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"Water"
is any liquid that can be swallowed without harmful effects.
Any drinkable liquid that is not pure
water (milk, wine,
broth, etc.) has water as it's main ingredient
and provides the
same benefit to a character in need of
liquid nourishment.
Q: Will water-affecting spells (e.g.
Lower
Water) affect water in other than liquid
form -- like fog or ice?
A: No. Only the liquid form is implied
by
the word "water"; the other forms are
not
affected.
(Polyhedron #10)
* 3 days: how long you can go without water
As a general rule, no
character can go without liquid nourishment
for more than three
days before he begins to suffer adverse effects.
This TL (tolerance level) is modified
by any of the following conditions
that apply:
The tolerance level is modified by any of the following conditions that apply:
| +2 days | if food with a
high water content is eaten.
Standard rations (but not iron rations) have a high water content; so do green plants, raw meat, fruits, and vegetables. Examples of food without high water content are tree bark (yes, it's edible), dried or cooked meat, and bread. |
| +1 day | if the character's body weight is more
than 200 pounds,
if the character weighs more than the average for his race, or if the character is of average weight and less than average height. (See the Height && Weight Tables on page 102 of the DMG.) |
| +1 day | if the character is female |
| +1 day | if the character does not engage in strenuous
activity during the entire period in which water is not being consumed.
A very short burst of activity (running for a few rounds, making a bend bars attempt, etc.) once <1> per day is allowable, but if a character engages in as much as one <1> turn of strenuous activity during a day, this benefit is lost. |
| -1 day | if the ET
reaches or exceeds 90 degrees even once during the period during the period
in which water is not being consumed.
This can happen through exposure to magical heat or fire as well as through natural conditions. |
| -1 day | if the character does not eat at least
one meal
per day during the period in which water is no being consumed. Food without a high water content is not ideal sustenance at a time like this, but it's better than nothing. |
| -1 day | if the character's STR
score or CON score is less than 8.
Those who do not possess at least average strength and hardiness will succumb more quickly to a lack of water. |
All of these mods are cumulative, but in
no case can a succession
of negative mods reduce a character's
TL to less than one day.
When a character's TL is xceeded, he becomes thirsty from lack of water and may later become dehydratedand incapacitated if he continues to go without water. <alt><e>
If a character goes without food &&
water, his TL
for lack of water is used to determine
when he becomes weakened,
and after that time he will become immed.
incapacitated
if
he fails another CON
Check or
STR Check. If
a character deprived of all nourishment
becomes incapacitated,
he will lose HP at the rate of 1d8 per
hour beginning 12
hours after the onset of the condition.
Additional combat and
save penalties also apply, as described
in the preceding
text on Going Without Food.
Minimum Daily Requirement of Water
The amount of water a character needs is
highly variable, depending
mainly on where he is and what he does.
The following
figures are minimum daily requirements,
in pints, for a human
male of average size and weight.
Table 29: WATER REQUIREMENTS FOR CHARACTERS
Effective Temperature
| Activity | Below 50 | 50-70 | 71-80 | Above 90 |
| Inactive | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| Light | 6 | 7 | 8 | 10 |
| Moderate | 8 | 9 | 10 | 12 |
| Heavy | 9 | 10 | 12 | 16 |
Modifiers
* Elves
need one-fourth less (rounded up to nearest 1/2-pint).
* Dwarves,
gnomes,
and hobbits need 1/3 less (rounded up
to nearest pint or half-pint).
* Food with high water
content accounts for one-fourth to one third of a character’s daily requirement
of water.
A character has remained inactive
during any day when he has
spent one hour or less performing significant
physical acvitity.
Riding a mount at its normal movement
rate, preparing a meal, or
engaging in any other sedentary pursuit
are allowed. Moving on
foot (even at a slow pace), engaging in
combat, or performing any
strength-related task are not.
A character has engaged in light
activity on any day during
which he has spent more than 1 hour on
something other than
non-sedentary pursuits.
