While rivers and lakes have always been important avenues of travel, they can be both a nuisance and hazard for characters that must somehow cross them.
A character may freely wade through still or slowly moving water that is not above his head at a rate of 10’ per round without being required to make a roll. If the water is fast moving, or the ground under the water is especially slick, the GM may require a Save vs. Dex for a character to be able to keep his feet.
Swimming
If the water is above the head of the character, he will have to swim. Swimming across a slow moving stream or river will be a Athletics roll (TN 12) while attempting to swim across rapids will be a TN 30 roll. Rapids can easily sweep a character far downstream. Even just keeping one’s head above water would be considered a TN 25 Athletics roll. The penalties for armor and encumbrance are tripled when swimming.
Drowning
A character is able to hold his breath for 25 rounds plus a number of rounds equal to his Constitution Stat Value. Once this time has expired, the character must begin making a Save vs. Con (TN 20) each round. Should the character fail one roll, he immediately falls unconscious and will die in 1d10 rounds.
Quicksand
Quicksand can appear in any location where sand and water mix. Shallow quicksand is a nuisance and can be escaped easily, but deep pits of quicksand are more problematic. Attempting to float and/or “dog paddle” towards the edge of a quicksand pool will be at least a TN 20 Athletics roll.
If the character panics or even just flails about, they will sink at a rate of 5” inches per round if they are unarmored. Increase the rate of sinking by 2 inches for every -1 modifier from armor and encumbrance. Also, once a character sinks below the surface, he will drown as described above.
Pulling oneself or another out of quicksand requires Save vs. Str (TN 18) at the very least.
Anwyn
