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Exploration & Travel

Exploration occurs in the wilderness, the dungeon, the city, and anywhere that discoveries can be made. A hallmark of roleplaying games is finding the unknown, solving the unsolvable, and discovering hidden treasures and locations, and filling in the blank places on the map. Oftentimes, these things offer their own reward in terms of treasures, but even empty rooms and gnarly locks can provide a chance for experience and exploration.

Exploration Experience

Exploration experience is only awarded at the end of a quest or encounter, as appropriate. Experience is given when you are done with the dungeon, done traveling between locations, or otherwise at satisfying stopping points in your adventuring.

You cannot gain experience for "Location Hopping," such as casting spells to teleport quickly to new locations. Exploration of the location is required to gain experience.

Take your time to solve, bypass, or otherwise overcome Traps, Locks, and Puzzles to gain additional experience points. Ignoring a puzzle is not bypassing it and avoiding the hall with the trap is not overcoming it (unless you find a clever way of getting what is on the other side).

Exploration Experience Table

Experience Exploration
1 Empty Room
1 Treasure
2 Occupied Room
3 Traps/Locks/Puzzle
5 Hidden Treasure
8 Magic Treasure
10 New Location
20 Hoard
20 Secret Room
25 Hidden Hoard
50 Hidden Location
75 Lost Location
100 New Plane

Some experience is tied together. If you solve the puzzle and get a magic item, experience will be awarded for both. However, if you discover multiple magic items and treasure, you gain hoard experience.

Each character receives the full experience. Thoroughly exploring a large dungeon, even with many empty rooms, can result in a large amount of experience when you finally leave to return to town. And just because a room appears empty, doesn't mean that there isn't hidden treasure or secret room.

Time

Time is tracked as indicated below. Every activity that you undertake, takes time. Time in combat is detailed in the Combat chapter and is here for reference when undertaking various actions while exploring. Spell durations use the narrative units below; spells lasting only a round or an encounter will usually expire while you are exploring.

You should keep these actions in mind when traveling so that you are spending your time wisely. However, rushing can result in a loss of valuable experience that can be won from thoroughly seeing what a location has to offer.

  • Combat Round. 10 seconds.
  • Exploration Round. 10 minutes.
  • Travel Round. 1 hour.

Time Table

Increment Duration Per
Combat Round 10 Seconds 6 Rnds/Minute
Exploration Round 10 Minutes 1 Action/Round
Travel Round 1 Hour 6 Exploration Rounds

Narrative Time

Some effects last for a stretch of the story instead of a count of rounds. The GM sets these boundaries by the shape of the adventure.

  • Encounter. A single fight, negotiation, or scene, from its start until the GM calls it resolved.
  • Adventuring Day. The stretch of active play between rests: a delve, a day's march, an assault on a keep. It runs about 8 hours.
  • Half the Adventuring Day. Either side of the adventure's natural midpoint, such as the halfway point of a dungeon.
  • Downtime. The time each day not spent adventuring or sleeping: about 8 hours, usually in camp. Certain roles can also do downtime work while traveling. Work measured in days of downtime, such as encoding or transcribing a spell, advances one day for each day of downtime spent on it.

Light and Visibility

Light and anything thick in the air limit how well you can see, using the Concealed condition: a creature you can make out only as a shape is Concealed (Tier 1), one you can place only by direction is Tier 2, and one you cannot find at all is Tier 3. Light and haze never conceal a creature within 5 feet of you, except in absolute darkness.

Light. What matters is the light on the creature you are looking at, not the light around you.

  • Light: You see normally. This includes a bright full moon in the open.
  • Ambient light: Too little light for detail, such as a moonless night, the floor of a dense wood, or the fringe of a torch's glow. You can move without stumbling and make out shapes, but not read or see fine detail. A creature in ambient light is Concealed (Tier 1). Where ambient light gives way to darkness, a creature within 5 feet of that edge is Concealed (Tier 2).
  • Absolute darkness: Pitch black. A creature in absolute darkness is Concealed (Tier 3).

Haze. Fog, smoke, dust, and driving rain have a sight range set by the scene, from 5 feet in the thickest smoke to 30 feet or more in a light mist. Within it, creatures are Concealed (Tier 1); within 5 feet of its edge, Tier 2; beyond it, Tier 3. Haze works the same in both directions, and no kind of sight sees through it.

