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Wilderness Exploration and Navigation
Exploration
The Map
There is a large map of the Ohm Basin visible in the Foundry divided into hexes. Each hex represents an area approximately 3 miles (5 kilometers) across.While the current map offers some information on the Ohm Basin's geography, it is far from complete. The map shows the hexes surrounding town, as well as any that have been successfully added by adventuring parties. Players can add hexes to the map during downtime while exploring.
Gear
Parties traveling through the wilderness are assumed to possess a fair amount of gear. The rules assume a character has a bedroll, a tent during rainy days, supplies for making fire, and appropriate clothing for the terrain. Realistically, gear may wear out when traveling for 8 hours a day: shoes wear through, clothes, bedrolls, and tents need to be mended, trail rations go bad unexpectedly, straps break on backpacks, and so on. Rather than tracking supplies down to the individual thimble, parties and Dungeon Masters may agree to an abstract gear rating for the party. Each player adds an item of weight X to their character sheet (which may be shared or shifted to pack animals) and the party records a party gear rating, which typically starts at 5. Parties may spend gold when setting out to begin the session with a larger gear rating, which represents paying to have equipment mended and maintained.
During certain events, parties may be asked to roll a gear check to test the quality of gear on hand. On a failure, the gear rating decreases by 1. Parties with a gear rating of 1 or less must make fortitude saves against fatigue/exhaustion each day when making camp.
Pack Animals
Pack animals typically may only travel through flat terrain or terrain with trails, roads, or highways. A typical horse eats 25 pounds of hay per day, so parties typically rely on grazing during downtime to feed pack animals. Parties with more packs animals than characters also require additional care.
A party with a large number of pack animals, or a party with any pack animals in non-flat or trackless terrain must make a Handle Animal check when attempting to travel, explore, or search. Consult the Pack Animals Exploration DC table to the relevant DC. Failure to pass the Handle Animal Check results in either abandonment of the pack animal or stopping the chosen party action.
Certain pack animals have Extraordinary Abilities relevant to exploration not listed in the Bestiaries. For example, goats may forage in any terrain and pass through hills or mountains without additional checks or DCs.
Blessing of Cyrune (aka “Fast Travel”)
By making a special offering and heartfelt prayers to Cyrune, a party may pay gold equal to the summed level of each character in the party per hex to safely travel to a previously visited site without any encounters or the usual wilderness travel rules. Cyrune’s blessing only works when specifying a site as the destination. For example, “the edge Mirkwood” would not be a valid destination, but “Barrow’s Maw” or “the entrance to the Stairs of Doom” would.
The Blessing of Cyrune never removes carrying capacity limits. Mortals seeking to maximize every last pound of their capacity by taking advantage of Cyrune’s blessing had best familiarize themselves with the ancient tales of hubris.
Terminology
Average Encounter Level (AEL)
The map is divided into regions, each of which has its own Average Encounter Level (AEL). AEL is used to assign DCs and XP rewards for various activities in the region.
Expeditions solely for the purpose of mapping, exploring, or other overland activities are generally treated as having an ECL equal to the AEL of the destination region. That being said, ECL restrictions tend to be more lax for mapping expeditions.
Bell
During wilderness exploration, time is measured by the three bells: morning, afternoon, and night. Each bell corresponds to roughly eight hours of time.
Hex
The map is divided into hexes, each representing an area about 3 miles (5 kilometers) across. Every hex has an exploration DC based on the AEL of the region it is located in.
Navigator
The Navigator is a designated player who makes all of the party's navigation checks. Generally, this is the party member with the highest bonus to either Knowledge (Geography) or Survival.
Spotlight Player
The spotlight player may be chosen at random by the Dungeon Master, and is encouraged to be rotated through the list of players. For expediency, groups should avoid making a committee decision on each and every action when in the wilderness. During random encounters and events, interactions focusing on a single character will mainly feature the spotlight player.
The Adventuring Day
An adventuring day is 3 bells long: morning, afternoon*, and night† .
The party can perform one Wilderness Action each bell.
At the start of a day, the spotlight player may decides which actions the party will take. If the spotlight player's plan for the day does not include camping, the other party members may replace an action with camp.
