Asteroid Belt
A ring of rubble that never accreted, usually between an inner and an outer world. Bodies average hundreds of thousands of kilometers apart, so a belt is far emptier than the popular picture of a hazard course. The danger in a belt is that a powered-down vessel hiding among the bodies is almost impossible to find.
Exposure
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No pressure and no air to breathe, with survival measured in rounds.
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Countdown
Without a seal, a creature holds out for a number of rounds equal to its Constitution modifier, minimum 1. At the end of that time its hit points drop to -1, unless they are already lower, and it is dying. It cannot be stabilized or regain hit points until it can breathe.
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Decompressed
Exposure inflicts the Decompressed condition, which a return to pressure does not by itself remove.
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Holding your breath
Holding a breath in vacuum ruptures the lungs. A creature that does so takes 2d6 damage on the first round and gains no benefit from the attempt.
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Sound
Sound does not travel. Verbal spell components, shouted orders and Perception by hearing all fail across open vacuum. Suit comms and touch are the only channels.
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Unfiltered light
Without air to filter it, the star's output arrives unreduced. An hour of unshielded exposure in direct sunlight counts as a failed Contaminated Atmosphere save against radiological dose.
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Gravity below about 0.4g, where a push-off sends a creature farther than expected and stopping takes planning.
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Movement
Ground movement is normal, but any push-off sends the creature farther. A creature that Dashes continues an extra 10 feet in the same direction at the end of its turn unless it spends 5 feet stopping.
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Melee
A melee attack made without an anchor point pushes the attacker 5 feet away from the target after the attack resolves.
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Jumps and falls
Jump distances are tripled and falling damage is halved. A fall of under 40 feet does none.
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Carrying capacity
Carrying capacity is tripled. Mass is unchanged, so anything being carried is as hard to start and stop as it is at normal gravity.
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Mag boots
Magnetic boots or a tether remove every entry above while a ferrous surface is underfoot, at the cost of half movement.
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In play
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Empty
Crossing a belt poses no piloting hazard. Bodies sit too far apart to matter unless someone has arranged them close together.
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Hidden vessels
Sensor checks to locate a powered-down vessel among the bodies have disadvantage and fail entirely beyond Long range.
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Claims
Each rock is claimed individually by filing, with no physical boundary. Most belt violence is over the filing.
Built for this
- Circle of the Void Subclass