Some peoples see better in the dark; their traits say how.

Group Trials

When the party attempts something together, such as laying an ambush, slipping past a gate, or working out a riddle, one character leads. The leader makes the trial, or sets the DC when others roll against the party. One Helper may assist the leader. No one else adds to the trial: the rest of the party contributes through the plan, such as who scouts the targets, who keeps watch, and who stays out of sight.

The GM judges the plan. A careless plan can raise the DC the leader rolls against, or give Dominance to those rolling against the party. A good plan, or the right tools, does the reverse.

Exploration Roles

Exploring a room, hallway, or section of wall takes a minimum of 1 Exploration Round. Searching substantially larger or particularly dense areas (such as a cluttered great hall or a storeroom packed with crates and barrels) takes multiple Exploration Rounds. * Each member of the party should choose one role while exploring an area. * More than one member of the party can serve in each role. * It is possible to have roles assigned, make trials, and then switch roles. However, a new series of trials means that another Exploration Round has passed, as applicable. * Active Roles (A), such as the Investigator and Smith are completely occupied for the duration, and have a -4 to Startle trials if the Watchman or Scout does not forewarn them of danger.

Healer (A)

Helper (A)

  • You assist another party member with their role.
  • You provide a +2 bonus to any trial made by the character you are helping, or to any DC they set, if applicable. A character benefits from only one Helper at a time.
  • You can only help another Role with a trial your own skills bear on, as determined by the GM.
  • You cannot take on any other role while helping.
  • You cannot help Watchmen.
  • If helping an Active Role, you are also treated as active.

Investigator (A)

Sage (A)

Scout (A)

Smith (A)

  • You tend to weapons and armor for repair. Each item may take more than 1 Exploration Round.
  • Trade Blacksmith to repair armor durability.
  • Trade Blacksmith to repair weapon durability.

Throatcutter (A)

Watchman

  • You keep watch for threats while the party works.
  • Perception trials to detect approaching creatures and ambushes. If your Alertness (Danger Sense) is equal to or higher than the hider's Stealth, you have Dominance on the trial.
  • Lore (applicable Creature Lore) to identify detected threats.

Traveling Roles

A traveling day takes 8 hours. * Each member of the party should choose one role during the course of travel. * Active Roles (A) are fully occupied with their task and have a -4 to Startle trials if not forewarned by the Watchman or Scout. * Active Roles also advance Exhausted by 1 tier if they engage in similar activities while camping.

Healer (A)

  • You tend to wounded or ailing allies on the march.
  • Trade Healer to treat one ally's wounds per the Healer discipline.
  • Trade Healer to treat Tainted or Infected conditions using healing supplies.

Helper (A)

  • You assist another party member with their role.
  • You provide a +2 bonus to any trial made by the character you are helping, or to any DC they set, if applicable. A character benefits from only one Helper at a time.
  • You can only help another Role with a trial your own skills bear on, as determined by the GM.
  • You cannot take on any other role while helping.
  • You cannot help Watchmen.
  • If helping an Active Role, you are also treated as active.

Hunter / Forager (A)

Sage (A)

Scout (A)

Teamster (A)

  • You manage pack animals, donkeys, wagons, and cargo through the day's terrain.
  • Wilderness (Riding) to handle draft and pack animals.
  • Wilderness (Beast Lore) to tend to animal health and behavior on the march.

Watchman

  • You keep watch for threats while the party travels.
  • Perception trials to detect approaching creatures and ambushes. If your Alertness (Danger Sense) is equal to or higher than the hider's Stealth, you have Dominance on the trial.
  • Lore (applicable Creature Lore) to identify detected threats.

Camping Roles

Camping is broken into Resting and Activities. 8 hours are spent resting and 8 hours are spent in activities. Each character can engage in 1 camping role per evening and the effects do not stack. * Each member of the party should choose one role while camping. * More than one member of the party can serve in each role. * Active Roles (A) are fully occupied with their task and have a -4 to Startle trials if not forewarned by the Watchman.

Animal Handler

  • You tend to the party's animals for the evening.
  • Wilderness (Beast Lore) to care for, feed, water, and tend to companion and pack animals.

