hold your breath: Con or double Con in rounds?

[GlassJaw]

The drowning rules in the DMG say you can hold your breath for a number of rounds equal to twice your Con score yet the Swim skill in the PHB say you can hold your breath equal to just your Con score.

The SRD has this same discrepancy.

Which is it?

 

[dedicated]

It's con while swimming, double con while not doing much

 

[The Souljourner]

Which is pretty damn generous, to be honest. Try holding your breath for a minute, even just sitting there at the computer. It's tough. I can just about do it... of course, by the rules, that means I have a con of 5, which I'm pretty sure is not the case. And while swimming? I was on the swim team in highschool and was in awesome physical shape... no way could I hold my breath a minute while swimming at any kind of reasonable pace.

-The Souljourner

 

[dcollins]

The drowning rules in the DMG say you can hold your breath for a number of rounds equal to twice your Con score yet the Swim skill in the PHB say you can hold your breath equal to just your Con score.

The SRD has this same discrepancy.

Which is it?

The Con x 2 was the rule everywhere in 3.0. The Con x 1 was inserted in the 3.5 PHB, so I assume that takes precedence. (It's also much better balanced, considering how few fights last anywhere near that many rounds.)

 

[iwatt]

Which is pretty damn generous, to be honest. Try holding your breath for a minute, even just sitting there at the computer. It's tough. I can just about do it... of course, by the rules, that means I have a con of 5, which I'm pretty sure is not the case. And while swimming? I was on the swim team in highschool and was in awesome physical shape... no way could I hold my breath a minute while swimming at any kind of reasonable pace.

-The Souljourner

I was also in the swim team, and I can tell you that it is possible. Just remember that you die after Con rounds. Are you sure you've ever held your breath until you're close to dying? I haven't myself (and I have swam underwater for over a minute)

 

[Ferret]

I held my breath for two minutes once...I don't have a con of 20.

 

[GlassJaw]

Just remember that you die after Con rounds.

Well you don't die right away but you do have to start making Con checks. After that, you've only got a couple of rounds left.

Are you sure you've ever held your breath until you're close to dying?

I think this is important to remember. I agree that 1 round per Con seems short. If you really wanted to make the breath rules more "realistic", you could rule that you can act normally up to your Con in rounds and then after that, you start to acrue penalties (getting light-headed, etc) or require Concentration checks to perform certain actions. It's more complicated that I want to get but it is possible.

I'm going with 2 rounds per Con if you do nothing but take move or free actions. If you perform a standard or full action, the duration goes down by 1 for each action you take (so technically is costs you 2 rounds to perfom a non-move action). This rule is detailed in the Swim skill description.

 

[jgsugden]

The system is faulty. Neither method provided catches a realistic 'holding your breath' simulation.

I use the following: You can hold your breath for 1 rd/point of con. Then, you begin making fortitude saving throws. The first save is DC10F, but it climbs by 1 with every check. When you fail, you fall unconcious. The next round you go to -1 and begin dying. Then, you sleep with the fishies. They get a +5 bonus on these fort checks if they are not active at any time while holding their breath. This usually means that someone with a 10 con and no fort bonus will die after about a minute and a half, but may last as long as 2 minutes with good rolling. I thought that fair, considering that characters are often active while holding their breath in D&D.

 

[iwatt]

Then, you begin making fortitude saving throws.

This I completely agree with. I've never liked that for some actions you take Fort saves and for others you take Con checks. (and don't get me started on the % to stabilize rule.... ).


Anyways, the largest problem I have found with holding my breath is that I lose track of the time that is passing. It seems to me I've been a really long time holding my breath, but that usually is my mind playing tricks on me. The times I've held my breath the longest is when I have a distraction that stops me from concentrating on the fact that I'm holding my breath.