Environment and Its Effects

To begin to understand how the environment affects the bodies of creatures in a fantasy world, we should first look at ourselves and those around us. What we find is that most creatures are adapted to specific environments where they thrive. Outside that environment, things don’t always go so well for them. As humans, we have the unique ability to adapt ourselves to multiple environments, especially through our use of technology. Other creatures, such as cold-blooded reptiles have no ability to adapt and easily die outside their native environments. In the real world, there are a plethora of varieties of both environments and the creatures suited to them. In a fantasy world, there could easily be tenfold times more. Our primary concern is establishing rules for playable species. Monsters, supranatural creatures, or magically created or effected beings and environments may require individualized rules or may somewhat hold to these rules or a modification thereof.

Game Mechanics
To create a rule system to measure the effects of different environments on different creatures, we must create a way of distinguishing the differences. Creatures are already well-defined within the rules, so this treatise shall discuss the way we will separate the environments.

Terrain
………pending rewrite………

Climate
………pending rewrite………

Weather
Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet, or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest level of the planet's atmosphere. In a fantasy world, this could be vastly different but either way, it is the day-to-day temperature, wind, and precipitation that can affect a character. This section describes the effects those elements may have on your character.

Temperature
Organic bodies function best within a certain range of temperatures. Outside that range, be it either too cold or too hot, a body quickly begins to fail. While some organic bodies can regulate their internal temperature through various cooling or heating methods, even those have limitations that are tested by variations in external temperatures. The environment around a body is constantly affecting it, drawing heat away or causing it to overheat.

The more drastic the environment, the quicker heat exchange causes the body to reach a temperature that can be harmful or deadly to it.

While organic bodies such as ours experience a plethora of problems due to overcooling or overheating, we will concentrate on just a few and establish simple game mechanics for each one. Reference the table titled Temperature Effects for further understanding.

Heat Exhaustion.The failure of a body to maintain a sufficiently cool temperature. Overheating causes dramatic damage to the body and can lead to death. It is one of several heat illnesses, which also includes rashes, edema, cramps, syncope, and heat stroke. For game purposes, it is an all-inclusive condition that can lead to Fatigue (Exhaustion) and death.

Heat Exhaustion can either be the result of the body overheating itself through physical exertion and not cooling itself quickly enough, or a product of being in a hot climate. For the sake of rules simplicity, we will only be concerned with that brought on by environmental heat and abstractly include everything else under its hot roof.

• Whenever a character is subjected to temperature above normal (a temperate range of about 40-80°F for most humanoids), it runs a risk of becoming heat exhausted. Each hour of exposure requires a Constitution Saving Throw. Success indicates no negative effect, but failure indicates that the character gains one level of exhaustion.

Sunburn. Here on our own real-world third rock from the Sun, we are bombarded by ultraviolet (UV) radiation cascading from that sun and other sources. Overexposure to this cascade causes radiation burns that affect living tissue, especially our skin. Although we can generally avoid this easily by limiting exposure (with clothing, shelter, magic), in wilderness or austere environments, it may not be possible. Sunburn can especially be a hazard in hot climates caused by unyieldingly brutal rays from the sun. In a fantasy world, where there could be a larger or closer sun, multiple suns, or even magic that replicates similar radiation, it is no stretch to imagine that it could be much worse.

• Failure to avoid the direct rays of a sun on the flesh will result in sunburn. Assuming, for game simplicity, that hot temperatures directly correlate to sun exposure, a player with a character in a hot climate must make a Constitution Saving Throw. How often this check is made depends on the severity of the air temperature. A failure on this roll means the character gains a level of Temperature Related Skin Damage (see table). Gaining multiple levels will result in various effects, including fatigue which can lead to death.

Hypothermia. Much like heat exhaustion, hypothermia is a body’s failure to maintain a healthy internal temperature. In this case though, the body is not kept warm enough and literally begins to freeze. Hypothermia is always caused by being in a cold environment and can in fact be partially prevented by physical exertion that accelerates the body’s heat-making process. It can also be avoided through technology – warm clothing, heating sources, magic, etc.