Camp Camouflage (A)

  • You conceal the camp from detection.
  • Wilderness (Orienteering) to identify a concealed and defensible camping location.
  • Stealth (Sneaking) to camouflage the camp. Those searching for it roll a Perception trial against your Stealth Mastery DC. The GM adjusts any trials against the DC or DC itself for how much there is to hide, such as a large party, horses, or wagons.

Camp Manager (A)

  • You organize the camp for defense and efficiency.
  • Tactics to arrange camp members and positions for optimal response to threats.
  • Grants a +2 bonus to Startle trials for camp members in case of attack.
  • Tactics (Poliorcetics) to fortify the camp with stakes, ditches, or a ring of wagons, against a DC the GM sets. On a success, camp members have Partial Cover against attacks from outside the camp.

Cooking

  • You prepare meals for the camp.
  • Wilderness (Hunting and Foraging) to safely prepare wild flora and fauna that could cause illness if handled incorrectly. If traditional fare, no skill is required.
  • A hot meal prepared by a cook grants Endurance tier bonus to health recovery and casting tier bonus to magan recovery during the next rest, but the smell can attract attention.

Healer (A)

Helper (A)

  • You assist another party member with their role.
  • You provide a +2 bonus to any trial made by the character you are helping, or to any DC they set, if applicable. A character benefits from only one Helper at a time.
  • You can only help another Role with a trial your own skills bear on, as determined by the GM.
  • You cannot take on any other role while helping.
  • You cannot help Watchmen.
  • If helping an Active Role, you are also treated as active.

Hunter / Forager (A)

Rest

  • You take no camping role, choosing instead to rest during activity hours. You may be awake during the rest period while others sleep.

Sage (A)

Set Snare (A)

  • You set traps to protect the camp perimeter.
  • Thievery (Set Trap) to protect one side (up to 25%) of the camp from intruders. Larger camps may only benefit from a smaller section as determined by the GM.

Smith (A)

Watchman

  • You keep watch for threats during the night.
  • Perception trials to detect approaching creatures and ambushes. If your Alertness (Danger Sense) is equal to or higher than the hider's Stealth, you have Dominance on the trial.
  • Lore (applicable Creature Lore) to identify detected threats.
  • Watchmen are necessary throughout the night every 1-2 hours, without which there is no warning in case of an encounter.

Resting

Resting is necessary to regain health, recover magan, and regain other class abilities. Resting always assumes between 6-8 hours of sleep.

  • Dungeon Rest. After 8 hours of rest, you regain 1 health and 1 magan. You must have at least 1 health to regain 1 health. Dungeon Rest does not reduce Exhausted.
  • Wilderness Rest. If you are in danger, this rest is treated as Dungeon Rest. If you are safe and secure, you regain 1d3 health and magan. Reduce Exhausted by 1 tier, but not below T1. Gnomes, Druids, Elves, Orcs, and Rangers treat a safe Wilderness Rest as a Good Night's Rest.
  • Good Night's Rest. After 8 hours of rest in a tavern, inn, or dwelling with no danger, you regain your Endurance tier die to health and casting tier die to magan. Reduce Exhausted by 1 tier.
  • Civilized Rest. After 24 hours in a town or city with no possibility of danger. You regain your Endurance tier die x2 to health and casting tier die x2 to magan. You are able to perform normal daily activities, such as moving about the location to shop, interact, or otherwise engage in seeing the sights. Strenuous activities, including repairing gear, training with weapons, and learning spells are not possible while benefiting from a Civilized Rest. Reduce Exhausted by 2 tiers.
  • Bed Rest. After 24 hours in a bed in a safe and secure location, such as a tavern, inn, or other dwelling. You are awake for no more than 8 hours and cannot leave the dwelling. Regain your Endurance tier die x2 plus 1 health per class level and casting tier die x2 plus 1 magan per class level. Remove the Exhausted condition entirely.

Rest and Abilities. When an ability recovers after "a rest," any rest restores it, from a Dungeon Rest up. When an ability names a specific rest, such as a Good Night's Rest, that rest or a better one is required. No Rest restores nothing, and an Interrupted Rest counts as the rest one stage worse, so an interrupted Dungeon Rest restores nothing.

