Damage in Space

Area damage causes characters to be pushed back while in zero gravity. Any untethered character who takes area damage is Pushed Off to 5 feet away from the furthest boundary of the area damage and begins floating away from the centermost source of the area damage. If using variant movement in space rules, such as conservation of momentum, the creature's Speed while floating is increased by the distance the creature moved due to the area damage. If the effect that caused area damage would already move the creature, such as a soldier using Shoving Shot, the creature gains a bonus to Speed for purposes of floating while untethered equal to the distance they were moved by the ability.

While in a vacuum or zero gravity , ranged Strikes with bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing weapons double their range and only take a –1 penalty when used to Strike a target beyond the first range increment for each additional range increment beyond the first. If a creature is in a vacuum with zero gravity, ignore all penalties to the creature's ranged attacks and quadruple their weapon's range.

In a vacuum like space, there's no medium for energy transfer through conduction or convection. Cold, fire, and electricity spells or actions with the cold, fire, and electricity traits don't function in a vacuum. Ignore these rules if the spell or action targets an adjacent target, even if it uses a ranged attack roll. This rule can be especially oppressive and should be avoided if the PCs are reliant on these abilities, and you should feel free to exempt specific traits. Magical effects or weapons with magical upgrades bypass this effect—magic breaks normal physics!

Without the upward flow of hot air, fire and cold effects travel differently in space than you'd expect in a terrestrial setting. Cold and fire spells and actions with the cold and fire trait that have an area, burst, cone, or line and don't have a duration have an increased area in this environment. Double the radius of a burst that normally has a radius of at least 10 feet. Cones become a burst with a radius equal to its length and a range of 5 feet (meaning it must be placed adjacent to the caster or originator), and lines follow the same rules but have a burst radius equal to half their length.

Bleeding is especially dangerous in space due to a reduced volume of blood produced in space and spurting from lack of gravity. While in zero gravity, increase the DC of the flat check to see if a creature recovers from persistent bleeding to 17 (or 12 with appropriate help). While in a vacuum without environmental protections, increase the DC to 20 (or 15 with appropriate help).

Creatures become immune to persistent cold and fire damage while in a vacuum.