A character has engaged in moderate
activity on any day during
which he has spent more than 2 hours on
something other
than non-sedentary pursuits.
A character has engaged in heavy
activity on any day during
which he has spent more than 4 hours on
something other
than non-sedentary pursuits.
For the purpose of
determining how many days’ worth of water
is provided by a create
water spell or similar magic, 1 cubic foot
of water contains seven gallons, and there
are 8 pints in a gallon.
Of course, in order to be able to make
full use of magically
created water, characters must have a
way of containing it and
transporting it (assuming they are traveling).
Water has an encumbrance
value of 50 gp per gallon, plus an extra
50 gp for
every three gallons being transported
in a single container. A typical
waterskin holds one gallon, but larger
containers can be obtained
or fashioned if so desired.
In most cases, the minimum daily requirement
for water means
just that: A character will become weakened
from dehydration if
he consumes less than a full ration of
water for a number of consecutive
days equal to his tolerance level. (For
purposes of simplicity
- and to keep characters always cognizant
of the need for
a supply of water - not having enough
is just as bad as having
none at all.) Naturally, the Dungeon Master
is free to take circumstances
into account and may relax this stipulation
to some degree
if the situation warrants such action.
| Where Water is Found | Water in the Desert | Permafrost | Purifying Water | Water |
It is practically impossible for characters
to start out on a journey
of several days (not to mention several
weeks) in duration
carrying as much water
as they will need for the trip. They must
be able to find sources of drinking water
along the way. This is not
a problem if the terrain
contains bodies of fresh water, if characters
can collect the water from a rainstorm
or snowstorm, or if
they have access to magic that produces
or purifies water.
However, sources of water are not always
easy to find. On a
trek across the desert, a foray into a
craggy mountain range, or a
sloppy journey through a swamp, characters
who don’t have skill
and luck on their side could go for days
without locating drinkable
liquid to replenish their waterskins.
Table 34: CHANCE
OF FINDING WATER
| - | - | Winter | Spring | Summer | Autumn |
| Arctic | D | 5 / 50 | 5 / 50 | 5 / 50 | 5 / 50 |
| - | H | 10 / 50 | 10 / 50 | 10 / 50 | 10 / 50 |
| - | M | 5 / 30 | 5 / 30 | 5 / 30 | 5 / 30 |
| - | P | 10 / 50 | 10 / 50 | 10 / 50 | 10 / 50 |
| - | - | Winter | Spring | Summer | Autumn |
| Subarctic | D | 5 / 60 | 10 / 60 | 10 / 60 | 5 / 60 |
| - | F | 10 / 40 | 20 / 40 | 20 / 50 | 10 / 40 |
| - | H | 5 / 40 | 10 / 40 | 15 / 50 | 10 / 40 |
| - | M | 5 / 30 | 20 / 30 | 15 / 30 | 10 / 30 |
| - | P | 10 / 50 | 20 / 50 | 20 / 20 | 15 / 50 |
| - | Sw | 40 / 60 | 60 / 60 | 50 / 60 | 50 / 60 |
| - | - | Winter | Spring | Summer | Autumn |
| Temperate | D | 5 / 70 | 5 / 70 | 5 / 70 | 5 / 80 |
| - | F | 30 / 30 | 40 / 30 | 30 / 30 | 30 / 30 |
| - | H | 30 / 40 | 40 / 40 | 40 / 50 | 30 / 40 |
| - | M | 20 / 30 | 20 / 30 | 15 / 30 | 20 / 30 |
| - | P | 20 / 50 | 40 / 50 | 40 / 50 | 30 / 50 |
| - | Sw | 60 / 70 | 70 / 70 | 80 / 80 | 60 / 70 |
| - | - | Winter | Spring | Summer | Autumn |
| Subtropical | D | 5 / 70 | 5 / 70 | 5 / 80 | 5 / 80 |
| - | F | 60 / 40 | 70 / 50 | 70 / 60 | 60 / 50 |
| - | H | 30 / 40 | 50 / 40 | 50 / 40 | 40 / 40 |
| - | M | 40 / 30 | 60 / 40 | 50 / 50 | 40 / 40 |
| - | P | 20 / 50 | 40 / 40 | 30 / 40 | 20 / 50 |
| - | Sw | 70 / 70 | 80 / 70 | 90 / 80 | 70 / 80 |
| - | - | Winter | Spring | Summer | Autumn |
| Tropical | D | 5 / 70 | 10 / 70 | 5 / 80 | 5 / 80 |
| - | F | 80 / 50 | 80 / 60 | 80 / 70 | 80 / 80 |
