I need your help DM's with an aquatic campaign

[SuperFlyTNT]

I cant find any books on undersea adventures so Im just gonna have merfolk, sea elves, and anything else I can think of for playable races. Im concerned with combat its gonna be harder to run from three dimensions at all times. Im also concerned about magical effects IE: Fireball or lightningbolt and how they would behave underwater.

 

[Crothian]

for books there is Fantasy Flight Games' Seafarers Handbook, Mystic Eye Games' The Deep, and Bastion's Into the Blue.

 

[Aeolius]

or wait until August of '05 for THIS

 

[Romnipotent]

the 3.5 DMG has some things on underwaater combat.

its all a nightmare down there unless its an undersea game

 

[Jolly Giant]

With regards to the spells you mention, I'd disallow them as they are for an underwater campaign. Most energy-based spells would be tricky underwater:

Melf's AA: Definitely out. The acid would be dilluted into uselessness the instant it is conjured.

Fireball (and any other firespell): Out. Fire and water just doesn't mix.

Cone of Cold: Hmmm... This could be interesting...

Lightning bolt: Could concievably have an effect similar to fireball; affecting a radius around what would normally be its point of origin.

This is just my 2 cents worth, of course. You could simply rule "It's magic; the spells work the same under water as they do above". Personally, I think it would be much more interesting to ban energy based damage spells, other than force effects and negative/positive energy spells. It would be a great opportunity to try out some of the less used spells. You could finally get to see a PC summon a fiendish shark!

 

[Kilroy]

Water Walking is probably one of the nastiest underwater combat spells.

 

[SuperFlyTNT]

With regards to the spells you mention, I'd disallow them as they are for an underwater campaign. Most energy-based spells would be tricky underwater:

Melf's AA: Definitely out. The acid would be dilluted into uselessness the instant it is conjured.

Fireball (and any other firespell): Out. Fire and water just doesn't mix.

Cone of Cold: Hmmm... This could be interesting...

Lightning bolt: Could concievably have an effect similar to fireball; affecting a radius around what would normally be its point of origin.

This is just my 2 cents worth, of course. You could simply rule "It's magic; the spells work the same under water as they do above". Personally, I think it would be much more interesting to ban energy based damage spells, other than force effects and negative/positive energy spells. It would be a great opportunity to try out some of the less used spells. You could finally get to see a PC summon a fiendish shark!

Yeah I was thinking of replacing fire with something like force or what not, I dont know I have to toy with it. Perhaps clerics can cast kelp strike instead of flame strike?

 

[Tinner]

May I reccomend?

Monsters of the Boundless Blue by Goodman Games - I used this for my Acquatic campaign, and I really got a lot of mileage from it.
Aside from some nifty criters your players are sure to have never seen, there's some decent underwater equipment, the Sea Delver PrC, and a few races that might be PC-playable with a little effort.
It's not the most polished book. There are errors here and there, but it's unique, and a good read.

 

[SuperFlyTNT]

Monsters of the Boundless Blue by Goodman Games - I used this for my Acquatic campaign, and I really got a lot of mileage from it.
Aside from some nifty criters your players are sure to have never seen, there's some decent underwater equipment, the Sea Delver PrC, and a few races that might be PC-playable with a little effort.
It's not the most polished book. There are errors here and there, but it's unique, and a good read.

Hey thanks Ill have to check that out, does it say anything about magic in there?

 

[Tinner]

Hey thanks Ill have to check that out, does it say anything about magic in there?

No, it doesn't.
I wound up using two techniques in my game.
First, an air-breather needs some way to handle somatic and verbal components, or he can't cast. Freedom of Movement, Amulet of Adaptation, whatever. Don't forget how hard it'll be using a spellbook underwater. So for the most part, air-breather's casting magic underwater was a non-issue. The few times it mattered, we just used common sense, ie. no fire-spells, no electricity. They pretty much just stuck to "buff" effects, force spells and summoning.
For native aquatic critters I just used their normal spell lists, and assumed that they had some appropriate counterpart. Fireball becomes "Pressure Ball" and deals Waer based damage. Assume any creature that is innately aquatic has appropriate material components, gestures, etc. for any spells. Why make it any more complicated than that?
These methods were simple, and kept the game moving. And that worked for us.