Companions. Companions rest as characters do and use the same rest types. A Puca or Agathion uses its tier die in place of the Endurance tier die; an animal companion uses its handler's Wilderness mastery die. Each uses its master's level in place of class level. Animal companions, the Puca, and Fae Agathions treat a safe Wilderness Rest as a Good Night's Rest. A companion that is discorporated, phased out, or dead during the rest gains nothing from it and recovers only by its own rules. A familiar shares your health pool, so your rest restores it.

Interrupted Rest. If a rest is disturbed by danger or the threat of danger, or a Civilized Rest or Bed Rest is broken by strenuous activity, it counts as the rest one step down: Bed → Civilized → Good Night's → Wilderness → Dungeon → No Rest.

  • No Rest. You are able to sleep, at best, only half of your 6-8 hours. You cannot recover health or magan. Advance Exhausted by 1 tier.
  • Consecutive No Rest. Each day of No Rest advances Exhausted by 1 tier. Effects compound normally.

You cannot benefit from more than 1 type of rest in 24 hours. You can benefit from up to two meals a day, and only one of them can be a Banquet. Each ration is one meal. Food restores health based on your Endurance tier and magan based on your casting tier.

Hot Meals. Cooked Dry rations and meals prepared at an inn are hot meals. A Poor meal is hot if it is served fresh, at the GM's discretion. If you eat a hot meal, add your Endurance tier to the health and your casting tier to the magan you recover during your next rest. The bonus applies once per rest, no matter how many hot meals you eat.

Going Hungry. A day in which you eat no meal advances Exhausted by 1 tier.

Some classes may gain other bonuses to magan regeneration.

Activity Magan Regained Health Regained Frequency
Dungeon Rest 1 1 1/day
Wilderness Rest 1d3 1d3 1/day
Good Night's Rest TD TD 1/day
Civilized Rest TD x2 TD x2 1/day
Bed Rest TD x2 + Level TD x2 + Level 1/day
Rations, Iron Tier Tier Per meal
Rations, Standard Tier x2 Tier x2 Per meal
Rations, Dry (Cooked) Tier x2 Tier x2 Per meal
Meal (Poor) Tier Tier Per meal
Meal (Common) Tier x2 Tier x2 Per meal
Meal (Good) 3 TD 3 TD Per meal
Meal (Banquet) 4 TD 4 TD 1/day

Travel

Traveling is a dangerous undertaking. Depending on the terrain, movement can be exceptionally quick, or unbearably slow.

Traveling Speed

The more quickly you try to move, the more you can exhaust yourselves, burn through resources, and run the risk of ambushes. However, sometimes it is necessary to move quickly, and the slower you move, the more likely that you will arrive late, or that pursuers will track you down or encircle you.

Pace Distance / Day Effect
Marathon ×2 Double water and rations; Penalty −6 to travel trials
Fast ×1.5 Penalty −4 to travel trials
Normal ×1 Penalty −2 to travel trials
Slow ×0.5 No penalty

Travel trials are the mastery trials you make for a Traveling Role while on the move. Attribute trials, including Pushing the Pace, are not travel trials.

Pushing the Pace. At the end of a day in which you traveled faster than Normal pace or longer than 8 hours, make an Endurance attribute trial. The DC is 2, +1 for each hour at Fast pace, +2 for each hour at Marathon pace, and +1 for each hour beyond 8. These add together. On a failure, advance Exhausted by 1 tier, or by 2 tiers if any of the day was at Marathon pace.

Working on the road. Work you can do in your hands while riding in a wagon or walking at a steady pace is possible while traveling: preparing bandages, identifying items, studying, or small crafting. Work that needs a workshop, an anvil, or a fixed place to work, such as repairing armor or forging, waits until you stop. The GM decides where a task falls.

Movement

Movement speeds vary based on species, encumbrance, and other factors, such as whether the character is sneaking or hurrying. Overland movement uses your Speed: a Day covers 18 + Speed miles, a Travel Round covers a Day ÷ 8, and an Exploration Round covers Speed × 0.2 miles.

