Dodge underwater

[RogerBacon]

How is a character's dodge modified by being underwater? I'm assuming that simce unmodified move = unmodified speed and a character's move is greatly reduced underwater that his dodge should be equally affected but I didn't find a rule saying anything like that.

[sir_pudding]

Isn't it covered in that Pyramid article?

[Dustin]

Probably covered by some piece of RAW, but I might snap-rule that your underwater Dodge is the lesser of your normal Dodge and (Swimming skill/2)+3.

[Gollum]

Originally Posted by Dustin

Probably covered by some piece of RAW, but I might snap-rule that your underwater Dodge is the lesser of your normal Dodge and (Swimming skill/2)+3.

Wouldn't it be to high for a dodge score? An athlete with Swimming-16 would for instance have a dodge score of 11 underwater and a dodge score of 5 or 6 on the ground.

Edit:
I forgot to tell: personally, I would just use the normal dodge score. Dodge speed is slowed down underwater, but just as well as attacks and everything else. I would just require a swimming roll before any dodge attempt for humans and other non aquatic characters.

[Dustin]

Originally Posted by Gollum

Wouldn't it be to high for a dodge score? An athlete with Swimming-16 would for instance have a dodge score of 11 underwater and a dodge score of 5 or 6 on the ground.

Sorry, I didn't explain it well. Another way to state it would be capping underwater Dodge at (Swimming/2)+3, so a character with Dodge 9 and Swimming-10 would have underwater Dodge capped at 10/2+3 = 8.

[Gollum]

Originally Posted by Dustin

Sorry, I didn't explain it well. Another way to state it would be capping underwater Dodge at (Swimming/2)+3, so a character with Dodge 9 and Swimming-10 would have underwater Dodge capped at 10/2+3 = 8.

Sorry for answering so lately... I was away during 3 days.

I better understand now... And a cap is a very good idea, indeed. After all, the Free fall skill works as a cap for other skills in zero gravity environment. So the swimming skill can perfectly work as a cap in underwater environment too.

Sadly, there is no precision about dodge in the Free fall skill description... But there may be one in another book (Space? Ultratech? Spaceship? Tales of the Solar Patrol? Vorkosigan Saga Sourcebook?). Has anyone read it somewhere? It would be a good model for a dodging underwater rule...

[RogerBacon]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Isn't it covered in that Pyramid article?

No. It just says taht someone without the "cannot float" quirk can not make an aquabatic retreat without something to push off against. It doesn't say anything about the dodge score itself.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by RogerBacon

How is a character's dodge modified by being underwater? I'm assuming that simce unmodified move = unmodified speed and a character's move is greatly reduced underwater that his dodge should be equally affected but I didn't find a rule saying anything like that.

You dodge with Speed, not Move. Altering Move doesn't change your dodge.

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by RogerBacon

How is a character's dodge modified by being underwater? I'm assuming that simce unmodified move = unmodified speed and a character's move is greatly reduced underwater that his dodge should be equally affected but I didn't find a rule saying anything like that.

Dodge isn't modified by being underwater. (And, yes, this is taking into account the Pyramid 3/26 article Fathom Five.)

If you wish to create a house-rule changing that, I'd suggest treating it as an underwater DX(-based) roll which would work out to the lower of ((DX + HT) / 4) + 3) and ((Swimming + HT) / 4) + 3) if they were completely submerged, not on the bottom, not amphibious and not aquatic. Given that Swimming defaults to HT-4 ...