| H | 15 / 40 | 20 / 40 | 30 / 50 | 15 / 40 | |
| - | M | 40 / 30 | 70 / 30 | 60 / 40 | 70 / 40 |
| - | P | 20 / 50 | 50 / 50 | 60 / 60 | 50 / 50 |
| - | Sw | 70 / 70 | 90 / 75 | 90 / 80 | 80 / 80 |
Each entry on the table consists of two
numbers. The number
to the left of the slash gives the percentage
chance that a character
searching for a source of water will find
one in the immediate
area. The number to the right of the slash
gives the percentage
chance that the water is tainted in some
way - it may still be
drinkable, and might not even taste bad,
but if it is ingested without
being purified the drinker will suffer
some adverse effects.
A single character or a group of characters
traveling together
can make two water-finding checks per
day. If searches are conducted
more often than this, the extra searches
will automatically
fail. However, the above table should
not be used in any circumstances
where water is obviously and readily available.
These circumstances
are briefly outlined below:
Snow
or ice cover: If the ground is covered with snow or ice (as
is normally the case in arctic regions,
and usually true at least
during the cold seasons in subarctic and
temperate climates),
then water is there for the taking as
long as characters are willing
and able to melt the snow or ice. The
figures on the table assume
that no snow or ice cover exists. If the
actual temperature is 30
degrees or lower, any water found in an
area with no snow or ice
cover will be in the form of ice, which
must be melted or at least
broken into mouth-sized chunks to be ingested.
Ice is no more
free of foreign substances (principally
bacteria) than the water
from which it was formed; thus, the percentage
chance of finding
tainted ice should be taken from the table
as if water had been
found. In contrast, freshly fallen snow
is the purest form of water
available in nature. Characters can drink
melted snow to satisfy
their need for water, as long as enough
snow is available; a mere
dusting of the white stuff does not provide
a lot of liquid.
Nearby body of
fresh water: If characters are located along the
bank of a river or the shore of a lake,
they obviously have access
to all the water they will need. The DM
should still refer
to the table to determine the chance that
the water is impure,
unless he knows that the water is pure
and drinkable; some rivers
and lakes in the campaign world may have
a reputation for being
sources of good, fresh water. In other
cases, the water may be
pure in one location and not so good in
another spot some distance
away on the same body of water. For instance,
if characters
begin a journey at the headwaters of a
river they may find the water
there to be perfectly good. However, when
they fill their waterskins
again after a couple of days of traveling
downstream, the
water may not be so good any more. In
general, river water is
more likely to be pure closer to the source
of the river than it is
downstream, by which time the water may
have flowed over
some mineral deposits or picked up bacteria
that make it less desirable
for drinking. Lake water is more likely
to be pure at the
spot where a river flows into the lake
than along the shoreline opposite
the river, where the water may have stagnated
and become
a breeding ground for many kinds of organic
and inorganic
impurities. Fast-flowing water is generally
more pure than standing
water; ground water (found by digging
beneath the surface of
the land) is usually more pure than water
found above the
ground. The DM should take these general
rules
into account when determining whether
river water or lake water
is harmful to those who drink it.
Seacoast location:
The poet who wrote "Water, water everywhere,
and not a drop to drink" knew what he
was talking about.
