Introduction & Exisiting Rules
I thought that it would going over rules for things that come out of clouds would be a good enough connection with the Cloud Elemental. This post goes over rules for precipitation weather effects, if it wasn’t clear by the name of the post. This will include two sections: rain-based and snow-based weather. All of the following things that I go over are based off a set of tables that will be posted Friday, so if you want to see the tables that go with these rules come back Friday.
For most of the things that I am going over there are no official rules. For the ones that do I go over where they come up. Some of these rules will not come up since they are not precipitation based. These rules being for strong winds, extreme heat, and extreme cold. The specific wording for such rules can be found on pg. 110 of the DMG (Dungeon Master’s Guide).
Rain-Based Weather
Rain is rather common in the world, well at least where I live, and it is definitely more common in some places than where I live. Some places have monsoons and other very little rain if any at all across the year, but the middle-ground has rain happen every so often throughout the year. Despite this I and probably many others don’t think about such weather happening in their fantasy worlds, or we forget until we need a rather dramatic, and probably sad moment. Well, I think that it should show up more and I think a way to integrate it into our games is to give it set rules, so here they are:
Drizzle: A light sprinkle of rain, that’s what a drizzle is. It does not cause much disturbance to the world, other than coming with a cloud covered sky most of the time. Because of this I think that there should not be any specific rules for this type of weather, other than maybe having sunlight sensitive creatures be fine due to the cloud cover.
Rain: Rain is harder than a drizzle and will cause all that walk into it to become rather wet. I don’t believe that rain should come with that many effects, as I believe that most debilitating effects come with heavy rain (see below) instead of normal rain. The rules I do have for rain are that of the sunlight sensitive creatures getting off scott-free and that if you are in an area with dirt that has been in the rain for while turns to mud and become difficult terrain. Actually, for rain there will only be spots of mud, meaning the battlefield or traveling path will have patches of difficult terrain dispersed at random.
Heavy Rain: This is the one that the DMG has rules on (can be found on pg. 110). These rules include disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or sight. Also, all creatures within the area are lightly obscured. Finally, all open flames are put out. Adding to this I believe that all areas that all dirt areas become difficult terrain due to mud and the whole sunlight sensitivity thing.
Storm: This last one is a little special. It is not separate from the other three put instead is a modifier. So, if you decide to add this to one of the previous weather types it will result in some of the additional rules: creatures within the area have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks and there is a chance for a bolt of lightning to hit near the players (Roll a d100 at the beginning of the round and on a 90 or above lightning strikes). It’s up to you where that lightning hits. If you decide to hit a creature with this bolt of lightning it should do 8d6 lightning damage on a failed DC 14 Dex. Save and half as much on a success.
Snow-Based Weather
Unlike rain, snow is rather specific to an area of the world, the northern kind. Despite this I think its addition would make those long treks through the mountains even more interesting. I think that it would be better to state this here than multiple times throughout each section: sunlight sensitive creatures are fine during these weather events due to the cloud cover.
Snow/Heavy Snow: The DMG also covers heavy snow. It states that heavy rain lightly obscures creatures in it and gives disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight. For both snow and heavy snow, I believe that the ground should become difficult terrain depending on how long it has been snowing.
Hail: Hail are balls of ice that measure more than 5mm in diameter. For this I believe that a check at the top of the round for dodging the hail would be interesting. So, at the beginning of a round of combat everyone must beat a DC 12 Dex. Save or take 1d4 bludgeoning damage. For outside of combat have the players roll a Con. Save for how well they endured the weather. If they beat a DC 14 they come out of a day of traveling only taking 1d10 damage. Failing that save results in 2d10 damage.
Sleet: Sleet are balls of ice that measure less than 5mm in diameter. Now there is more to it than that, like how it forms, but I think that is enough for our information. In real life sleet is not all that dangerous, but this is a fantasy game so let’s make it dangerous. Like hail there will be a check at the top of a combat round to see if you get hit. Since, there is usually more sleet than hail at a time the check will be DC 14 Dex. Save, but the damage will be 1 point of bludgeoning. For outside of combat a Con. Save with a DC 12 will be used for a day of traveling. A success will result in 1d6 damage and a fail 2d6.
Snow Pellets (Soft Hail): While this is a different type of weather, little pellets of snow than the tradition snowflakes, I believe that it would not result in any effect different than snow but upon further research I found that this type of weather is notorious for aiding in avalanches. So, if you have this type of weather happen think about the possibility of an avalanche. If you want to put numbers to it, roll a d100 at the beginning of a travel day where an avalanche could happen, and on a 95 or higher one occurs.
Snow Grain (Frozen Drizzle): This is not that dangerous, but I have learned that it does not break upon impact with the ground. So, these small little ice pellets will layer on the ground. I believe that this should constituent as difficult terrain.
Ice Crystal Fog: This is a rather rare weather event as it can only happen in areas with a under -40 °C temperature, but I thought it cool to add. This occurs by fine ice crystals being suspended in the area. For this weather event I think giving disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight. will be enough.
Conclusion
Well, that was a lot of rules. Not go and forget or barely ever use them, because that’s what I plan to do. Ok, jokes aside I hope you found these rules for different types of weather effects useful and that you will use them in the future. I’m gonna try to use these effects more in my games, because when I do, me and my players have fun. Feel free to adjust the numbers for any of the effects to fit your game better. You could also ignore these rules and come up with yours. If you do, I am glad I could be the catalyst for you creating. If you are wondering what event to have happen at a time come back Friday to check out the tables that contain on these events, so you have something to roll on. See you Friday, bye.
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