Natural Disasters

Acid rain is a catchall term for corrosive precipitation. Acid rain affects visibility and causes fatigue like normal precipitation but also deals minor acid damage each minute. Acid rain sometimes occurs as part of a thunderstorm.

Though the term avalanche specifically refers to a cascading flow of ice and snow down a mountain's slope, the same rules work for landslides, mudslides, and other similar disasters. Avalanches of wet snow usually travel up to 200 feet per round, though powdery snow can travel up to 10 times faster. Rockslides and mudslides are slower, sometimes even slow enough that a character might be able to outrun them.

An avalanche deals major or even massive bludgeoning damage to creatures and objects in its path. These victims are also buried under a significant mass. Creatures caught in an avalanche's path can attempt a Reflex save; if they succeed, they take only half the bludgeoning damage, and if they critically succeed, they also avoid being buried.

Blizzards combine cold weather, heavy snow, and strong winds. They don't pose a single direct threat as other disasters do; instead, the combination of these factors all at once poses a substantial impediment to characters.

Collapses and cave-ins occur when caverns or buildings fall, dumping tons of rock or other material on those caught below or inside them. Creatures under the collapse take major or massive bludgeoning damage and become buried, just as with an avalanche. Fortunately, collapses don't spread unless they weaken the overall integrity of the area and lead to further collapses.

Earthquakes often cause other natural disasters in the form of avalanches, collapses, floods, and tsunamis, but they also present unique threats such as fissures, soil liquefaction, and tremors.

Though more gradual floods can damage structures and drown creatures, flash floods are similar to avalanches, except with a liquid mass instead of a solid one. Instead of burying creatures, a flash flood carries creatures and even massive objects away, buffeting the creatures and potentially drowning them.

Gravity wells are dense objects or regions that generate their own gravity. Gravity wells create an area of difficult terrain or greater difficult terrain (depending on their density) for a creature moving away from them. At the end of a creature's turn, it moves a certain distance depending on the gravity well's mass. For example, the malfunctioning artificial gravity generator of a starship moves a creature 10 feet toward it at the end of that creature's turn.

Magnetic storms are spikes in magnetic activity that interfere with technology on certain planets. Unshielded technology starts glitching during a magnetic storm and stops working during a severe magnetic storm.

A psystorm is a magical weather pattern that occurs on some planets. Winds that howl with alien voices, sudden flashes of color and sound, and other bizarre phenomena accompany psystorms. Creatures without shelter take minor to moderate mental damage each minute during a psystorm. There's also a chance that a character might be struck by a bolt of magical energy during a psystorm. An energy bolt usually deals moderate damage of a randomly determined type.

Mild sandstorms and dust storms don't present much more danger than a windy rainstorm, but they can cause damage to a creature's lungs and spread diseases across long distances. Heavy sandstorms deal minor slashing damage each round to those exposed to the sand, force creatures to hold their breath to avoid suffocation, or both.

In a tornado's path, wind conditions impose severe circumstance penalties, but creatures that would normally be blown away are instead picked up in the tornado's funnel, where they take massive bludgeoning damage from flying debris as they rise through the cone until they're eventually expelled (taking bludgeoning damage from falling).

Tornadoes usually travel around 300 feet per round (roughly 30 miles per hour). They normally travel a few miles before dissipating. Some tornadoes are stationary or travel much faster.

Tsunamis present many of the same dangers as flash floods but are much larger and more destructive. Tsunami waves can reach 100 feet or more in height, wrecking buildings and creatures alike with massive bludgeoning damage from both the wave itself and debris pulled up along its path of destruction.

Volcanic eruptions can contain any combination of ash, lava bombs, lava flows, pyroclastic flows, and vents.

Swirling windstorms sweep through the atmosphere of some planets, especially gas giants. Vortexes are more powerful than tornadoes, often traveling at speeds over 400 miles per hour. Some dissipate within hours, while others rage for years, fueled by superheated volatile gases. Vortexes deal massive bludgeoning damage each minute to creatures and objects (often including starships) in their path and carry them for hundreds of miles. Superheated vortexes also deal massive fire damage.

Wildfires travel mainly along a front moving in a single direction. In a forest, the front can advance up to 70 feet per round (7 miles per hour). They can move up to twice as fast across plains due to a lack of shade and the relatively low humidity. Embers from the fire, carried by winds and rising hot air, can scatter, forming spot fires as far as 10 miles away from the main wildfire. Wildfires present three main threats: flames, heat, and smoke.