Beyond Ragnarok : Wilderness exploration & travel

Old World» Wilderness exploration & travel

Rules for overland travel, and navigating and surviving in the wilderness.

Timekeeping

A watch is the basic unit for tracking time. A watch is equal to 4 hours.

Characters who are traveling overland typically march for two watches (8 hours), spend two watches resting, and spend the other two watches foraging or engaging in other activities. (These are called travel watches, rest watches, and active watches, respectively.)

Rest

Most humanoids need at least 6 hours of sleep per day-night cycle, of which 4 must be continuous. (Typically, a character either sleeps for 2 watches, if possible, or sleeps for 1 watch during the party’s rest period and gets the remaining 2 hours or so of daily sleep as naps during active watches when he is not engaged in other activity.)

Characters who have not had sufficient sleep over the preceding day-night cycle automatically become fatigued. Sleeping for 8 hours removes this fatigue.

Sleep & healing

Sleeping for at least 8 continuous hours is required in order to regain lost hit points through natural healing. (This also applies to eliminating fatigue, regaining ability score points lost to ability damage, and all other benefits of natural healing.) A full 24 hours of complete bed rest, including a full night’s sleep, doubles a character’s natural healing for that day.

Sleep & arcane spellcasters

Arcane spellcasters require 8 continuous hours of sleep to regain expended spell slots. If an arcane spellcaster’s sleep period is interrupted, this adds 1 hour to the total time he must spend sleeping that night to regain spell slots; and he must sleep for at least 1 uninterrupted hour prior to preparing spells (if a prepared spellcaster) or refreshing spell slots (if a spontaneous spellcaster).

Rest schedule examples

Examples of how rest watches might be arranged, given various party composition scenarios:

Alice and Bob, fighters: Alice stands watch for 1 rest watch, while Bob sleeps; then Bob stands watch for 1 rest watch, while Alice sleeps. Total resting time is 2 watches (8 hours).

Alice and Bob, fighters; Carol, wizard: Alice stands watch for 1 rest watch, while Bob and Carol sleep; then Bob stands watch for 1 rest watch, while Alice and Carol sleep. Carol has gotten her 8 hours of continuous sleep needed to regain arcane spell slots. Total resting time is 2 watches (8 hours).

Bob, fighter; Carol and Dave, wizards: Carol stands watch for 1 rest watch, while Bob and Dave sleep; then Bob stands watch for 1 rest watch, while Carol and Dave sleep; then Dave stands watch for 1 rest watch, while Carol sleeps. (Bob may also sleep during this third watch, but does not have to; as he has already gotten his 4 hours of continuous sleep for the day, he needs only 2 more hours of sleep, at any time during that day, to avoid fatigue.) Carol and Dave have both gotten their 8 hours of continuous sleep needed to regain arcane spell slots. Total resting time is 3 watches (8 hours).

Carol and Dave, wizards: Carol stands watch for 2 rest watches, while Dave sleeps; then Dave stands watch for 2 rest watches, while Carol sleeps. Carol and Dave have both gotten their 8 hours of continuous sleep needed to regain arcane spell slots. Total resting time is 4 watches (8 hours).

Eve, wizard: Eve sleeps for 8 hours. She does not wake up, because, with no one to guard her as she sleeps, Eve has been eaten by a grue.

Travel

Speed & distance traveled

Overland Movement
	10 ft.	15 ft.	20 ft.	30 ft.	40 ft.	50 ft.	60 ft.
1 hour (walk)	1 mi.	1.5 mi.	2 mi.	3 mi.	4 mi.	5 mi.	6 mi.
1 hour (hustle)	2 mi.	3 mi.	4 mi.	6 mi.	8 mi.	10 mi.	12 mi.
1 watch (4 hours)	4 mi.	6 mi.	8 mi.	12 mi.	16 mi.	20 mi.	24 mi.
1 march (8 hours)	8 mi.	12 mi.	16 mi.	24 mi.	32 mi.	40 mi.	48 mi.

