Holding Breath
Adventurers often need to hold their breath – whether to dive or to survive poison gas, strangulation, vacuum, etc. Your HT determines the length of time you can hold your breath, as follows:
| Exertion Level | Action/Example | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| No Exertion | e.g., sitting quietly or meditating | HT x 10 seconds |
| Mild Exertion | e.g., operating a vehicle, treading water, or walking | HT x 4 seconds |
| Heavy Exertion | e.g., climbing, combat, or running | HT seconds |
These times assume you have one second to take a deep breath (requires a Concentrate maneuver in combat).
Multiply all times by 1.5 if you hyperventilate first – or by 2.5 if you hyperventilate with pure oxygen.
A successful roll against Breath Control skill multiplies these times by a further factor of 1.5.
However, if you are surprised and don’t have a chance to take a deep breath – e.g., when a gas grenade goes off in combat – halve these times instead.
Regardless of circumstances, each level of the Breath-Holding (P, X) advantage doubles the time you can hold your breath.
At the end of this time, you start to lose 1 FP per second. At 0 FP, you must make a Will roll every second or fall unconscious, and are likely to die unless you are rescued. See Suffocation for details.