*Rations are always decreased at the beginning of the afternoon bell (even if you eat in the morning or at night).
† Creatures without darkvision take a -2 penalty to wilderness exploration checks at night unless they are camping.
Overexertion
Traveling without rest can be dangerous. If you explore, navigate, or travel more than once before camping, you will incur forced march penalties.
If the party did not camp the day before, everyone becomes exhausted at morning bell. If the party goes two days without camping, they must make a DC 20 will or fortitude save at the start of every bell or fall unconcious for 2d12 hours. On a successful save, the DC increases by 5. Players who fail the save cannot be woken up for the first half of their unconciousness.
Routines
Planning out each day individually can be very tedious and time consuming; most parties choose to follow a routine instead. Routines are set actions the party takes every day while on an expedition. The party may end their routine at any time.
Any set of wilderness actions can be made into a routine. A few common routines are outlined below
Journey
Navigate towards a set destination
Morning: Navigate
Afternoon: Downtime (Resting unless otherwise stated)
Night: Camp
Cartography Crawl
A routine for mapping hexes
Morning: Explore
Afternoon: Downtime (Cartographer is assumed to be mapping)
Night: Camp
Dedicated Search
Look for a person or point of interest
Morning: Explore
Afternoon: Downtime (everyone seeks)
Night: Camp
Quick Reference
- At the start of each day, Dungeon Master consults the Random Encounter Table for the current map region
- If there are random encounters or events, roll a d3 for each to determine the bell when each occurs.
- Dungeon Master may optionally roll for weather.
- At the start of each bell, the spotlight player chooses an action for the group from the following list:
- Navigate to a new hex
- Travel through a mapped region
- Explore the nearby area
- Stop for Downtime
- Camp for the night
- Suspend exploration
- Track if the current bell is first, second, or third.
- Performing any activity other than Camp on the third bell may incur penalties for fatigue/exhaustion and lack of light.
- On the second bell, decrease food for the day.
You may also choose to follow one of the example routines
Journey
Navigate towards a set destination
Morning: Navigate
Afternoon: Downtime (Resting unless otherwise stated)
Night: Camp
Cartography Crawl
A routine for mapping hexes
Morning: Explore
Afternoon: Downtime (Cartographer is assumed to be mapping)
Night: Camp
Dedicated Search
Look for a person or point of interest
Morning: Explore
Afternoon: Downtime (everyone seeks)
Night: Camp
Feats
Animal Companion Feats
Animal companions do not benefit from the accelerated feat progression houserule. They gain feats at first level and every third level, as normal.
You may change the feats (though not the bonus feats) of any companion of yours, such as an Animal Companion, Special Mount, or an animal you own and train with the Handle Animal skill. They may be retrained just like feats on PCs. Any replacement feats must be chosen from the list of approved companion feats. Other feats may be approved by a Dungeon Master on a case-by-case basis.
Casting Feats
Feats that allow characters to cast spells or manifest powers (Hidden Talent, Collegiate Wizard, Precocious Apprentice, etc) are allowed.
You do not count as knowing a 2nd-level spell for the purposes of qualifying for Prestige Classes and other options with the Precocious Apprentice feat.
Dodge
When you take the Dodge feat, you may choose one of the two effects:
- The feat grants a flat +1 dodge bonus to AC against all opponents. If you have another feat or ability that acts as a rider on your dodge target, you must still designate a specific creature for that rider-effect.
- The feat works normally, but provides a +2 bonus to AC instead of the normal +1.
Endurance
A character with the Endurance feat can also sleep in heavy armor without penalty.
Extra Turning
Extra Turning applies to only one type of turning.
Monkey Grip
The penalty on attack rolls when using Monkey Grip depends on the size you wield weapons as. A medium-sized creature takes a -2 penalty, a large-sized creature takes a -4, a huge-sized creature a -8, a gargantuan-sized creature a -16, and a colossal one -32. A small-sized creature only takes a -1 penalty on attack rolls, and a tiny or smaller creature takes no penalty at all.
Powerful Build and similar features make you count as one size category larger for the purposes of wielding weapons also increases the penalty you take accordingly.
