movement resulted in entering an eddy).
• Example: the turn starts. The captain calls for a hard paddle. He rolls 3d6 and gets a 1, a 2, and a 5 (and his crew all makes con saves with advantage). He keeps the 5. He's got 5 movement to spend. So, he spends 1 to move 1 space downriver. After he moves that 1 space, the river floats him 1 more space downriver--the Formula De track will make it obvious which space to move to. He then spends 1 to move 1 space sideways (toward the outer or inner bank). The river then floats him 1 space downriver from that new position. He's got 4 movement left. Looking ahead, he sees that this will put him at the mouth a chute that forms the beginnings of a rapid formed by some rocks. So he spends 2 movement to backpaddle, and moves 1 space upriver. The river then floats him 1 space downriver--he's now back in the same space. He then spends the rest of his movement to go downriver, ending his movement 1 space away from the entrance to the chute (but not entering it). He does this because he wants to be In Control when he enters the rapid, next turn.
• In Control: you're In Control when you have movement remaining. If you have to make a skill check while In Control, you make that check with Advantage. If you're not In Control and are forced to move (like if you end your movement at the start of a chute, or within a rapid) then bad things can happen. You can't avoid hazards like trees, rocks, or holes. And any skill checks are straight rolls (or at disadvantage, at DM's option). It makes all the difference: going through a big standing wave while In Control can restore levels of Exhaustion or provide a bonus to the next skill check. Crashing through that same wave while not In Control can force the lead crew to make checks to stay in the boat, or turn the boat into a catapult that ejects the captain himself.
• Skill checks: the simple way to do it is to use the Captain's skill. Survival is appropriate, and it'll be either a Cha check (if calling a high side to avoid being flipped by a collision with a rock, or instruct a crew how to extricate from a pin), an Int or Wis check (to read a rapid), or Str or Dex check (to haul in a swimmer).
• People ejected from the raft use the Swimming rules for skill checks/drowning, but use the raft rules for movement--including automatic movement from the river, and from rapids. They can float (0 speed), swim (1d2), or swim hard (2d4, take highest, make Con or suffer 1 level or exhaustion).
• Eddies: In order to have any hope of catching an eddy, you have to enter a rapid In Control with plenty of movement remaining. Move your raft into the rapid, then spend enough Movement to negate the Speed Bonus of the space you're in and have at least 1 left to spend to enter the Eddy space. Eddy spaces have negative speed bonuses so that they can offset the speed bonuses from adjacent rocks or other hazards (remember, speed bonuses stack). An Eddy is an Eddy if the net speed bonus is zero or less. While in an Eddy, the River speed is 0--you don't drift. The players can safely disembark onto a bank or the eddy-creating obstacle itself.

That's a good start, I think. Needs playtesting. And it may be more fidelity than you or the players want--like I said, it's a minigame. But I think, with a little polishing, it'd be a fun change of pace.


PS: Before attempting all that, the first thing you do is, watch Deliverance. And Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown. And since it's summer: run some rivers!

 

[the_redbeard]

Something to consider is a stability track for the raft. This gives you a way to deliver a failure option with consequences without immediately dumping people or cargo overboard. Something like 5 is a steady level raft, and 0 is capsized.

5 no consequences, control checks made with advantage
4 control checks normal, some chop
3 bouncy, movement requires DC 8 acrobatics/athletics (fail: with handhelds, no move without handhelds fall prone and slide 1 hex toward edge each round until DC 8 dex save made), experiencing this for 5 rounds will require characters to make DC 8 con saves or become nauseous,
2 very bouncy, as 3 but DC is 10, all attack rolls at disadvantage, cargo might start moving (50% chance slide 1 hex toward edge)
1 topsy turvy, as 3 but DC is 15, handholds require Str save of 12 to hold on, control checks at disadvantage
0 capsized! everybody makes swim checks, check which cargo floats and which sinks, etc

I might be channeling something I remember from Car Wars years and years ago.

With some of the other posters' ideas we almost have a mini-board game.

