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Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Starfinder RPG

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GameMastery Guide / Adventures / Wilderness / Climate and Weather

Weather

Source GameMastery Guide pg. 220
Weather is a topic that rarely receives much attention in adventures, but it can make encounters much more memorable. A fight while ascending a cliff becomes more treacherous if the party must climb a mud-slicked donkey path. Perhaps the ominous chants of savage cultists rise above and intertwine with the thunder, and rain spatters in the blazing torches as the fell worshipers prepare their living sacrifices. The weather itself can be an enemy, as the party races for shelter in the face of a roaring tornado or frantically steers a ship to safe harbor as a hurricane lashes the waves higher around them. Snowfall erases the tracks of kidnappers, and fog hides the breath of a dragon lurking in the brackish waters of a swamp.

A good GM considers the weather as an addition to regular adventures. How many days are routinely sunny, partly cloudy, or even merely overcast? How frequently does it rain? What are the major weather events that take place in a particular region, and how can travelers avoid them? These considerations include rain, thunder, lightning, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, cyclones, and more. The weather can also combine with terrain to create truly deadly conditions, such as bogs, mudslides, and avalanches.

Another question to consider is what the locals do to protect themselves. Note that in a fantasy world this doesn’t necessarily entail just dressing more warmly or finding shelter—it may also mean appeasing the spirits of nature or the gods through propitiatory sacrifices. Safeguarding oneself from the weather—be it scorching sun or howling blizzard—is a crucial part of traveling or living in the wilderness, and the best protection against the weather may not be the best defense in combat.

Types of weather that may factor into encounters include blizzards, severe cold or extreme heat, fog, hurricanes and typhoons, monsoons, dust storms, hailstorms, sandstorms, snowstorms, and thunderstorms (with or without lightning), tornadoes, and windstorms (see the Weather section from the Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook).