Aquatic elf out of water?

[Wolfepuppy]

So I have a player paying an aquatic elf. These creatures can be out off water for one hour per point of con. However the description didn't say much about how they recharge this. Does anyone know how long they have to spend back in the water?

[Galen]

This is not made clear in the rules. You can decide as the DM.
Or, to save the trouble, go with the Unearthed Arcana Aquatic Elf instead of the Monster Manual one. (the UA version can survive out of water indefinitely)

[Wolfepuppy]

Actually it says in unearthed arcana that they have to hold their breath when out of the water because they dont have the amphibious trait. The last even less long out of the water :smallfrown:

[Calimehter]

Gills (well, some sets of gills anyway) work a long time out of water so long as they are kept moist. An aquatic elf is not 'holding its breath' for 1 hour per CON, its just breathing normal air through its-still moist gills. Once those dry out after CON hours, then it can't process air anymore and starts to deal with the suffocation rules. With that in mind, I would imagine the "recharge" time would be nothing more than just a round of immersion in water to refresh/remoisten the gills.

I realize that this is applying real-life logic to D&D, but in the absence of a specific rule to contradict it (i.e. a listed recharge time) I can't see any reason to not go with it.

As a sidenote: There is a 3rd level spell called Air Breathing in Stormwrack, which is basically the marine-dweller's analog of Water Breathing and allows aquatic creatures to adventure on land. Something to keep in mind if your aquatic elf has the spell or has the money to buy an item of it. He won't need it as badly as some other aquatic dwellers would due to his nice 'Gills' rule, but having a few potions or scrolls of it handy (or even a permanent item if he's got the cash for it) just in case he's isolated from water might not be a bad idea.

[Extra Anchovies]

The Controlled Respiration feat from Savage Species lets you double the amount of time you can spend out of water.

[Ettina]

Gills (well, some sets of gills anyway) work a long time out of water so long as they are kept moist. An aquatic elf is not 'holding its breath' for 1 hour per CON, its just breathing normal air through its-still moist gills. Once those dry out after CON hours, then it can't process air anymore and starts to deal with the suffocation rules. With that in mind, I would imagine the "recharge" time would be nothing more than just a round of immersion in water to refresh/remoisten the gills.

If you want to get really technical about it, you could houserule something about the ambient moisture in the area affecting how long he can be out of water. In a desert, he's got less time, in a marsh, he has more. Maybe half the normal time in a dry climate, and 1 1/2 times in a wet climate.