 

[the_redbeard]

Depending on the time of year, hypothermia can be an issue. In the ocean, you can get hypothermia even in July (the ocean's temperature here raises less than a degree in the summer from the coldest part of the winter, and we're a fairly mild climate... you can get hypothermia even in California!). Rivers are a different beast, because the water temperature fluctuates a bit more, but if you think it might be a factor, here's the info:

In cold water, you have what we call the 1-10-1 rule. That means you have one minute to get your breathing under control and collect yourself (harder than it sounds. I've done this, and in icy water, you'll naturally start hyperventilating). You then have ten minutes of strong motor control - this is where you start swimming to shore if you can, or doing whatever needs to be done. After that, you're hooped... and you have about one hour before hypothermia will really set in.

It's not pretty. You'll lose basic motor controls. You'll be confused, unable to think clearly, and in many cases, you'll get angry and violent if people try to help you. Your limbs will start to freeze as your body goes into shock and keeps as much blood in the core and head as possible. In bad cases, moving a hypothermic person can kill them - icy water in the veins of the arms and legs gets dislodged, goes right to the heart, and causes cardiac arrest.

(again, going into real life coast guard mode, if you're treating someone that may be hypothermic, just wrap them up in a blanket, don't let them move too much, and make sure they're wearing dry clothing. And get help immediately. Weird thing to be talking about in July, but there it is).

Do you think the exhaustion track might be a good way to deliver consequences of being in cold water?

On a barge, footing is going to be an issue. The deck will heave, and it's easy to be tossed aside. Encourage PCs to be wearing no armour (even leather would kill you). It's not uncommon for medieval sailors to strap themselves to the boat (we still do it today, in some situations). Water on deck is going to be an occurence, without a doubt.

Anyways. Here's hoping it gives you a few ideas, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask. This stuff is a bigger hobby of mine than even D&D. There's a reason I volunteer. It's a passion, and I'm all for sharing information for a good cause (even if "a good cause" is a just a fun night of D&D!)

Yeah, appreciate your expertise. Do you think a stability track might be a good way to set challenges for footing and such?

 

[Wik]

Do you think the exhaustion track might be a good way to deliver consequences of being in cold water?

Sure, it'd be a great way to do it. Con saves over time, and as you fail, you go up the track. And then, make swim checks every couple of minutes or so? Failure of five or more means you get one "drowning point". once you hit a number equal to 3 + con modifier, you go under?

Yeah, appreciate your expertise. Do you think a stability track might be a good way to set challenges for footing and such?

That'd make sense. It was a good idea upthread, and it's quick and dirty and worth using. As a side note, your boat, if it's losing stability, will turn so that the bow will be perpendicular to the current. I'm not SURE if that's how it behaves in the rivers, but in the ocean, this happens all the time (you can tell the tide just by looking at how anchored boats are behaving). Once a boat is perpendicular like this, it's gonna rock a LOT more. So, if you start losing control, this is how it'll look.

 

[Unwise]

A few quick thoughts:

A) Everybody makes a Wisdom based water vehicles check to remember all the instructions blurted out at them by the captain. Are they familiar with the halfling navel words, do they know their stern from port? "Don't stand there, look out for the yarbridge line, keep down or the yarnsaw will take your head off, stand clear of the filrigging if you don't want to lose a hand!" Having to all move from side to side to shift the weight, standing away from coils of ropes, remembering to stay tied off while having to madly move out the way of the frantic crew. There is a lot of room for error and getting knocked off.

B) It does not need to be a PC falling off. A rope breaks, a wooden arm smacks some poor guy off, he is unconcious in the water and needs rescuing. The crew are busy holding the ship together. A cask of 20yr old brandy falls off the ship, you know it is worth a small fortune, but is it worth the risk?

C) Some rival river merchants have added chains between the rocks up ahead. They are at the height that they will foul the rigging and mess up anybody on the deck, but let the deck itself go under. They catch a glimps of it through a bend in the river, can they jump off, run across the rocks and get the chains removed by the time the ship rounds the bend and hits them?

D) Some harpies are just waiting to scavenge anybody that falls off or pick off survivors if the boat sinks. They have no intention of fighting, but might act if they do in order to distract the crew and make them crash. They occasionally pretend to divebomb the helmsman. It makes sense that scavengers hang out around this area.

E) They are doing fine, but up ahead another vessel is in dire straights. Their ship is going to be ripped apart soon if it turns on its side, the crew swepts down river. Not the mention the fact that the PCs ship will likely collide with them if nobody helps them. There are not enough good pilots to help both ships, the PCs need to step up if they want to save them.