It is not healthy to drink sea water -
assuming that, in the campaign
world as in our world, it contains salt.
A character will actually
become dehydrated from ingesting sea water
in large
quantities or over a long period of time,
because the salt he consumes
increases his body's need for water. Nevertheless,
fresh
water may be able to be procured at a
spot fairly close to the seashore
if characters can dig down through the
ground to the level
where the water table is located (see
below). The water thus discovered
is relatively salt-free, since the loose
soil has filtered out
most of the salt. However, the deeper
one digs, the saltier the water
becomes; if characters try to get too
much water out of a single
hole by digging too deep, the water they
recover from the
bottom of the hole may be just as undrinkable
as water taken directly
from the sea. In any seacoast area, the
chance of finding
drinkable water by digging down to the
water table is 100%, providing
that the hole is dug above the high tide
line and is no more
than two feet deep.
The chance of finding water in a particular
terrain/climate
combination,
as given on the preceding table, is based
on the likelihood
that characters will come across a sizable
quantity of
standing water that is not large enough
to qualify as a lake or
pond: perhaps an uncharted pool, or a
small depression or basin
in the terrain that holds water from a
recent rainstorm that has not
yet evaporated or been absorbed into the
ground. If no rain has
fallen in the area for several days, the
DM may wish
to reduce the chance of finding a source
of standing water in certain
types of terrain: a flat plain may be
completely dried out after
a few days without precipitation, while
a swampy area will have
standing water practically all the time
regardless of how long it
has been since the last rain.
A second way of getting water directly
from the ground involves
knowledge of the water table (not to be
confused with the Chance
of Finding Water Table
given above). In simple terms, the water
table is the level beneath the ground
at which water lies after
soaking into the terrain. In an area of
low elevation, the water table
may be only a foot or two beneath the
ground; in a swamp,
where the elevation is usually close to
sea level, the water table
may actually be higher than the terrain.
In an area of relatively
high elevation that contains no large
body of fresh water, the water
table may be dozens or even hundreds of
feet beneath the
surface. In the almost moisture-free environment
of a desert, the
location of the water table can vary greatly
(see the following section).
Of course, the water table is nonexistent
where the terrain
is not absorbent, such as in a rocky mountain
range with little or
no loose soil or on frozen ground (but
see the discussion of permafrost
below).
If characters do not succeed in locating
a source of standing
water and they are on terrain where underground
water may exist,
the Dungeon Master may wish to allow them
a chance to find
water by digging down a certain distance.
Whether underground
water exists, and how far beneath the
surface it lies, are factors
that must be determined by the Dungeon
Master depending on
the terrain and elevation. (Deserts, however,
are an exception to
this; see below.)
Vegetation is another natural source of
water, particularly in
perenially hot climates (subtropical and
tropical), where many
plants have adapted so that they can actually
store fresh water inside
their stems or branches as a safeguard
against a dry spell.
Most people are familiar with the cactus
plant’s ability to store
water inside itself - a property that
has kept many desert travelers
from dying of thirst. Other plants not
necessarily found in
the desert have the same property, and
may help to keep adventurers
fortified if they are found on plains
or in hilly areas during a
drought. The DM must decide whether water-
bearing
plants are readily available, and if so,
how much water they
can provide.
When people think of going without water,
a desert environment
naturally comes to mind. It is indeed
true that deserts are
the most arid types of terrain; they receive
pitifully little rainfall,
and the water that does come down is quickly
lost to evaporation
(in hot climates) or absorption, where
the ground is sandy or composed
of loose soil and small rocks.
But some of the water that gets into the
ground stays there, and
can be recovered with effort, perhaps
some skill, and more than a
little bit of luck. At any given location
in the desert, there is a 40%
chance that water lies 5-15 feet (2d6+3)
beneath the surface -
and a 60% chance that characters will
find no water no matter
how deep they dig. If the party includes
a character with proficiency
in desert survival, the chance of him
finding water is 80%
instead of 40% - but, as with any other
attempt at finding water,
only two tries can be made in any 24-hour
period. (See the section
on Wilderness Proficiencies for more information
about the
desert survival
proficiency.)
