Cold: Does rain make the -5 for wet clothing apply to no clothing?

[BraselC5048]

Pretty much a simple question, Basic lists -5 to rolls for cold if light or no clothing, and -5 if wet clothing. If it's raining, would it effectively be the same as wet clothing, for -10, or not?

Also, if you are rolling at -10 (50-50 critical failure rate for HT 10), does a critical failure have any greater effects than a regular failure? More fatigue points lost, maybe?

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by BraselC5048

Also, if you are rolling at -10 (50-50 critical failure rate for HT 10), does a critical failure have any greater effects than a regular failure? More fatigue points lost, maybe?

I wouldn't enforce special effects on critical failures of a given roll type unless critical successes also provide some special effect on this type of roll in this campaign.

[BraselC5048]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

I wouldn't enforce special effects on critical failures of a given roll type unless critical successes also provide some special effect on this type of roll in this campaign.

First off, does rain make it count as "wet clothing" if you're wearing "no clothing?" That's the first part of the question.

If not, then there's no reason for a critical failure to be worse, since it's still only -5, at least for my purposes right now.

On the other hand, if it does, and even if it doesn't, then it seems that for an average person, the difference between -5 and -10 cold should be more than 5%. For that matter, light clothing that's wet ought to be worse then light clothing that's not wet by a larger margin than that. Perhaps 2 FP lost on a critical failure? It's just that massively increasing how bad the situation is doesn't make the FP go away any faster once you're already likely going to fail the roll, and that just doesn't quite feel right. It seems that worse cold should make you freeze faster.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by BraselC5048

First off, does rain make it count as "wet clothing" if you're wearing "no clothing?" That's the first part of the question.

I have no idea what is the right answer to this question. By the letter of the rules, it shouldn't, because there's no clothing to speak of. By the spirit - I don't know; cold rains means little to no evaporation of water from the skin, and evaporation is one of the sources of feeling colder if wet, but OTOH, new cold water keeps coming and has good thermal conductivity.

I gave my answer to #2 in hopes that the answer to #1 will be resolved eventually.

Originally Posted by BraselC5048

If not, then there's no reason for a critical failure to be worse, since it's still only -5, at least for my purposes right now.

On the other hand, if it does, and even if it doesn't, then it seems that for an average person, the difference between -5 and -10 cold should be more than 5%. For that matter, light clothing that's wet ought to be worse then light clothing that's not wet by a larger margin than that. Perhaps 2 FP lost on a critical failure? It's just that massively increasing how bad the situation is doesn't make the FP go away any faster once you're already likely going to fail the roll, and that just doesn't quite feel right. It seems that worse cold should make you freeze faster.

To me, it's a matter of symmetry. If there's nothing extra-good that's supposed to come out of a critical success, then nothing extra-bad should come from a critical failure either. E.g. with Bleeding, a critical failure triples the HP lost at that minute, while a critical success counts as three successes in a row and thus stops bleeding permanently.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by BraselC5048

Pretty much a simple question, Basic lists -5 to rolls for cold if light or no clothing, and -5 if wet clothing. If it's raining, would it effectively be the same as wet clothing, for -10, or not?

I'd say yes, being wet increases the rate of heat transfer, which is the issue here. I'd probably assess it if you were sunk in cold dry dust too. On the plus side, if you are naked, you don't stay significantly wet after the rain stops.

Also, if you are rolling at -10 (50-50 critical failure rate for HT 10), does a critical failure have any greater effects than a regular failure? More fatigue points lost, maybe?

Generally if a rule doesn't mention an extra effect on critical success or failure, the author probably didn't think it needed one. Of course you can always add house rules if you like.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by malloyd

I'd say yes, being wet increases the rate of heat transfer, which is the issue here. I'd probably assess it if you were sunk in cold dry dust too. On the plus side, if you are naked, you don't stay significantly wet after the rain stops.

Though the high humidity means that being wet probably has less effect when it's raining than when it's drier.