• If exposed to cold temperatures without any recourse to warm the body, hypothermia will occur. After every hour spent in the cold, a Constitution Saving Throw must be rolled. Success indicates no negative effect, but failure means the character gains one level of exhaustion.

Frostbite. In cold temperatures, hypothermia is the process of the body slowly freezing. Similarly, frostbite is when exposed flesh freezes. It can occur in conjunction with hypothermia, or as a distinct condition even when hypothermia is not a threat. It is usually easily avoided by merely not allowing bare flesh to be subjected to icy temperatures. In a fantasy world, this may be nearly impossible, especially when cold may happen suddenly through magical means or when a spellcaster cannot perform complex somatic gestures while wearing a pair of thick gloves.

• Whenever bare flesh is exposed to the cold, there is a risk it will freeze. Depending on the severity of the cold, this can happen quite quickly. After each time period indicated by the applicable temperature category, a Constitution Saving Throw is rolled. Failure indicates that the skin gains a level of Temperature Related Skin Damage (see table). Repeated exposures will increase the level and can result in temporary or permanent damage to frostbitten body parts.

Wind
Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale, specifically the bulk movement of air across the planet. Winds are commonly classified by their spatial scale, their speed, the types of forces that cause them, the regions in which they occur, and their effect. They have various aspects: velocity (wind speed the density of the gas involved; energy content (or wind energy). The wind is an important means of transportation for seeds and small birds. With time things can travel thousands of miles in the wind. It has influenced the events of history, powering the voyages of sailing ships across oceans, expanded the range of transport and warfare, and provided a power source for mechanical work.

When winds become strong, trees and human-made structures are damaged or destroyed. Winds shape landforms, via a variety of processes such as the formation of fertile soils by erosion. Dust from large deserts can be moved great distances from its source by prevailing winds. Wind also affects the spread of wildfires. Winds can disperse seeds from various plants, enabling the survival and dispersal of those plant species, as well as flying insect populations. Combined with cold temperatures, wind in general has a negative impact on livestock, affecting animals' food stores, as well as their hunting and defensive strategies.

Regarding weather, winds are referred to according to their strength and the direction from which the wind is blowing. Wind occurs on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by the heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hours, to global winds resulting from the differences between climate zones. Short bursts of high-speed wind are termed gusts. Strong winds of intermediate duration (around one minute) are termed squalls. Long-duration winds have various names associated with their average strength, such as breeze, gale, storm, and hurricane. The two main causes of global circulation are the differential heating between the equator and the poles, and the rotation of the planet. In the tropics, thermal circulations over terrain and high plateaus drive monsoons. In coastal areas the sea/land breeze cycle defines local winds. In areas that have variable terrain, mountain and valley breezes can dominate local winds.

Wind Chill. Wind affects temperatures whether the weather is hot or cold, having the effect of lowering air temperature. Wind always has the effect of making it feel cooler than it is, due to a wicking action occurring as it passes by objects and reducing their surface temperature. This is referred to as Wind Chill and expressed as an apparent temperature (what it “feels like”) versus the actual air temperature. Wind chill numbers are always lower than the air temperature and directly oppositional to the concept of Heat Index numbers, which refer to a condition where the apparent temperature is higher than the air temperature.
Creatures of all sorts feel the effect of wind chill as a lowering of the apparent air temperature and lowering their body temperatures as it speeds up heat exchange into the atmosphere in its passing over body surfaces. This lowering of temperatures can greatly increase the risk of both hypothermia and frostbite.
To determine how much wind chill reduces the temperature, consult the Wind Chill Chart, and assume that the result is what the characters actual feel and are affected by. As a note, this chart only covers the more extreme levels of cold; other charts are readily available that cover warmer categories.

Heat Index. ………pending rewrite………

Precipitation
………pending rewrite………