DM Advice: Buried in Snow

[Fyermind]

My PCs were in an igloo during a blizzard (for several days) and the igloo is now buried under eight feet of snow. How do I handle them trying to get out? The closest I've found are untrained profession mining checks, but that doesn't really take into account that the PCs are orcs with amazing strength scores. They are level 1 gestalts with a +1 LA Template (Fighter // barbarian half minotaur arctic water orc and Barbarian // Bard draconic magicblooded water orc) They are getting very hungry and are already low on HP.

[Invader]

Well buried characters take 1d6 non lethal damage a minute so I think it would be reasonable to allow them to make a requisite skill check to tunnel through the snow to get with a chance the tunnel collapses and the have to try again after taking some damage. I'd say the checks could be anything from survival, knowledge dungeoneering, know architecture, profession miner, etc.

[QuidEst]

I can think of a few options.
- Carrying capacity. If they can get twice the weight of the snow without going over their max load (no off ground or shove/drag weights), they should be expected to be able to more or less muscle their way out. The factor of two is because snow is sticky. Yes, there are problems with this unless they had a couple surfaces to distribute the weight over, but I presume you don't want them rolling new characters.
- Strength check. Figure out what strength would be required for the carrying capacity approach. Set the DC at 10 + the corresponding strength bonus. Alternatively, strength checks for progress in an hour.
- Magic. Giving yourself a burrow speed, melting away a column to get out of, blasting a column to get fresh air through, etc.

Personally, I would have avoided burying the PCs under that much snow for a few levels, but now that they're there, those seem like some reasonable ways to get them out.

[Fyermind]

They aren't actually being crushed, so no nonlethal damage. I want some way of adjucating a strength check or the like. I mean, with strength scores in the 20s and wisdom and intelligence around 10-13 it seems cruel to force them to make a skill check for what is essentially manual labor.

[zlefin]

you could always use the generic object damaging rules; snow should be somewhat weaker than ice when but still fairly solid if packed. treat it as 1-2 hp per inch, hardness 0. maybe affect a foot by foot area or somewhat smaller.
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/exploration.htm

[Invader]

Well the skill check would just be too see if the tunnel collapses on top of them otherwise it's easy to just say they smash their way out.

[Grollub]

if the snow is hard packed on them.. i would just let them dig out. I mean their strength scores are at 20-ish, should be no problem to dig a tunnel out.

[Fyermind]

I should also note there is one at 1 hp and the other at 2 hp. They were left here stable by their former allies before the blizzard when a battle turned against them.

[limejuicepowder]

What about air? Snow actually is air-tight, if it's thick enough. If they've been down there for several days, they would have run out of air a long time ago.

[RogueDM]

What about air? Snow actually is air-tight, if it's thick enough. If they've been down there for several days, they would have run out of air a long time ago.

I've always loved the expression "Speed of Plot" as a device for lampshading inconvenient realities. Just need to be consistent about it for the game's sake (other story telling mediums have more elasticity with this).

I did like the idea of effectively fighting their way out through the snow. Snow holds together fairly well, so as long as they aren't making an excessively wide tunnel collapsing shouldn't be too much of a threat*. So, they tunnel their way out with "attacks" vs snow or just a number of strength or even endurance checks given how cold/hungry they are. If you feel like holding the sword of Damocles over their heads have them roll d% to check for tunnel collapse at some low, but unknown to them, percentage.

*I mean, animals burrow through dirt and snow without any formal training and hardly ever bury themselves alive accidentally. At least from talking to all of the burrowing animals that I know.

[TuggyNE]

*I mean, animals burrow through dirt and snow without any formal training and hardly ever bury themselves alive accidentally. At least from talking to all of the burrowing animals that I know.

So, what you're saying is that all the burrowing animals you talked to didn't die by being buried alive? :smalltongue: