Environment
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Contents
By its nature, adventuring involves delving into places that are dark, dangerous, and full of mysteries to be explored. The rules in this section cover some of the most important ways in which adventurers interact with the environment in such places.
Falling
A fall from a great height is one of the most common hazards facing an adventurer. At the end of a fall, a creature takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage for every 10 feet it fell, to a maximum of 20d6 (at 200 feet). The creature lands prone, unless it avoids taking damage from the fall.
Suffocating
A creature can hold its breath for a number of minutes equal to 1 + its Constitution modifier (minimum of 30 seconds).
When a creature runs out of breath or is choking, it can survive for a number of rounds equal to its Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 round). At the start of its next turn, it drops to 0 hit points and is dying, and it can’t regain hit points or be stabilized until it can breathe again.
For example, a creature with a Constitution of 14 can hold its breath for 3 minutes. If it starts suffocating, it has 2 rounds to reach air before it drops to 0 heart points.
Vision and Light
The most fundamental tasks of adventuring—noticing danger, finding hidden objects, hitting an enemy in combat, and targeting a spell, to name just a few—rely heavily on a character’s ability to see. Darkness and other effects that obscure vision can prove a significant hindrance.
A given area might be lightly or heavily obscured. In a lightly obscured area, such as dim light, patchy fog, or moderate foliage, creatures have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
A heavily obscured area—such as darkness, opaque fog, or dense foliage—blocks vision entirely. A creature effectively suffers from the blinded condition when trying to see something in that area.
The presence or absence of light in an environment creates three categories of illumination: bright light, dim light, and darkness.
Bright light lets most creatures see normally. Even gloomy days provide bright light, as do torches, lanterns, fires, and other sources of illumination within a specific radius.
Dim light, also called shadows, creates a lightly obscured area. An area of dim light is usually a boundary between a source of bright light, such as a torch, and surrounding darkness. The soft light of twilight and dawn also counts as dim light. A particularly brilliant full moon might bathe the land in dim light.
Darkness creates a heavily obscured area. Characters face darkness outdoors at night (even most moonlit nights), within the confines of an unlit dungeon or a subterranean vault, or in an area of magical darkness.
Blindsight
A creature with blindsight can perceive its surroundings without relying on sight, within a specific radius. Creatures without eyes, such as oozes, and creatures with echolocation or heightened senses, such as keese, have this sense.
Darkvision
Many creatures in Hyrule, especially those that dwell underground, have darkvision. Within a specified range, a creature with darkvision can see in darkness as if the darkness were dim light, so areas of darkness are only lightly obscured as far as that creature is concerned. However, the creature can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
Truesight
A creature with truesight can, out to a specific range, see in normal and magical darkness, see invisible creatures and objects, automatically detect visual illusions and succeed on saving throws against them, and perceives the original form of a shapechanger or a creature that is transformed by magic. Furthermore, the creature can see into the Silent Realm.
Food and Water
| Creature size | Food per day | Water per day |
|---|---|---|
| Minish | a crumb | a drop of water |
| Tiny | 1⁄4 pound | 1⁄4 gallon |
| Small | 1 pound | 1 gallon |
| Medium | 1 pound | 1 gallon |
| Large | 4 pounds | 4 gallons |
| Huge | 16 pounds | 16 gallons |
| Gargantuan | 64 pounds | 64 gallons |
Characters who don’t eat or drink suffer the effects of exhaustion. Exhaustion caused by lack of food or water can’t be removed until the character eats and drinks the full required amount.
The following rules are for characters who are Small and Medium. The adjacent table has food and water needs for creatures of other sizes.
Food
A Small or Medium character needs one pound of food per day. For most adventurers, the most reliable way to meet food requirements is to carry rations, and eat one of them each day.
A character can go without food for a number of days equal to 3 + his or her Constitution modifier (minimum 1). At the end of each day beyond that limit, a character automatically suffers one level of exhaustion.
A normal day of eating resets the count of days without food to zero.
Water
A Small or Medium character needs one gallon of water per day, or twice as much per day if the weather is hot. A character who drinks only half that much water must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or suffer one level of exhaustion at the end of the day. A character with access to even less water automatically suffers one level of exhaustion at the end of the day.
