Deserts in the Land of Fate vary from vast seas of dunes to rocky outcrops to steppes that briefly turn green with the spring rains. All of these regions have one thing in common, one quality that makes them deserts: they lack water. Even the steppe that turns green on occasion is parched and dry as a whole, only teasing its inhabitants with intense but brief seasonal downpours.
In the AL-QADIM campaign, adventurers traveling through desert terrain are definitely concerned with water. Well-provisioned parties or individuals capable of desert survival can worry less about the heat, but all player characters eventually risk being lost in the desert and falling prey to dehydration.
Dehydration[]
The average living individual in the Land of Fate must consume one gallon of fresh water per 24-hour period to sustain normal activity. A character that is relatively inactive—for instance, sitting, resting, or sleeping—requires only half a gallon. By restricting activity to the shade or traveling only at night, characters can halve their daily requirements: an active character needs one-half gallon and an inactive character requires one-quarter gallon. Encumbered individuals double their required water intake, such that an active character requires two gallons and an inactive character needs one gallon.
Characters with the desert survival proficiency fare better than others in desert terrain. (See "Survival" in Chapter 6 of the Player's Handbook.) With a successful proficiency check, they can find or obtain one gallon of water per day. The water is typically of poor quality—a puddle beneath a crust of mud, for example but it's sufficient for survival. As a result, a character with this proficiency stands a fair chance of staying alive when lost in the desert, but is of little help to others. In particularly barren and desolate areas, penalties to the desert survival proficiency may apply (as the DM sees fit).
Dehydration is reflected by a loss of Constitution. It begins the first day in which a character does not receive the required allotment of water, with the following effects:
| Water Consumed Per Day | Constitution Loss |
|---|---|
| Full requirement | None |
| Half or more of requirement | 1d4 |
| Less than half of requirement | 1d6 |
Constitution losses are cumulative over consecutive days of dehydration. Qualities linked to Constitution drop accordingly: hit point adjustment, system shock, resurrection survival, poison save, and regeneration rate. Each time a character's hit point adjustment drops a point, his or her hit points also drop—by a number equal to the character's level. (For dual-or multi-class characters, the class with the highest level applies.) Thus, if Hakim is a 6th-level thief, he'll lose 6 hit points each time his hit point adjustment decreases 1 point. A character whose Constitution drops to 0 or less is dead, with a resurrection survival chance of 25 percent.
Dehydrated characters regain 1d8 points of Constitution for each day in which they receive their full requirement of water, until they attain their usual maximum. Hit points which have been lost due to dehydration are regained normally.
Characters who move at night must find shelter during the day to rest (tents or rocky outcroppings will suffice). Those without shelter must make a successful saving throw versus poison in order to rest well. Characters denied sound rest may not memorize spells or recover hit points.
Animals: Water is also a concern for animals in the desert heat. Those failing to receive the allotments shown on the table below succumb to dehydration.
| Animal Size* | Daily Water Requirement |
|---|---|
| Tiny (2 ft. or less) | 1/8 Gallon |
| Small (4 ft. or less) | 1/2 Gallon |
| Man-sized (4 ft. to 7 ft.) | 1 Gallon |
| Large (7-plus ft. to 12 ft.) | 4 Gallons |
| Huge (12-plus ft. to 25 ft.) | 8 Gallons |
| Gargantuan (25 ft.) | 16 Gallons |
Elephants and horses are both large creatures, and as such require four gallons each per day. Camels and some other creatures native to the desert are an exception to these rules. Provided it is initially well-watered and fed, a camel can go up to a seven days without suffering the ill effects of dehydration. On the eighth day, however, normal effects for dehydration set in.
At the end of each day that an animal does not get its full requirement of water, there is a 10 percent chance that it will die. The chance is cumulative, increasing by 10 percent with each successive day. On the day that an animal again drinks a full allotment of water, it is completely rehydrated; future checks for death by dehydration start at 10 percent.
Wind and Sand[]
Dehydration is not the only enemy for those journeying through the desert. High winds can lift sand and dust into a choking, blinding storm that can scour individuals as well as property. Characters trapped in such a storm without protection suffer 1d2 points of damage per round. In addition, they must make a saving throw vs. wands; those who fail are blinded (per the spell) for 1d6 turns. A tent or rock outcropping offers sufficient protection from the storm; so does lying prone with a cloth across the eyes, nose, and mouth. Further, the protection from normal missiles spell and similar magics can protect the individual unless the storm is magical in origin.
In addition to inflicting the damage noted above, desert storms can bury characters alive, eventually causing them to suffocate. So can certain spells that trigger sandslides or move dunes. (See Chapter 8 for details on spells.) Characters who are buried alive by a desert storm can dig themselves out in 1d3 rounds. Those buried by an avalanche of sand—whether natural or caused by a spell—can dig free in 1d6 rounds unless otherwise noted in the spell description.
Crawling out of a sandy grave is no simple task. For each round spent digging toward the surface, a character must make a Strength check as well as a Constitution check. A successful Strength check reduces the time required for escape by one round; failure has no effect. In contrast, a failed Constitution check results in the loss of 1d4 points of Constitution, while a successful Constitution check neither helps nor hinders the character. An individual reduced to 0 Constitution cannot move. If no help is forthcoming, the paralyzed character will suffocate in 1d10 rounds.
A number of variables can delay or retard suffocation, however, including spells and magical items which reduce or eliminate the need to breathe. The endurance proficiency enables a character to make a Constitution check every other round instead of every round, but it does not affect the required Strength checks.
Assuming they know where to dig, other characters can rescue an individual who has been buried alive. For every round in which they dig downward, would- be rescuers reduce the number of rounds required for escape by one. Excavating time is the same no matter how many characters dig. Rescuers can dig out an individual who has reached 0 Constitution, and is unable to move.
Constitution lost while a character is buried alive is regained at 1 point per turn. Hit points are unaffected by Constitution lost in this fashion. Constitution may never be regained to a level higher than a character's usual maximum.
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