D&D 5E SEA OF SILT (DARKSUN)

[maritimo80]

We're playing Darksun, adapted to 5th.


If a character falls in SEA SILT, what happens?


He can swim? What DC?


Or die?


How deep sea silt?

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

You can't swim in the sea of silt in the traditional sense - its like quicksand, just dry. Your best bet is to prevent yourself from sinking until someone can throw you a line. I'd say a DC 5 or 10 Survival (or possibly Athletics) skill check to avoid sinking further. I would treat it as you are under the sand after 3 failed checks, and then use the rules for drowning/suffocating. If you are stabilized and within 10 feet of an object, another check can get you out.

The sea of silt is effectively 10 feet deep. The dust might be deeper, but at that point it gets compact enough to stop you from sinking much further. Giants are tall enough that they can walk through it. There are probably some areas that are less stable, so even giants probably need to be careful.

 

[Staffan]

By the 2e books, silt can not support a creature's weight - you might be able to wade some distance out, but you can't swim in it. If it's too deep, you'll start to suffocate. At a depth of about 15 feet, it starts being compacted enough to support some weight, and in places there are paths about 12 feet below the surface where the weight of giants have compressed the silt enough that they can walk on it (but that's little use to most PCs unless they can find giants to carry them).

The most common ways for non-fliers to cross the Sea of Silt is by means of silt skimmers - relatively small craft with ginormous wheels which they use to roll along the same paths giants wade on. These are usually labor-powered, because if there's enough wind over the Sea to power a silt skimmer, there's enough to stir up the silt in the air and reduce visibility to a few feet.