Debris Shoal
A debris shoal is a field of fragments from a battle, a collision or a failed station, still holding its orbit. Salvage crews work shoals, and other ship traffic goes around them.
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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Free fall, where there is no down, no moving body stops on its own, and a missed handhold leaves a creature adrift.
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Movement
Moving requires a surface to push from. A creature with nothing in reach continues in the direction it last moved until it reaches something.
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Changing course
Changing direction mid-drift requires a DC 12 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. On a failure the creature continues as it was.
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Melee
An unanchored melee attack has disadvantage and pushes the attacker 10 feet away from the target after it resolves.
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No falling
There is no up, no down and no falling damage. A creature cannot be knocked Prone, and the Prone condition does not apply.
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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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Ship scale
A vessel inside a shoal makes a DC 15 Piloting check each round or takes 2d10 hull damage.
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Personal scale
A creature on foot in a suit treats the shoal as difficult terrain, with full cover available in any direction.
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Salvage
The wreckage belonged to someone, and each shoal holds salvage worth the trip.
Built for this
- Mech Pilot Subclass