Insight Check - Underwater Rules | Kraken Week 2024

Ginny Di and Pointy Hat started #KrakenWeek this year as a TTRPG analogy to Shark Week. It is a week for us creators to make something fun about underwater stories and monsters.
I didn't have enough time to make a video about my homebrewed Tiger/Shark monster, and have yet to use a kraken in my games, but I do have the rules I recently made for how to run underwater games in 5e.
So enjoy! If you use any of these rules in your games or do similar but different rules, let me know in the comments!
Thanks to:
Pointy Hat: / @pointyhatstudios
Ginny Di: / @ginnydi
And the rest of the Kraken Week creators!
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[@vukojebinaa]

I love how Rob has been so "traumatized" by the VLDL campaign, that he must now always explain thunder damage :)

[@VivaLaDnDLogs]

I blame Pokemon.

[@RobertHartleyGM]

Every damn time. Thunderclap, Thunder wave, Thunder bolt. What the hell would a Sonic bolt be? or a Pressure bolt? Makes no sense

[@ladyfoxytales]

@@RobertHartleyGM Wizards like scientists can be hit or miss for naming things

[@johndaniels1197]

This is a fantastic rundown of core mechanics and homebrew interpretations/extrapolations of water combat-related stuff. Great things to think about, and a bunch of this will be making it into my own campaigns. Thanks!

[@RichiePootle]

I would rule that characters who can breath water can also talk without penalty. Characters who can hold their breath indefinitely (like Air Genasi) follow the drowning rules if they try to talk. Characters who don’t need to breath (like Warforged or Reborn) can talk but would suffer Rob’s vocal distortion rules

[@PhilosophyOnTheNightbus]

This is actually great advice for all those parts of the world that are about to face an unbearably hot summer: The DM just dumps all the minis in the swimming pool and lets the players dive for initiative 🐟🦈🌊

[@Zeromusicmm]

Rob, I have been watching VLDL D&D since before they had a dedicated channel. KZbin just recommended your channel to me for the first time, today…:(. (I know you have twitch - you advertise that often, but I just never find myself there.). Anyway, sorry for the wait: subscribed! Blame YT for the delay.

[@RobertHartleyGM]

@@Zeromusicmm Glad to have you here!

[@RichiePootle]

Mantis shrimp are an excellent example of underwater thunder damage

[@erothrenmacarfime1981]

Love the science flavour arround conductivity inn solutions. I did a water temple in 2011 and applied that pure water feature in combat. Twas rally fin to watch pcs come across the lightning spell worked before since they were in deepseas, but the boss was creating water on the Battlefield and that was pure destilated water.

[@DianaVeldkamp-Favors]

Psychic damage could be as simple as causing the target to lose orientation underwater so they think they are swimming up for a breath but are actually diving deeper. You could also (as i believe someone else mentioned) cause your target to believe they are drowning, lose faith in their own ability, or simply force them to cough - which would reduce their air/minutes remaining

[@andarkelorin8797]

Exhaustion over time while swimming becomes a big deal too. Heavier armor gets brutal very quickly, but so do robes. Cloth and basic leather are not bad. Temperature impacts this too .. For example, for a human without protective clothing actually swimming (not just hanging out) in water over ~80 F you start to overheat and tire very quickly. Less than about 75 or so it takes a long time to warm up and you risk cramps. Lower than ~65 F and it is possible that you will not be able to maintain a high enough core temp for an extended period of time.

[@RobertHartleyGM]

@andarkelorin8797 I didn't include it here but in the episodes, I had calculated the characters' encumbrance and took that weight into account when setting DCs for moving around

[@gotgreens9225]

I like the idea that PSYCHIC DAMAGE maybe the target has to make a co. Or wisdom save. On a fail they start to "panic" and as a result loose half their air supply or something like that?

[@magnuskiechle4886]

Psychic damage: in my mind, if you use illuion magic (e.g. phantasmal force) against someone who is not used to breath under water, and implant in their mind that they are drowning; they usually have to roll an intelligence saving throw, which i would do at disadvantage. Or maybe someone has as background fear of water or something similar, you could deal them extra damage. Idk, i am not a dm, just a wizard player with too much fun in school of illusion^^

[@samuelteare8160]

Awesome video, Robert. I am definitely going to use some of your homebrews for underwater combat the next time my players are underwater.

[@freelance8399]

Sooooooo after watching all Rob's stuff and going to sleep to the NPC D&D'S it seems every thing I Read now in games are in his voice lol

[@kdavidsmith1]

The Hat Sent... Wait Rob from VLDL GM fame!? I love your VLDL games and I didn't know you had your own channel. SUBSCRIBE! I was hoping for a VLDL D&D Kraken Week game. Anyway, the Hat sent me and I'm glad he did.

[@dew-it8744]

The official underwater combat rules are very cursed with verbal components. RAW you can cast verbal components spells underwater without obstruction. In my games, I rule it that casting a spell with a verbal component has it so that you take a minute off of your holding breath time. I haven’t tried it out yet, as my players avoided the underwater combat last session, but even then they’re like level 9 and can just polymorph themselves into whales

[@yannickdufil9739]

Ho, fancy seeing you here. I didn't know you were part of Kraken Week.

