[RPG] Are there any rules about taking damage whilst holding your breath in combat

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Can't find any official rules about holding breath in combat in 5e. If there's a poisoned gas in the room, and party is fighting against some creature with poison immunity, like golem, and so this golem smashes one of PC's hard – do this player need to roll something not to lose his breath? It is quite normal in real life to blew all what you've got in your lungs once you get punched. What do you think?

Best Answer

Check out the Suffocating rules

The rules on suffocating can be found in chapter 8 of the PHB, or just in the basic rules such as on D&DBeyond:

A creature can hold its breath for a number of minutes equal to 1 + its Constitution modifier (minimum of 30 seconds).

When a creature runs out of breath or is choking, it can survive for a number of rounds equal to its Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 round). At the start of its next turn, it drops to 0 hit points and is dying, and it can't regain hit points or be stabilized until it can breathe again.

For example, a creature with a Constitution of 14 can hold its breath for 3 minutes. If it starts suffocating, it has 2 rounds to reach air before it drops to 0 hit points.

In your case, the DM can make a ruling

However, the above does not cover your specific situation. If you take damage whilst holding your breath, the rules are silent on whether the creature damaged should suffer any penalty with regards to holding their breath.

One of D&D 5e's mantras is "rulings, not rules", and this is one such case for that. As a DM (I'm assuming you're the DM in this scenario?), you could come up with a ruling for this situation; I would suggest something like a CON save with some penalty for failing, such as losing 30 seconds worth of holding your breath, or even just "you aren't holding your breath anymore". But such a ruling at that point would be something the DM would come up with on-the-fly (although, once such a ruling has been made, it's best to be consistent with it henceforth in the interests of fairness).