¶ Weather & Seasons 
"The land breathes, the skies rage, and Narumer changes with each passing season. Only those who learn to endure its moods will thrive."
¶ How It Works
Across Narumer, weather and seasons are not just background flavor. They are living forces that shape your journey. From blistering heat to bone-freezing blizzards, the environment itself can become an adversary.
Weather is determined by a mix of seasonal cycles and regional climates. What is safe in the Mistwoods may be deadly in the Coldlands, and a warm summer day in the South may quickly turn into a heat wave.
Seasons follow a full cycle: Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn. Each brings unique challenges and opportunities. Moon phases also shift over time, influencing the world in subtle but meaningful ways.
¶ Weather & Season Interaction with Spawns
The world of Narumer is alive, and its creatures shift with the seasons and the skies. Both weather and season play a direct role in what spawns, where they appear, and how dangerous they become.
For example, during heavy fog, Mist Wolves will quickly replace ordinary wolves. These hunters are fiercer, faster, and far more dangerous than their common cousins.
Each season reshapes the challenges you face, and weather layers new threats on top of them. A path that feels safe in summer may be treacherous in winter, and a gentle rain might give way to a storm that drives stronger predators into your path. What spawns, how many appear, and how they behave will change depending on the seasonal cycle and the weather at that moment, ensuring that things remain fresh and interesting.
¶ Weather Effects
Weather is more than visual atmosphere. It directly impacts characters:
- Visibility and Movement
- Fog, storms, and blizzards can obscure sight and make movement difficult.
- Rain and snow may slow progress or hinder skills.
- Interference
- Harsh winds, heavy rain, or magical storms can reduce concentration and sight.
- Some conditions may increase spell failure, disrupt stealth, or impose penalties on physical skills.
- Weather with heavy wind can cause a miss chance to ranged attacks, up to 100% in extreme conditions.
- Damage Over Time
- Cold weather: Snow, ice, and blizzards sap warmth and cause freezing damage.
- Heat waves: Intense sun and dry air can dehydrate and burn.
- Acid rain: Corrosive downpours strip away armor and flesh alike.
- Magical storms: Wild magic storms and malevolent weather cause unpredictable harm, from lightning strikes to arcane backlash.
Not all weather is purely harmful. Gentle breezes, light rain, and starlit nights create breathing room and safe travel conditions.
¶ Seasons of Narumer
Each season brings its own atmosphere and effects:
- Winter – Bitter cold dominates, snowstorms and blizzards are common. Players without warmth may suffer frostbite or freezing damage.
- Spring – A time of growth, but also heavy rains and flooding. Fog and storms are frequent, masking both dangers and opportunities.
- Summer – The land bakes in the sun. Heat waves and droughts test endurance, and sudden thunderstorms strike without warning.
- Autumn – Winds grow sharper, leaves fall, and the air carries both chill and decay. Crops weaken, and storms herald the coming winter.
Moon phases follow a repeating cycle across seasons, sometimes bringing eerie light, supernatural tides, or strange encounters under rare skies.
¶ Surviving the Weather
The people of Narumer know that gear and preparation make the difference between life and death:
- Clothing and Armor – Furs, wool, and layered garments provide warmth in winter, while lighter materials help endure the summer heat. Metal armor may be dangerous in lightning storms.
- Campfires and Shelter – Resting by fire restores warmth and helps resist cold. Staying indoors shields from most environmental effects.
- Constitution and Endurance – Stronger characters can endure harsh conditions longer, while the frail risk collapse.
- Magic and Tools – Spells and items may counteract nature’s bite, from resisting flame to shielding against acid rains.
Naked or unprepared travelers are particularly vulnerable. Exposure can quickly turn fatal.
¶ Warmth & Frostbite
When regional temperatures fall to 0°C or below, the cold becomes a direct threat. Rather than instant HP damage, the environment drains your Warmth — a meter that ranges from 0 to 100 and acts as a buffer between you and freezing to death.
Your warmth bar appears on the HTF panel whenever you are in a freezing region or your warmth is below 100.
