Post/Author/DateTime	Post
bullfrog 01-10-08, 02:55 PM	In our last game the Pcs were fighting an Elemental in a shallow river. During the fight one of the Pcs was reduced to -4Hp and fell into the water. Considering she’s unconscious there’s no chance of holding her breath. My question is how do the drowning rules work in this case? Considering she’s already at negative HP should she drown in one round or just lose an addition negative HP and then drown in the following round? Luckily for me one of the other players was able to pull her from the water before I had to make a ruling.
mvincent 01-10-08, 04:15 PM	In our last game the Pcs were fighting an Elemental in a shallow river. During the fight one of the Pcs was reduced to -4Hp and fell into the water. Considering she’s unconscious there’s no chance of holding her breath. My question is how do the drowning rules work in this case? Considering she’s already at negative HP should she drown in one round or just lose an addition negative HP and then drown in the following round?The rules say: Drowning Any character can hold her breath for a number of rounds equal to twice her Constitution score. After this period of time, the character must make a DC 10 Constitution check every round in order to continue holding her breath. Each round, the DC increases by 1. See also: Swim skill description. When the character finally fails her Constitution check, she begins to drown. In the first round, she falls unconscious (0 hp). In the following round, she drops to -1 hit points and is dying. In the third round, she drowns." Taken literally, this could allow someone below 0 hp to have their hp increased to 0 when drowning. I personally would probably rule that she drops to -5 hp in the following round, then drowns in the next. However, it might be more reasonable to assume that you instead immediately start making Constitution checks when you quit holding you breath (due to say: shouting, using a breath weapon or falling unconscious underwater)... meaning that you may or may not drown before bleeding out. This seems to fit reality more, as someone that is unconscious without being at negative HP (from non-lethal damage or a spell) should be able to survive being underwater for more than a couple rounds.
GoBackToRussia 01-11-08, 08:53 AM	Not strictly within the rules, but I would have her wake up due to the shock of the water and not being able to breathe and probably apply a -5 to any swim checks. Note that she will still lose one hp per round from being below one hp. This will give her some chance of survival, tho chances are she is still doomed The falling unconscious from drowning is a direct cause of the drowning - you put someone who is already unconscious under water, then chances are they will wake up as the body's survival mechanism kicks in.
Finarin Panjoro 01-11-08, 10:54 AM	I would rule as mvincent suggests. Immediately have them start making constitution checks. You can justify this by saying that they're reflexively not breathing in water. I would apply no additional damage to them however if they're already below -1 hp. They fail the save and begin drowning, the next round they're still drowning, the following round they drown. Just my take.
mvincent 01-11-08, 12:25 PM	you put someone who is already unconscious under water, then chances are they will wake up as the body's survival mechanism kicks in.That is not a truism: asleep, sure, but unconscious from damage (like from say, hitting you head on a diving board while diving), I'd only make allowances for if they stabilized.
bullfrog 01-12-08, 09:33 AM	If it comes up again I’ll use the ruling that they drown in 2 rounds. Thanks for the advice.