Permafrost is acondition
found in subarctic climates during the
warm season, whenever
the actual temperature is generally
above freezing at
least during daylight hours. The soil thaws out
to a depth of several
inches below the surface, enabling small
vegetation to take
root and thrive on the water that is released
when the soil is
warmed to an above-freezing temperature. Beneath
this thin layer
of arable soil is permafrost - permanently
frozen subsoil.
Obviously, permafrost
is a dependable source of water; all
characters have
to do is remove the upper layer of soil, chop out
the iced-up soil
beneath it, and expose the soil to heat. When the
ice melts, the soil
and most large particles of sediment will settle
to the bottom of
the container, and the water can be poured off.
If characters have reason to suspect that
the water they have
scavenged is tainted (and this possibility
almost always exists),
they can greatly reduce the chance of
harm to themselves by purifying
the water before drinking it.
Assuming that no magical means of purification
is available,
the best way to remove impurities from
water is by boiling it. If the
water is boiled sufficiently long, there
is only a 10% chance that it
will remain tainted. The length of time
that the water must be
boiled is 2-5 rounds (1d4+ 1) at an elevation
of close to sea level,
plus an extra 1d2 minutes for every 1,000
feet of elevation above
sea level. If it is taken off the fire
before the required time has expired,
the boiling will have done no good.
Why would someone stop boiling water before
the max.
possible time
for purification had expired? Because boiling reduces
the volume of water remaining to be drunk.
At relatively
low elevation (5,000 feet or less), 5%
of the water’s volume will be
lost to evaporation for every minute that
it is boiled. At higher elevation,
the loss is only 3% per minute. If characters
are faced with
a choice between not having enough water
and risking the ill effects
of drinking unpurified water, they may
often decide to go for
quantity over quality.
Effects of Drinking Tainted Water
In essence, the effects of drinking tainted
water are the same
as the effects of eating tainted
or spoiled food. <e>
If the water is only mildly tainted, a
character who drinks it will suffer just as if he
had eaten tainted food, except that the
effects have a minimum
duration of 6 hours instead of 12. If
the water is severely tainted, a
drinker will be affected as if he has
eaten spoiled food, except
that the minimum duration is 18 hours
instead of 24.
The DM must decide whether a certain supply
of
bad water is mildly tainted or
severely
tainted. In general, severely
tainted water is relatively more likely
to be encountered in
areas of low elevation (such as swamps)
and in perenially warm
or hot climates, where bacteria prosper
because of the temperature.
Extreme heat (boiling) kills bacteria,
but extreme cold does
not necessarily have the same effect;
water that is melted from
ice in the subarctic is almost as likely
to contain organic impurities
as water dipped out of a lake in a temperate
climate.
The taste and appearance of water are not
always indicators of
its purity or lack thereof. Characters
should not necessarily refrain
from drinking murky or strangely colored
water out of fear
that it is tainted (or worse) -- the brown
water that makes their
noses wrinkle may actually be less harmful
to them than the
fresh, clear liquid they’ve been saving
for a special occasion.
Some of the water in the wilderness may
carry bacteria that
can produce illness in the drinker, above
and beyond the effects
of drinking tainted water. Some naturally
occurring water may actually
be poisonous. Whether these types of bad
water
occur, and
what their effects are upon a drinker,
are matters left to the
DM. Even in the absence of magical aids
(such as
detect poison), caution and common sense
can go a long way toward
enabling characters to steer clear of
very bad water. If the
area surrounding a waterhole is devoid
of vegetation, and especially
if the area contains skeletal remains,
characters should
consider those signs as strong evidence
for finding a different
water source -- a dead giveaway, so to
speak.