Hustle: A character can hustle for 1 hour. Hustling for a second hour between sleep cycles deals 1 point of nonlethal damage, and each additional hour deals twice the damage taken during the previous hour of hustling. A character who takes any nonlethal damage from hustling becomes fatigued. Eliminating the nonlethal damage also eliminates the fatigue.

Mounts: Mounts carrying riders at a hustle suffer lethal damage instead of nonlethal damage.

March: A character can march at walking speed for 8 hours (two watches) between sleep cycles.

Forced March: For each hour of marching beyond 8 hours, a character must make a Constitution check (DC 10, +2 per extra hour). If the check fails, the characters takes 1d6 points of nonlethal damage. A character who takes any nonlethal damage from a forced march becomes fatigued. Eliminating the nonlethal damage also eliminates the fatigue.

Mounts: Mounts carrying riders in a forced march automatically fail their Constitution checks and suffer lethal damage instead of nonlethal damage.

Modes of travel

Characters may travel in different ways, depending on their goals and concerns.

Normal: No modifiers.

Hustling: Characters are assumed to be moving quickly in any watch during which they hustle. Navigation DCs increase by +4 while hustling.

Cautiously: While moving cautiously, characters are being deliberately careful. Movement is at 3⁄4 normal speed. Navigation DCs are reduced by −4. The chance to be surprised by unexpected encounters is halved. The characters may make Stealth checks to avoid pursuit.

Exploring: While exploring, characters are assumed to be trying out side trails, examining objects of interest, and so forth. Movement is at 1⁄2 normal speed. The chance to locate points or locations of interest is doubled.

Note: It is possible to move cautiously while exploring. All modifiers (including to movement speed) apply, and are cumulative.

Travel Speed
Terrain	Road/Trail	Trackless
Desert	×1⁄2	×1⁄2
Steppe	×1⁄2	×1⁄2
Forest (sparse)	×1	×1⁄2
Forest (medium)	×1	×1⁄2
Forest (dense)	×1	×1⁄2
Hills	×3⁄4	×1⁄2
Jungle	×3⁄4	×1⁄4
Moor	×1	×3⁄4
Mountains	×3⁄4	×1⁄2
Plains	×1	×3⁄4
Swamp	×3⁄4	×1⁄2
Tundra, frozen	×3⁄4	×3⁄4

Travel Speed Condition Modifiers
Conditions	Speed Modifier
Cold or hot climate	×3⁄4
Giant terrain	×3⁄4
Hurricane	×1⁄10
Leading mount	×3⁄4
Poor visibility (fog, darkness)	×1⁄2
River crossing	×3⁄4
Snow cover	×1⁄2
Snow cover, heavy	×1⁄4
Storm	×3⁄4
Storm, powerful	×1⁄2

Terrain

The type of terrain modifies the speed at which the characters can travel; see Table: Travel Speed.

Road: A road is a dirt track or similar causeway.

Trail: A trail is like a road, but allows only single-file travel. A trail in poor repair requires a DC 12 navigation check to follow.

Trackless: Trackless terrain is a wild area with no paths. +2 to navigation DCs.

Conditions

Weather or other conditions affect travel speed; see Table: Travel Speed Condition Modifiers.

Poor visibility also increases the DC of navigation checks by +4 and forage checks by +2 (see Table: Navigation DC Modifiers and Table: Forage DC Modifiers).

In general, you can either navigate through the wilderness by landmark or you can navigate by compass direction.

Generally speaking, it’s trivial to follow a road, river, or any other natural feature of the terrain. It’s similarly easy to head towards any visible landmark. The landmark or terrain feature will determine the route of travel and there’s no chance of becoming lost.

A Survival check may be needed to identify an ambiguous or unfamiliar landmark.

Characters trying to move in a specific direction through the wilderness must make a navigation check using their Survival skill once per watch to avoid becoming lost.

Becoming lost

Characters who fail the navigation check become lost and veer away from their intended direction of travel. The new actual direction of travel is determined by the DM.