Speed Exploration Round
(10 min, brisk)		 Travel Round
(1 hour)		 Day
(8 hours)
3 0.6 mi 2.6 mi 21 mi
4 0.8 mi 2.8 mi 22 mi
5 1 mi 2.9 mi 23 mi
6 1.2 mi 3 mi 24 mi
7 1.4 mi 3.1 mi 25 mi
8 1.6 mi 3.3 mi 26 mi
9 1.8 mi 3.4 mi 27 mi
10 2 mi 3.5 mi 28 mi
11 2.2 mi 3.6 mi 29 mi
12 2.4 mi 3.8 mi 30 mi
13 2.6 mi 3.9 mi 31 mi
14 2.8 mi 4 mi 32 mi
15 3 mi 4.1 mi 33 mi
16 3.2 mi 4.3 mi 34 mi

Exploration Round. A brisk 10 minutes with no rest. This pace cannot be sustained for long.

Travel Round. An hour at a walk, with periods of slowing to avoid over-exertion. You can keep this pace for several hours, but you need rest over the course of a day.

Day. Eight hours at a walk, including breaks for water, food, and relieving yourself. Traveling more than 8 hours risks Exhausted (see Pushing the Pace).

The travel pace table multiplies the Day distance.

Animals

Some creatures (such as horses) have maximum movement rates that allow them to reach higher movement speeds, but this is not sustainable for long periods of time. Do not expect a horse to gallop for more than a mile or two, and do not expect them to sustain long marches without breaks, or you risk injury or even death for your animal. While beasts of burden, particularly those hauling a load, will almost always move at a walk to avoid fatigue, a healthy horse that is unburdened can roughly maintain the pace of a trot without fatigue.

Falling

A fall can be nothing, a broken bone, or death. The higher the fall and the harder the ground, the worse it gets. A fall is unplanned: you slip, are pushed, or the floor gives way. A drop is a jump down that you choose and can prepare for.

  1. Height. Find the Falling table and the row for the height of the fall, rounding down, and write down its DC and damage.
  2. Use the Hard column for stone, wood, packed earth, and similar ground, and the Soft column for sand, deep snow, loose earth, and similar ground.
  3. Trial. For a fall, roll a Physique trial against the DC; for a drop, roll a Physique + Athletics (Jumping) trial instead.
  4. Result. Compare the trial to the DC, and find the result on the table below.
Result Fall Drop
Success No damage No damage
Failure Damage Damage
Failure by 5 or more Damage and a Fall Trauma Damage
Failure by 10 or more Death Damage and a Fall Trauma
Failure by 15 or more Death Death

Damage explodes and goes straight to health; armor does not help.

Example: A character falls 22 feet onto stone. That's the 20 ft row: DC 12, damage 1d12. Their trial totals 9, a failure by 3, so they take 1d12 damage and no Trauma.

Hard Soft DC Damage
2½ ft 5 ft 2 1
5 ft 10 ft 3 1d2
7½ ft 15 ft 4 1d3
10 ft 20 ft 5 1d4
12½ ft 25 ft 6 1d6
15 ft 30 ft 8 1d8
17½ ft 35 ft 10 1d10
20 ft 40 ft 12 1d12
22½ ft 45 ft 13 2d6
25 ft 50 ft 14 2d8
27½ ft 55 ft 15 2d10
30 ft 60 ft 16 2d12
32½ ft 65 ft 17 4d6
35 ft 70 ft 18 4d8
37½ ft 75 ft 19 4d10
40 ft 80 ft 20 4d12

For each 2½ ft beyond the last row (5 ft on soft ground), add 1 to the DC. The damage stays at 4d12.

Fall Trauma (d20)

Apply the Trauma from the Trauma table.

d20 Trauma
1 Broken Back
2 Skull Fracture
3 Punctured Lung
4 Internal Injury
5 Cracked Sternum
6 Broken Ribs
7 Break your left leg
8 Break your right leg
9 Break your left arm
10 Break your right arm
11 Left Shoulder Dislocated
12 Right Shoulder Dislocated
13 Left Leg Bruised to the Bone
14 Right Leg Bruised to the Bone
15 Left Arm Bruised to the Bone
16 Right Arm Bruised to the Bone
17 Limp
18 Blurred Vision
19–20 Close Call! No Trauma.