Rapid Reload
A character with this feat can reload a Musket or a Revolver as a Move Action.
Superior Unarmed Strike
You may take the Superior Unarmed Strike feat from Tome of Battle. A monk who takes this feat's effective monk level increases by up to four (but cannot be higher than the monk's total hit dice) for the purposes of calculating the monk's unarmed strike damage.
Toughness and Improved Toughness
The Toughness feat grants you 3 hit points or hit points equal to your level, whichever is higher. The Improved Toughness feat is superseded by this and so does not exist. You may still take the Toughness feat multiple times, but each additional feat grants only 3 bonus hit points.
Weapon Specific Feats and Weapon Groups
When taking a feat that requires a character to choose a specific weapon to apply the feat's benefit to (such as Improved Critical, Weapon Focus, or Weapon Specialization), you may instead choose a group of similar weapons to apply the benefits of this feat to.
This rule does not apply to feats that grant weapon proficiency, however. Feats such as martial or exotic weapon proficiency still require you to pick a specific weapon.
Examples of valid weapon groups are listed below. If you obtain a weapon that is not listed as part of one of these weapon groups, a DM can help you find or create an appropriate weapon group.
Axes
handaxe, battleaxe, greataxe, and dwarven waraxe
Blades, Light
dagger, punching dagger, rapier, scimitar, and short sword.
Blades, Heavy
bastard sword, falchion, greatsword, longsword.
Bows
shortbow, longbow, composite shortbow, and composite longbow.
Crossbows
heavy crossbow, light crossbow, repeating heavy crossbow, and repeating light crossbow.
Greatweapons
greataxe, greatclub, and greatsword.
Impaling Weapons
lance, javelin, spear, shortspear, longspear, and trident.
Maces and Clubs
club, light mace, heavy mace, and greatclub.
Peasant Weapons
club, quarterstaff, sickle, scythe, and sling.
Picks and Hammers
light pick, heavy pick, light hammer, warhammer, and maul
Polearms
glaive, guisarme, halberd, ranseur, and scythe.
Swords
short sword, longsword, bastard sword, and greatsword.
Races
The following races have been changed from their counterparts in the core materials.
Gray Elf
Gray elves have the following bonuses in addition to the standard elf traits:
- +2 Intelligence. This is in addition to the standard high elf ability score increases.
- Spell-Like Abilities: Gray elves can use the following spell-like ability once per day: magic weapon. Caster level equals the gray elf’s class levels.
- +2 racial bonus on Will saves against spells and spell-like abilities.
- +2 racial bonus on Craft checks.
- Favored Class: Wizard.
- Level Adjustment: +1.
Sun Elf
Sun elves have the following bonuses in addition to the standard elf bonuses:
- +2 Strength, +2 Intelligence. This is in addition to the standard elf ability score increases.
- Sun elves gain Skill Focus as a bonus feat.
- Favored Class: Wizard.
- Level Adjustment: +1.
Drow (Dark Elf)
Female drow may choose to gain a +2 bonus to Wisdom rather than Intelligence.
Blue (Psionic Goblin)
Blues gain a +2 bonus to Dexterity and do not receive a penalty to Charisma.
Hobgoblin
Hobgoblins have the following statistics:
- +2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, -2 Wisdom. Hobgoblins are fast and hardy, but relatively weak of will.
- A hobgoblin's base land speed is 30 feet.
- Darkvision out to 60 feet.
- +4 racial bonus on Move Silently checks.
- Automatic Languages: Common and Goblin. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Gnome, Elven, Orc, and Infernal.
- Favored Class: Fighter. A multiclass hobgoblin's fighter class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
- Level Adjustment: +0
Skills
Iaijutsu Focus
Iajutsu Focus not a skill. Instead, it is a Samurai class feature. The Samurai's bonus to iaijutsu focus is equal to their Samurai level plus their Charisma modifier.
With DM permission, thematically-similar prestiege classes may be allowed to stack with your samurai level when calculating your bonus.
Use Psionic Device
Any class with Use Magic Device as a class skill also has Use Psionic Device as a class skill.