Recognizing that you’re lost

Once per watch, a lost character can attempt a Survival check against the navigation DC of the terrain to recognize that they are no longer certain of their direction of travel.

Characters who encounter a clear landmark or unexpectedly enter a distinctly new type of terrain can make an additional Survival check to realize that they’ve become lost.

Note: Some circumstances may make it obvious to the characters that they have become lost without requiring any check.

Reorienting

A character who realizes that they’ve become lost has several options for re-orienting themselves.

Backtracking: A lost character can follow their own tracks (in the same manner as tracking creatures normally). While tracking allows them to retrace their steps, they must still recognize the point at which they went off-track. If a character is successfully backtracking, they may make a Survival check each watch (using the navigation DC of the terrain). If the check is successful, they’ll correctly recognize whether they were previously on-track or off-track. If the check is a failure, they have a 75% chance of reaching the wrong conclusion.

Compass Direction: It requires a Survival check (DC 12) to determine true north without a compass or similar device.

Setting a New Course: A lost character can attempt to precisely determine the direction they should be traveling in order to reach their desired objective by making a Survival check (navigation DC of the terrain + 10). If the character fails the check, they immediately become lost.

Sustenance & foraging

Food & water

Food: A human or similar character requires 1 one-pound ration of food per day. A character can go without food for a 3 days, in growing discomfort. After this time, the character must make a Constitution check each day (DC 10, +1 for each previous check) or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage. A character on half rations of food counts as going one-half of a day without food (and these half days accumulate until they can eat full rations).

Water: A human or similar character requires 1 gallon (about 8 lbs.) of water per day, or twice that in hot weather. A character on a half ration of water must succeed on a Constitution check (DC 10, +2 for each previous check) at the end of each day or take 1d6 points of nonlethal damage. If they drink less water than that, the DC is increased by 5.

Waterskins hold a half-ration (half a gallon, i.e. 4 lbs.) of water.

Effects of starvation & thirst: Characters who have taken nonlethal damage from lack of food or water are fatigued. Nonlethal damage from thirst or starvation cannot be recovered until the character gets food or water, as needed—not even magic that restores hit points heals this damage.

Creatures of different sizes: Small creatures require half as much food and water as described above. Large creatures need quadruple rations, and Tiny creatures require one-quarter rations.

Foraging

Forage DCs
Terrain	Forage DC
Desert (arid)	20
Desert (semi-arid)	18
Steppe	16
Forest (sparse)	14
Forest (medium)	14
Forest (dense)	14
Hills	12
Jungle	14
Moor	16
Mountains	18
Plains	12
Swamp	16
Tundra, frozen	18

Forage DC Modifiers
Circumstance	Modifier
Poor visibility	+2 DC

Characters can forage during an active watch. They can also forage during a travel watch, if traveling at slower pace than normal. (However, foraging is impossible if making Stealth checks to avoid pursuit.)

Foragers make a Survival check against the forage DC of the terrain. (See Table: Forage DCs and Table: Forage DC Modifiers.) On a success, the forager either gains 1 ration of food or finds a source of fresh water (allowing the expedition to drink their daily ration of water and for waterskins to be refilled). (Note: With the DM’s approval, the following method may be used to determine whether food or water is found: an odd number on the die roll means that food is found, while an even number on the die roll means that water is found.)

An additional ration of food or source of fresh water can be found for every 2 points by which the check result exceeds the DC.

In some environments (such as a desert), each source of fresh water discovered via foraging only yields one gallon of water.

Some animals (like horses) can simply graze for sustenance. In an appropriate environment (as determined by the DM), they will be fully fed as long as they are allowed to graze for one watch per day. In an environment where plant growth is scarce (such as a desert), they must graze for two watches per day and it may be necessary to also provide fresh water for them.

Foraging example

Alice is traveling through semi-arid desert terrain, and decides to forage for two active watches.

