Cometary Halo
Loosely bound ice at the edge of a star's influence, where the system's sun is only the brightest star in the sky. Volatiles are free here to anyone willing to make the trip. The Axiom Combine has fabricators in several halos and has not checked on them in a decade.
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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Temperatures below about zero degrees Fahrenheit, or any water near freezing, made worse by wind.
CON save, DC 10, rising by 1 for each hour after the first. End of each hour. One level of exhaustion.
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Cold-weather gear
Proper layers, a sealed suit or a heated shelter removes the save. Wet layers give disadvantage on it instead.
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Immersion
A creature in near-freezing water makes the save each minute instead of each hour, and is Incapacitated at three levels of exhaustion.
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Gear
Unheated power cells lose half their charge, and any check made with bare hands after an hour of exposure has disadvantage.
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Adapted
A creature native to a cold world, or with resistance to cold damage, ignores the save.
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In play
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Distance
Bodies are far from each other. A search of a halo takes weeks and is usually abandoned.
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Volatiles
Water, methane and ammonia are free to take. A vessel can refuel and resupply here indefinitely, at the cost of time.
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No jurisdiction
No jurisdiction reaches this far, and anything out here has been left undisturbed.
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No light
Heavily obscured. A creature without darkvision or a light source is Blinded, and a light source is visible to anything that can see at three times its own radius.