[@jungle_run]

Necrotic Damage should give you an infection. Force damage should be reduced since the water absorbs some of the impact. Psychic damage should also cause confusion since the refractive nature of water along with the damage caused to the brain causes them to see things kind of like illusions, but not magical in nature rather inside the mind.

[@christopherturnley2157]

Hey Rob, Thanks for the inspiring video! Now if only I could find a water based campaign 😅, but looking forward to the water episodes you mentioned! I think if it made sense, I would add additional effects from what bodies of water the PCs are in. So more corrupted and stagnant water might enhance necrotic damage while a more moonlit filtered pond might add to healing effects or radiant damage. Also, I would love to see videos of you discussing monster stat blocks! Ones you love or hate, what you’d change or add to spice things up! Cheers!

[@moorheadsky]

Thanks for these fun rules. This is my jam!

[@grotebaby1827]

Psychic damage: The target hears a loud sound from far away and thinks it's a leviathan, make a wisdom save or become frightened by the ocean

[@abigailroderick2275]

I feel like for water, since you are within water and ultimately have a surplus.. possibly a pushback of 5 ft would make sense. Like for water bolt, the action of it coursing through the water would make a current and more likely to push the target back Damage buff/debuff does not make sense IMO

[@themcqueendream6797]

I am playing my first even campaign and it all started with a cave exploration that turned into is being jailed by some giant crabs. When we broke out of the cell it filled with salt water and we were under the sea. Our DM made it so that as soon as the water hit us we were all in a sort of air bubble that covered our entire bodies. I believe this is because we are all brand new to game and he didn't want to TPK us all in the first session. It's been really fun so far and I may ask him about some of these mechanics. Thanks again for your fantastic insights Rob

[@phoenixiwaki]

Hey fella! Great stuff! Bookmarking for future aquatic shenanigans!! 🌊

[@Shtrudel_Ragna]

Sounds reasonable, I like it.

[@kdavidsmith1]

I wonder if the creator of the underwater rules misunderstood slings to be slingshots, which, while would still be hindered wouldn't be as hindered as a sling.

[@LostWhits]

Curious how some spell effects would be affected/altered especially within a 3d battlezone. If a player misreads a spell, it could be disastrous underwater.

[@GustavoIto]

So much fun ideas! thanks rob

[@mikeglasswell-gameplay]

As for movement. Have you expreimented with 3d fighting? Levels of elevation? In submerged water, the battle field becomes over, under, through and out

[@RobertHartleyGM]

@@mikeglasswell-gameplay You can't get through? You can't get through. So go over, under or round. Yes, I use 3D levels underwater using flying stands for the minis

[@LostWhits]

We can't go over it (can't go over it). We can't go under it (can't go under it). We'll have to go through it, but we can't go through it.. It's a KRAKEN!

[@sofiablomquist8394]

My Cleric was drawn underneath the watersurface by a Pleisiosaurus. I wonder if my DM was inspired by Kraken week. She survived, by the way. Our Bard cast sleep on the beasts and my highelf was teleported by our druids fire elemental to safety. A fun encounter, but our DM was nervous.

[@PerfectPulido]

As we all know, negative damage becomes gaseous in water. It bonds to the hydrogen molecules and becomes a gas. All fish and aquatic animals have bigger thoughts than land-based creatures, and psionics are attracted to the bigger thoughts, seeking them out like a homing missile. And no force mage has ever tried to swim, let alone cast a spell near water. That one is a mystery, so I assume they will blow up.

[@yannickdufil9739]

pure watter is still a better conductor than air no ? Physically speacking, it should be more effective tan in air ?

[@RobertHartleyGM]

@@yannickdufil9739 Nope, pure distilled water is significantly less conductive than air.

[@johnbaker3911]

These rules will be instituted immediately, so saith the DM

[@louiseah7662]

Do you go through these rules pre-game or let them figure it out as they go?

[@RobertHartleyGM]

@@louiseah7662 When they become relevant. So as they plop into the water or as they cast a fire spell etc

[@louiseah7662]

@@RobertHartleyGM cool, thanks 😊

[@Aegopodium]

Light under water? Catch any bioluminescent creature. But then again, my barbarian is constantly near death. So I might not be the person to listen to....

[@RobertHartleyGM]

@@Aegopodium Watch this space!

[@miguelcoelho3968]

If you have water breathing would you still halve the poison damage? As you are breathing the poison in

[@dew-it8744]

Lots of poison effects are stabs or bites rather than breaths, so it wouldn’t be halved. If your DM allows you to take half damage from a green dragon underwater, than that’s perfectly fine but it’s their decision. Edit: This was made before watching the video btw

[@RobertHartleyGM]

@miguelcoelho3968 Yeah, probably, because it's getting diluted before getting to you. Like a poison spray or dragon breath. If it was poison damage from an injected poison, like a venomous bite, I probably wouldn't halve it.

[@mikeglasswell-gameplay]

Captain Segaleday you say?

[@RobertHartleyGM]

@mikeglasswell-gameplay I did! I was going to namedrop Bimsamarapapa too and forgot.

[@benoleary12]

What is that map book uou have

[@the_fancyunicorn]

the giant book of battle maps from loke battlemaps