On the first active watch, Alice makes a Survival check against DC 18; she rolls a 15 on the die, and adds her Survival skill bonus of +7, for a result of 22. This means that she finds 3 rations of food. (Food because the unmodified die roll was odd; 1 ration for a check result at least as high as the DC, and 2 additional rations for exceeding the DC by 4 points.)

On the second active watch, Alice makes another Survival check against DC 18; she rolls a 12 on the die, and adds her Survival skill bonus of +7, for a result of 19. This means that Alice finds a source of fresh water, sufficient to yield 1 gallon of water. (Water because the unmodified die roll was even; just one source of water because the check result did not exceed the DC by 2 points or more; only 1 gallon because Alice is traveling through a terrain type where each source of fresh water yields only a gallon of water.)

Visibility

Sight Distance
Elevation	Distance
6 ft.	3 mi.
10 ft.	4 mi.
50 ft.	9 mi.
100 ft.	12 mi.
400 ft.	24 mi.
900 ft.	36 mi.
1,500 ft.	48 mi.
2,500 ft.	60 mi.
3,500 ft.	72 mi.

The maximum distance at which things may be seen (by characters on the surface of an ordinary world) depends on the height of the observing character, the height of the object to be observed, and any intervening obstructions (whether those be objects which block view, fog, atmospheric haze, or other things).

On Table: Sight Distance, add the height of a distant object to the height of an observing character to determine how far away the character can see the object. (For example, to a Medium-sized humanoid observer, on a flat plain, the horizon is approximately 3 miles away. Note that the distances given on the table assume a clear, bright day, with no obstructions or other complicating circumstances.)

Perception

Perception Modifiers
Circumstance	Modifier
Distance	20 ft.	+2 DC
	40 ft.	+4 DC
	80 ft.	+6 DC
	160 ft.	+8 DC
	320 ft.	+10 DC
	640 ft.	+12 DC
	1⁄4 mi.	+14 DC
	1⁄2 mi.	+16 DC
	1 mi.	+18 DC
	2 mi.	+20 DC
Size (relative to observer)	+4 DC per size category smaller
Size (relative to observer)	−4 DC per size category larger
Illumination	+2 DC for dim light
Illumination	−2 DC for bright light

The Perception check DC to notice an object of your size category, which is adjacent to you, in plain view, in normal light, is 0. See Table: Perception Modifiers for situational adjustments to (visual) Perception checks.

Encounter distance and stealth

The distance at which encounters between characters or creatures (or groups thereof) takes place is affected by terrain. Different terrain types differ in how frequently obstructions occur, in typical atmospheric conditions, in ambient noise levels, and in other ways. These factors also affect how easy it is to employ stealth (i.e., to hide from view and/or to move and act without making noise) in any given environment. Table: Encounter Distance and Stealth summarizes these effects.

Encounter Distance and Stealth
Terrain	Encounter Distance	Notes
Badlands	2d6×10 ft.
Desert	6d6×20 ft.	Lack of undergrowth makes hiding difficult; dunes or rock formations may allow hiding
Desert (dunes)	6d6×10 ft.
Forest (sparse)	3d6×10 ft.	Hiding usually easy; moving silently harder in undergrowth; Perception checks to listen +2 DC per 10 ft., due to ambient noise
Forest (medium)	2d8×10 ft.
Forest (dense)	2d6×10 ft.
Hills (gentle)	2d6×10 ft.	Hiding difficult if no undergrowth around
Hills (rugged)	2d6×10 ft.	Hiding difficult if no undergrowth around; ridges may allow hiding
Jungle	2d6×10 ft.	As dense forest
Moor	2d8×10 ft.	Hiding usually easy; moving silently harder in undergrowth or bogs
Mountains	4d10×10 ft.	Perception checks to listen +1 DC per 20 ft., due to echoes
Plains	6d6×40 ft.
Swamp	6d6×10 ft.	As moor
Tundra, frozen	6d6×20 ft.	Hiding often impossible

Category: Rules

Contents