¶ Cold Damage
Every tick (+/- 30 seconds), the weather rolls cold damage based on temperature and conditions:
| Condition | Damage |
|---|---|
| 0°C to -15°C | 1d6 |
| -16°C and below | 2d6 |
| Snow, foggy snow, or cold snap | +1d6 |
| Blizzard | +2d6 |
| Nighttime | +2 |
| No chest armor | +4 |
Cold damage rolled in the Center region is halved.
Your equipment warmth (from cold-resistant gear) reduces this damage before it reaches your warmth bar. If your gear exceeds the damage by 5 or more, you actually regain warmth equal to the excess.
Any damage that gets through your gear hits your warmth bar at a 2× rate — so 6 points of net cold damage drains 12 warmth. Once the warmth bar is empty, remaining damage goes straight to your HP.
¶ Warmth Status
You can view your current warmth on your character sheet as:
Warmth: ## (Status)
-
## is your Warmth Factor.
- For every 10 points of Warmth, you reduce incoming cold damage by 1.
-
Status reflects how your warmth compares to the current environmental conditions.
Your status will change dynamically based on the severity of the area and your equipment.
| Condition | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Safe | Your warmth exceeds the area's maximum cold damage by at least 5. You will steadily regenerate lost warmth. |
| Comfortable | Your warmth is high enough to prevent cold damage, but you will not regenerate lost warmth. |
| Exposed | You may take minor cold damage. Your warmth will slowly drain over time. |
| Dangerous | You are at risk of significant cold damage each tick. Your warmth can drop rapidly. |
| Deadly | You are in extreme danger. Without shelter, a campfire, or warmer gear, death is likely. |
Tip: If your status drops below Comfortable, consider improving your gear, building a campfire, or seeking shelter immediately.
¶ Frostbite
Once your warmth bar is depleted and cold damage begins hitting your HP, each tick carries a 25% chance of inflicting a frostbite condition — one of the following, chosen at random:
- 🧊 Increased vulnerability to cold damage
- 🔥 Increased vulnerability to fire damage
- 🛡️ −1 Armor Class
- ⚔️ −1 Attack Bonus
Frostbite conditions stack. The longer you remain exposed with no warmth, the more debilitated you become.
If your HP drops to half or below, cold weather can no longer damage your health directly — but you are instead guaranteed a frostbite condition every tick. The cold may not kill you outright, but it will cripple you if you stay exposed.
All frostbite conditions are removed the moment your warmth bar returns to 100.
¶ Recovering Warmth
Warmth regenerates naturally when you are in a warm area (above freezing) or indoors. Standing near a player-made campfire doubles your recovery rate.
¶ Warmth Factor
Your equipment's warmth rating still determines how much cold damage is negated each tick. The higher your warmth factor, the more punishment you can shrug off — and with enough protection, you will regenerate warmth even in freezing conditions.
Special rules:
- Being naked imposes a +4 raw damage penalty per tick, making survival nearly impossible.
- Standing near a player-made campfire grants a +100 warmth bonus to your equipment rating.
¶ Special Events
Some weather is rare, but unforgettable:
- Blizzard – Howling winds knock travelers from their feet.
- Thunderstorm – Lightning crashes unpredictably, striking the land and anyone in the open.
- Blood Rain – The sky weeps crimson, weakening the spirit and mind.
- Wild Magic Storm – Spells twist unpredictably, often failing or rebounding.
- Meteor Shower – The heavens themselves fall, creating awe and destruction.
- Solar Eclipse – Day turns to night, unsettling beasts and adventurers alike.
- Malevolent Storms – The skies themselves seem to have a particular vengeance for anything living.
- More – Special weather related events are not limited to those listed above.
These events are unpredictable and always dangerous.
¶ Persistence
Weather is not fleeting. Weather patterns persist through temperature and humidity values that persist between resets to try and make the changes to weather make sense between the different weather types.
- Conditions evolve naturally. A drizzle may grow into a storm, or a storm may break into calm skies.
- Regions remember their weather until it passes.
- Over time the world shifts gradually from one season to the next, affecting every adventurer.