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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pukunui" data-source="post: 6861706" data-attributes="member: 54629">How do you guys handle the rules for drowning/suffocating when monsters are involved? Do you allow characters to hold their breath, or do you rule that they are considered "out of breath" and thus only get their Con mod in rounds (rather than in minutes) before falling unconscious?I ask because you have things like the rug of smothering, which has an ability that puts the target "at risk of suffocating". Since characters can hold their breath for quite a generous amount of time in this game, if you allow a target being smothered by a rug to hold their breath, it seems like they'd almost always either escape or simply be crushed to death before they suffocate. If, however, you rule that they can't hold their breath, then they'd get only 1-5 rounds before they automatically drop to 0 hp, regardless of how much bludgeoning damage they've taked from the rug.Same goes for the water weird. It drags its victim underwater and tries to drown it. Would you let a creature grappled and submerged by a water weird hold its breath? Would you maybe give them a Con save to take a breath before they go under? Again, if you let the creature hold its breath, it seems like they'd succumb to their attacker's actual damage before drowning, if they aren't able to escape or be rescued, since we're talking a minimum of 10 rounds before the creature runs out of breath.Another example is the sahuagin assassin, Ghald, from Princes of the Apocalypse. He has a garrote attack that says that the target can't breathe while grappled. Does that mean it can't hold its breath either? Has it only got its Con mod in rounds before it drops to 0 hp?I find this element of the rules a bit confusing. If a creature can always just hold its breath, then there's not much point in trying to suffocate or drown a creature, because it'll take too long. On the other hand, having an ability automatically make it so you can't hold your breath could be seen as kind of unfair, in which case calling for a Con save to see if you can hold onto your breath while being strangled/smothered/drowned might be in order.What do you guys reckon?Thanks in advance!</blockquote>

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