Rules on holding your breath?

[AboveJester]

I've found rules for drowning, but what about holding your breath? Especially mid combat. I feel like while running and hacking away with a sword pc's would have a hard time holding their breath. Just to clarify I'm looking into this because of poison cloud kind of affect, that only affects characters that breath it in. Not for swimming or something.

[SpawnOfMorbo]

I've found rules for drowning, but what about holding your breath? Especially mid combat. I feel like while running and hacking away with a sword pc's would have a hard time holding their breath. Just to clarify I'm looking into this because of poison cloud kind of affect, that only affects characters that breath it in. Not for swimming or something.

Page 86 of the SRD

[Ninja_Prawn]

I've found rules for drowning, but what about holding your breath? Especially mid combat. I feel like while running and hacking away with a sword pc's would have a hard time holding their breath. Just to clarify I'm looking into this because of poison cloud kind of affect, that only affects characters that breath it in. Not for swimming or something.

I'd just stick to the drowning/suffocating rules. Because:

1. PCs are awesome heroes who can do things ordinary/real people couldn't do.
2. 5e is all about simple, concise rules that use abstraction to boil several things down to one stat/roll.
3. There's no Zone of Sweet Air anymore, so holding your breath is the only counter to inhalation poisons. No need to make it any harder.

If you want to make it a bit more realistic, I'd make it cost them a reaction to draw in a breath before the gas hits (meaning they can't do it if they've already used a reaction that round). Also, make it require concentration. Then there's a risk they'll gasp some air in when someone hits them.

[SharkForce]

swimming is not a restful activity. presumably the rules for drowning were already intended to cover the scenario where you're swimming and have to worry about drowning. i'd just use the drowning rules, personally.