Avalanche (3.5)

[vullek]

So, regarding some of the rules on Avalanches in dnd (based off of what's in the DMG), do creatures with evasion still take damage if they are in the "bury zone"? and how exactly does one become "unburied"? is there a str- or dex- related check, or is outside assistance required?

[eggynack]

An avalanche might not qualify as an attack, as it's from an environmental source, so it's probably a no on the evasion thing. That probably falls under the category of ambiguous and requiring adjudication though. For becoming unburied, I generally defer to the rules on the sidebar on page 90 in frostburn, which indicate that it takes a minute to clear five times your heavy load limit of snow, or twice that much snow if you have a tool, and if the digging creature is the one who's buried, moving the snow takes a DC 25 strength check. A 5*5 cube of snow weighs 500 pounds, apparently. If you're seeking out a similar rule in core, you should check the rules for cave-ins and collapses (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/dungeons.htm#caveInsAndCollapsesCr8) which has rules that are mostly the same.

[vullek]

Thanks eggynack! That was extremelyhelpful :smallbiggrin:

[TuggyNE]

An avalanche might not qualify as an attack, as it's from an environmental source, so it's probably a no on the evasion thing. That probably falls under the category of ambiguous and requiring adjudication though. For becoming unburied, I generally defer to the rules on the sidebar on page 90 in frostburn, which indicate that it takes a minute to clear five times your heavy load limit of snow, or twice that much snow if you have a tool, and if the digging creature is the one who's buried, moving the snow takes a DC 25 strength check. A 5*5 cube of snow weighs 500 pounds, apparently. If you're seeking out a similar rule in core, you should check the rules for cave-ins and collapses (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/dungeons.htm#caveInsAndCollapsesCr8) which has rules that are mostly the same.

Only problem with the Core rules is it looks like it only requires a single DC 25 check with no time specified, which is pretty silly. Frostburn's rules are far more sane.

[eggynack]

Only problem with the Core rules is it looks like it only requires a single DC 25 check with no time specified, which is pretty silly. Frostburn's rules are far more sane.
Indeed. It took a surprisingly long period of research, involving both the obvious avalanche rules, and the less obvious cave-in rules, until I noticed that the rules for getting unburied after a call avalanche are written right under call avalanche. Not my finest hour, I think.