If the character already has one or more levels of exhaustion, the character takes two levels in either case.
Interacting with Objects
A character’s interaction with objects in an environment is often simple to resolve in the game. The player tells the DM that his or her character is doing something, such as moving a lever, and the DM describes what, if anything, happens.
For example, a character might decide to pull a lever, which might, in turn, raise a portcullis, cause a room to flood with water, or open a secret door in a nearby wall. If the lever is rusted in position, though, a character might need to force it. In such a situation, the DM might call for a Strength check to see whether the character can wrench the lever into place. The DM sets the DC for any such check based on the difficulty of the task.
Characters can also damage objects with their weapons and spells. Objects are immune to poison and psychic damage, but otherwise they can be affected by physical and magical attacks much like creatures can. The DM determines an object’s Armor Class and heart points, and might decide that certain objects have resistance or immunity to certain kinds of attacks. (It’s hard to cut a rope with a club, for example.) Objects always fail Strength and Dexterity saving throws, and they are immune to effects that require other saves. When an object drops to 0 hit points, it breaks.
A character can also attempt a Strength check to break an object. The DM sets the DC for any such check.
Statistics for Objects
| Armor Class | |
|---|---|
| Substance | AC |
| Cloth, paper, rope | 11 |
| Crystal, glass, ice | 13 |
| Wood, bone | 15 |
| Stone | 17 |
| Iron, steel | 19 |
| Mithral | 21 |
| Adamantine | 23 |
| Heart Points | ||
|---|---|---|
| Size | Fragile | Resilient |
| Tiny (bottle, lock) | 2 (1d4) | 5 (2d4) |
| Small (chest, lute) | 3 (1d6) | 10 (3d6) |
| Medium (barrel, chandelier) | 4 (1d8) | 18 (4d8) |
| Large (cart, 10-foot window) | 5 (1d10) | 27 (5d10) |
When characters need to saw through ropes, shatter a window, or smash a pot, the only hard and fast rule is this: given enough time and the right tools, characters can destroy any destructible object. Use common sense when determining a character’s success at damaging an object. Can a fighter cut through a section of a stone wall with a sword? No, the sword is likely to break before the wall does.
For the purpose of these rules, an object is a discrete, inanimate item like a window, door, sword, book, table, chair, or stone, not a building or a vehicle that is composed of many other objects.
When time is a factor, the DM can assign an Armor Class and heart points to a destructible object. It might have immunities, resistances, and vulnerabilities to specific types of damage.
Armor Class. An object’s Armor Class is a measure of how difficult it is to deal damage to the object when striking it (because the object has no chance of dodging out of the way). The adjacent table provides suggested AC values for various substances.
Heart Points. An object’s heart points measure how much damage it can take before losing its structural integrity. Resilient objects have more heart points than fragile ones. Large objects also tend to have more heart points than small ones, unless breaking a small part of the object is just as effective as breaking the whole thing. The adjacent table provides suggested heart points for fragile and resilient objects that are Large or smaller.
Huge and Gargantuan Objects. Normal weapons are of little use against many Huge and Gargantuan objects, such as a colossal statue, towering column of stone, or massive boulder. That said, one torch can burn a Huge tapestry, and an earthquake spell can reduce a colossus to rubble. The DM can track a Huge or Gargantuan object’s heart points, or the DM can simply decide how long the object can withstand whatever weapon or force is acting against it. If the DM tracks heart points for the object, divide it into Large or smaller sections, and track each section’s heart points separately. Destroying one of those sections could ruin the entire object. For example, a Gargantuan statue of a human might topple over when one of its Large legs is reduced to 0 heart points.
Objects and Damage Types. Objects are immune to poison and psychic damage. The DM might decide that some damage types are more effective against a particular object or substance than others. For example, bludgeoning damage works well for smashing things but not for cutting through rope or leather. Paper or cloth objects might be vulnerable to fire and lightning damage. A pick can chip away stone but can’t effectively cut down a tree.
Damage Threshold. Big objects such as castle walls often have extra resilience represented by a damage threshold. An object with a damage threshold has immunity to all damage unless it takes an amount of damage from a single attack or effect equal to or greater than its damage threshold, in which case it takes damage as normal. Any damage that fails to meet or exceed the object’s damage threshold is considered superficial and doesn’t reduce the object’s heart points.
Extreme Climates
Extreme Cold
Whenever the temperature is significantly below the freezing point of water (roughly 0°F or -18°C), a creature exposed to the cold must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw at the end of each hour or gain one level of exhaustion. Any creature with vulnerability to cold damage has disadvantage on this saving throw. Creatures adapted to extreme cold, with resistance or immunity to cold damage, or wearing appropriate cold weather gear automatically succeed on this saving throw.
Extreme Heat
When the temperature is above 45°C (or 113°F), a creature exposed to the heat must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw at the end of each hour or gain one level of exhaustion. Creatures clad in heavy attire (including medium or heavy armor) have disadvantage on this saving throw, as does any creature with vulnerability to fire damage. Creatures adapted to extreme heat climates automatically succeed on this save, as do creatures with resistance or immunity to fire damage.
Heavy Precipitation
Everything within an area of heavy rain or snowfall is lightly obscured, and creatures in the area have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight. Heavy rain also extinguishes open flames and imposes disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing. Normally everything in heavy precipitation is soaked and cannot be ignited.
High Altitude
Traveling at altitudes of 10,000 feet or higher above sea level is taxing for a creature that needs to breathe, because of the reduced amount of oxygen in the air. Each hour such a creature spends traveling at high altitude counts as 2 hours for the purpose of determining how long that creature can travel. Breathing creatures can become acclimated to a high altitude by spending 30 days or more at this elevation. Breathing creatures can't become acclimated to elevations above 20,000 feet unless they are native to such environments.
Strong Winds
A strong wind imposes disadvantage on ranged weapon attack rolls and Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or smell. A strong wind also extinguishes open flames, disperses fog, and makes flying by nonmagical means nearly impossible. A flying creature in a strong wind must land at the end of its turn or fall. Nothing in strong winds can be ignited.
A strong wind in a desert can create a sandstorm that makes the area lightly obscured, imposing disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
Natural Traps
Frigid Water
A creature can be immersed in frigid water for a number of minutes equal to its Constitution score before suffering any ill effects. Each additional minute spent in frigid water requires the creature to succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or gain one level of exhaustion. Creatures with resistance or immunity to cold damage automatically succeed on the saving throw, as do creatures that are naturally adapted to living in frigid water.
Lava
If a creature makes partial contact with lava or magma, it takes 2d6 fire damage on initial contact, and another 2d6 at the end of each of its turns that it remains in contact. A creature that is immersed in lava (such as falling into the crater of an active volcano) instead takes 20d6 fire damage.
A creature immune to fire damage might still drown if completely immersed in lava (see suffocation).
Quicksand
A quicksand pit covers the ground in roughly a 10-foot square area and is usually 10 feet deep. When a creature enters the area, it sinks ld4 + 1 feet into the quicksand and becomes restrained. At the start of each of the creature's turns, it sinks another 1d4 feet. As long as the creature isn't completely submerged in quicksand, it can escape by using its action and succeeding on a Strength check. The DC is 10 plus the number of feet the creature has sunk into the quicksand. A creature that is completely submerged in quicksand can't breathe (see suffocation).
A creature can pull another creature within its reach out of a quicksand pit by using its action and succeeding on a Strength check. The DC is 5 plus the number of feet the target creature has sunk into the quicksand.
Slippery Ice
Slippery ice is difficult terrain. When a creature moves on slippery ice for the first time on a turn, it must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check or fall prone.
Thin Ice
Thin ice has a weight tolerance of 3d10 x 10 pounds (30 to 300, average 165) per 10-foot-square area. Whenever the total weight on an area of thin ice exceeds its tolerance, the ice in that area breaks. All creatures on broken ice fall through.
The text of this page is partly based on the the V5.1 Systems Reference Document (SRD). The text of both this page and the SRD are released under Creative Commons (“CC-BY-4.0”). [1]
