Cold Blooded?

[Alchemistmerlin]

How would you handle Cold Blooded NPCs/PCs in D&D? (Either 4e or 3.5e)


A brief history: In my campaign world I've made Kobolds a major race that are not, in fact, related to Dragons. The young Kobolds look like the yipping critters we know and love from the 3.5 MM. When they get older they choose to either become "Keepers of the Flame", casters, or "Warriors of the Flame", melee fighters. The keepers stay as small yipping critters, whereas the warriors get the bump up to Medium size and grow into raptor-like Lizardmen. The "of the Flame" bit is because, though they live underground mostly, they use GIANT magical fires, vented to the surface, to maintain the temperature of their caverns due to their cold-blooded nature. When adventuring they take with them a small enchanted stone that maintains their body temperature, but must be recharged in a fire while they sleep.

The question is, how would you handle a cold blooded PC or NPC? What effects would the lack of heat have on them?

[Kurald Galain]

The question is, how would you handle a cold blooded PC or NPC? What effects would the lack of heat have on them?

Penalties to dexterity and intelligence, most likely. Possibly other scores as well.

[Deth Muncher]

Well, I'd SAY have them be the less intense of Fatigued/Exhausted (I can never remember which is which), and have small negatives to Str, Dex and Int. Prolonged exposure to the lack of heat should bring on harsher penalties, as well as bumping up from Fatigued/Exhausted to whichever the higher one is. After that, I'd say if they've been out in the cold for more than 8 hours, make a Fort Save DC 15 to avoid a supernatural Sleep effect which can't be "dispelled" until they're put somewhere warm. Each concurrent hour they pass their save should add a +1 to the DC.


The reason why I say "I SAY" is that sounds a wee bit harsh.

[Alchemistmerlin]

Well, I'd SAY have them be the less intense of Fatigued/Exhausted (I can never remember which is which), and have small negatives to Str, Dex and Int. Prolonged exposure to the lack of heat should bring on harsher penalties, as well as bumping up from Fatigued/Exhausted to whichever the higher one is. After that, I'd say if they've been out in the cold for more than 8 hours, make a Fort Save DC 15 to avoid a supernatural Sleep effect which can't be "dispelled" until they're put somewhere warm. Each concurrent hour they pass their save should add a +1 to the DC.


The reason why I say "I SAY" is that sounds a wee bit harsh.


I had generally the same idea, with a 24 hour grace period before all of this starts happening. It is a bit harsh, but it is made up for by the free magical item that prevents it from happening that they get at character creation.

[Deth Muncher]

I had generally the same idea, with a 24 hour grace period before all of this starts happening. It is a bit harsh, but it is made up for by the free magical item that prevents it from happening that they get at character creation.

Right, well. Just so long as they hide that rock so that nobody sunders it...

[Alchemistmerlin]

Right, well. Just so long as they hide that rock so that nobody sunders it...

Yeah, I was trying to think of a way to let them recreate the stone should it be sundered/lost/stolen, but I can't really think of a Balanced way to do that.

And that sort of belongs in the "Homebrew" section whereas I intended for this to be more about the concept of cold-bloodedness in D&D as everything seems to be warm blooded.

[batsofchaos]

Owning a cold-blooded animal (I have a ball-python), I'd say that it's something that would not come up very often, especially if they have magical means to avoid negative affects. The lower temperatures of underground caverns would probably make them sluggish away from heat-sources, which I agree the fatigue rules work well in replicating (if you're running 3.5, there's no rules for fatigue in 4e). However, the removal of a heat source would not cause any affect for a couple minutes, so if they were deprived of their magical heat-stone they wouldn't be fatigued until after the encounter ends at least. For 3.5, I'd say after a short rest they should make a fortitude save, on a failure they become fatigued, only warmth would be the only thing to remove fatigue, rather than rest. Maybe after a set amount of time, they should take another save or become exhausted, and then after a while longer they become unconcious, falling into hibernation.

If you're running a 4e game, the best way to adjudicate it in my opinion would be a loss of healing surges. Have them make a constitution check once every so often (more often than 3.5) with a cumulative -2 penalty per failed save. Every failed save costs the creature a healing surge. When number of surges drops to zero, the creature falls into hibernation. It might be couched in the form of a skill challenge, with endurance checks instead, and insight checks (+2 to next check) for trying to stay warm while looking for a more substantial heat source, Dungeoneering checks for finding the best way towards materials for building a fire, etc.

This doesn't have too big of an affect on combat, though. If you're running 4e, I'd say give them cold vulnerability, and make cold attacks slow them. Other than that, their temperature regulating functions shouldn't come too much into play.

[kamikasei]

Endure elements? Heat metal? Variants thereon?

[SamTheCleric]

Owning a cold-blooded animal (I have a ball-python), I'd say that it's something that would not come up very often, especially if they have magical means to avoid negative affects. The lower temperatures of underground caverns would probably make them sluggish away from heat-sources, which I agree the fatigue rules work well in replicating (if you're running 3.5, there's no rules for fatigue in 4e). However, the removal of a heat source would not cause any affect for a couple minutes, so if they were deprived of their magical heat-stone they wouldn't be fatigued until after the encounter ends at least. For 3.5, I'd say after a short rest they should make a fortitude save, on a failure they become fatigued, only warmth would be the only thing to remove fatigue, rather than rest. Maybe after a set amount of time, they should take another save or become exhausted, and then after a while longer they become unconcious, falling into hibernation.

If you're running a 4e game, the best way to adjudicate it in my opinion would be a loss of healing surges. Have them make a constitution check once every so often (more often than 3.5) with a cumulative -2 penalty per failed save. Every failed save costs the creature a healing surge. When number of surges drops to zero, the creature falls into hibernation. It might be couched in the form of a skill challenge, with endurance checks instead, and insight checks (+2 to next check) for trying to stay warm while looking for a more substantial heat source, Dungeoneering checks for finding the best way towards materials for building a fire, etc.

This doesn't have too big of an affect on combat, though. If you're running 4e, I'd say give them cold vulnerability, and make cold attacks slow them. Other than that, their temperature regulating functions shouldn't come too much into play.


In 4e dealing with "Extreme temperatures" is covered under the Endurance skill.

[batsofchaos]

In 4e dealing with "Extreme temperatures" is covered under the Endurance skill.

Okay, replace con checks with endurance checks; easy enough.