D&D 5E Armour check penalties

[Ruin Explorer]

Realistically (which D&D is not) wearing any heavy armor and carrying pounds and pounds of metal would be a drowning death sentence. At the very least, countless adventurers would have stripped out of their gear and left it at the bottom of countless subterranean lakes

Not just heavy armour, either - most medium armour would be a very serious issue at best, and hell, I'm pretty sure anyone who wasn't a "strong swimmer" would have very bad problems even in something like studded leather, especially with a few daggers and a longsword strapped to them.

I suspect this is one of those threads best left not pulled at. Flotation aids can solve the whole thing anyway, we know medieval knights in plate got across moats that way, and we know people have been using purpose-made flotation devices since at least several hundred years BC.

http://ravenrescue.com/faqs/the-history-of-the-pfd

If I was going back to a "Did you bring the right equipment?"-style of D&D, well, first off I wouldn't be using D&D for it, I'd use some other system, but yeah, I'd probably look at including flotation aids as part of equipment list.

 

[Nebulous]

If I was going back to a "Did you bring the right equipment?"-style of D&D, well, first off I wouldn't be using D&D for it, I'd use some other system, but yeah, I'd probably look at including flotation aids as part of equipment list.

Lol, i can see it now, the equipment list is supplemented with mandatory inflatable tubes, wooden floats, and yellow floaties. Dont' leave your village without them.

 

[Grazzt]

Lol, i can see it now, the equipment list is supplemented with mandatory inflatable tubes, wooden floats, and yellow floaties. Dont' leave your village without them.

Should probably get disadvantage on any intimidation-type checks while wearing your floaties too.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Lol, i can see it now, the equipment list is supplemented with mandatory inflatable tubes, wooden floats, and yellow floaties. Dont' leave your village without them.

Well, in this sort of D&D, you don't carry them, you make your henchmen carry them, just like they are carrying your 10' poles, your barrel of lamp oil, and your basket of trap-detection chickens, and so on. So you can point at laugh at them until you actually need to use them, at which point you can make the henchmen turn their backs and pretend it never happened!

(Also, we're talking sealed goatskins and floaty wood logs, rather than cute little water wings, but magic can achieve almost anything!)

(As a total aside, I remember in 3E I had a Psionic Warrior who had some kind of psionic power to make stuff float-y, and GOOD GOD did I get a lot of mileage out of it!)

 

[Kobold Stew]

In real terms, swimming in *any* armour should impose disadvantage (as a minimum) on any check made. My instinct would be to allow it for light armours only, with swimming just impossible in (non-magical) medium and heavy armours.

And yet, I can think of one (almost) unambiguous case in the source material where a hero does swim in armour -- the tale in Beowulf about the swimming contest with Breca, where they are both in chain mail, IIRC.

Apart from that, any sensible hero takes his armour off before swimming.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Apart from that, any sensible hero takes his armour off before swimming.

I kind of feel like "sensible hero" is a borderline oxymoron (as Beowulf perhaps supports!).

 

[Nebulous]

In real terms, swimming in *any* armour should impose disadvantage (as a minimum) on any check made. My instinct would be to allow it for light armours only, with swimming just impossible in (non-magical) medium and heavy armours.

And yet, I can think of one (almost) unambiguous case in the source material where a hero does swim in armour -- the tale in Beowulf about the swimming contest with Breca, where they are both in chain mail, IIRC.

Apart from that, any sensible hero takes his armour off before swimming.

Most sensible D&D heroes should not go ANYWHERE near water in armor as they are 99% likely to be attacked by squids, weresharks, krakens, elementals, scrags, and any other number of unholy abominations that would love to drag them in for a swim

 

[Agamon]

I'm just looking forward to seeing if Heavy armor just cancels your Dex bonus or Dex modifier. The former makes sense, the later is kinda dumb.

 

[Grazzt]

In real terms, swimming in *any* armour should impose disadvantage (as a minimum) on any check made. My instinct would be to allow it for light armours only, with swimming just impossible in (non-magical) medium and heavy armours.

And yet, I can think of one (almost) unambiguous case in the source material where a hero does swim in armour -- the tale in Beowulf about the swimming contest with Breca, where they are both in chain mail, IIRC.

Apart from that, any sensible hero takes his armour off before swimming.

Yep. I'll be houseruling that most likely. No swimming in heavy armor. Or at least if you try, massive penalties to it. More than disadvantage for sure (which I may just apply to swimming in medium armor; not sure. Have to see/play the game first). But swimming in heavy will definitely be changed somehow.

 

[Xodis]

Im thinking I might run it
Swimming with:

Heavy Armor = Disadvantage, no bonuses for the (equivalent) Swim skill or STR/DEX mod.

Medium Armor = Disadvantage, all bonuses apply.

Light Armor = Play as normal.

Swimming doesn't come up in my groups too often. People know to fear the water as adventurers.