Spells
Bestow Curse
Players may not use the “50% chance to miss turn” option of Bestow Curse
Detect Alignment
Spells that detect alignment can only detect the alignment of a non-Cleric, non-Undead, non-Outsider if they have at least 5 hit dice.
Entangle
A creature can break free of an entangle spell by dealing a cumulative 10 points of damage to the plants, which have a hardness of 5 (bypassed by fire and slashing damage). This spell has no effect in an area without enough nearby plants to entangle a creature.
Grease
A creature standing within grease does not need to make a balance check to avoid falling prone in reaction to taking damage. A creature that is prone in grease can use a move action to crawl 5 feet, with no chance of failure. In addition, a creature standing on grease can move into an adjacent, non-greased square at half its speed without needing to make a check or save (this first square of movement is still at half speed). A creature is only considered “in the grease” if all of its spaces are greased; thus, a Huge or larger creature is never affected by grease under ordinary circumstances.
Limitations on Polymoprhing
Polymorph spells tend to have balance issues because they can give access to many different “solutions” within a single spell. DMs have final say on whether you can take a given form, and may change their answer depending on what you want to do with it. For example, a DM will probably veto you turning the Rogue into an octopus so they can make eight sneak attacks, but would probably be fine with you turning yourself into an octopus just to breath underwater. Using alter self to turn into obscure humanoids with special abilities (especially flight) is specifically banned.
Creatures under the effect of a polymorph spell or similar effect cannot cast spells, and cannot benefit from the effects of any beneficial buff spells.
Limitations on Summoning
Summoning spells tend to have balance issues because they can give access to many different “solutions” within a single spell. DMs have final say on whether you can summon a given creature for a particular task. For example, a DM will probably veto you summoning a Thoqqua to melt down a stone door, but would probably be fine with you just summoning it to fight an enemy.
Reduced-Cost Metamagic
Features which reduce the cost of applying a metamagic feat to a spell do not stack. Metamagic cost reduction feats do not work on magic items and cannot be used in conjunction with Divine Metamagic or similar features.
Additionally, the pre-reduction level of the spell with metamagic applied cannot be higher than the highest level of spell your character can cast.
Reincarnate
The material component cost of the reincarnate spell is 3,000 gp instead of 1,000.
System
Critical Failures
When you roll a natural 1 on your first attack roll during a turn, confirm the attack as if it were a critical hit. If this confirmation fails, the attack is a critical miss. Roll a d8, and consult the following table. Many DMs do not use this houserule; never roll unless asked to.
| d8 | Result |
|---|---|
| 1 | The attack hits yourself |
| 2 | The attack hits an ally within range. If there are no allies within range, reroll. |
| 3 | Your weapon gets stuck in the wall or ground, and you must use a standard action to pull it free. If your weapon is a ranged weapon that uses ammunition, its string breaks (or it jams if it is a firearm), and you must use a standard action to restring or unjam it. |
| 4 | You overextend yourself, granting a +4 circumstance bonus on any attacks against you for the next round. |
| 5 | You drop your weapon and fall prone. |
| 6 | You provoke an attack of opportunity from each creature that can reach you. If there are no hostile creatures within range, reroll. |
| 7 | You temporarily injure yourself and take a -4 penalty on attck rolls until the end of your next turn. |
| 8 | A strange, unrelated event occurs. Its exact nature is up to the DM's discretion. |
Magic-Psionics Transparency
The game assumes full magic-psionics transparency. Spells, powers, and effects that affect magic/spells also affect psionics/powers, and vice-versa.
Polymorphing
Creatures under the effect of a polymorph spell or similar effect (including Wild Shape) cannot cast spells, and cannot benefit from the effects of any beneficial buff spells.
Druids with Wild Shape may still benefit from a small subset of spells.
Out of Game
Game Summaries
If a party member writes a recap of an adventure in the Game Summaries channel, every member of the expedition gains 10 XP per character level.
GM Points
Every adventure run by a DM earns them 10 “GM Points”. Each GM point can be redeemed for either of the following:
- 10 × level XP (1% of a level-up)
- 20 × level GP (20 gp/level)
DMs may also earn GM Points by performing clerical tasks, such as importing classes and monsters into foundry.