Wilderness Exploration and Navigation

Quick Reference

1. At the start of each day, Dungeon Master consults the Random Encounter Table for the current map region
   1. If there are random encounters or events, roll a d3 for each to determine the bell when each occurs.
   2. Dungeon Master may optionally roll for weather.
2. At the start of each bell, the spotlight player chooses an action for the group from the following list:
   1. Navigate to a new hex
   2. Travel through a mapped region
   3. Explore the nearby area
   4. Stop for Downtime
   5. Camp for the night
   6. Suspend exploration
3. Track if the current bell is first, second, or third.
   1. Performing any activity other than Camp on the third bell may incur penalties for fatigue/exhaustion and lack of light.
   2. On the second bell, decrease food for the day.

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

Wilderness Actions

Wilderness actions are taken while traveling through the Ohm Basin. All wilderness actions take 1 bell unless otherwise stated.

Camp

The party may camp to rest and gain the benefits of a full night’s sleep.

Assuming the party has proper gear and the weather is not inclement, no checks are needed to camp.

Downtime

During downtime, party members may individually choose from a variety of actions. See Downtime Actions for further details.

Any pack animals that travel with the party may graze during downtime. For more rugged terrain types, a character may be required to pass additional checks to help the animals graze, such as a Survival Check to find suitable grazing terrain or a Handle Animal check to guide the animals there.

Explore

The party may take time to thoroughly explore a nearby area. The navigator must make a navigation check versus the hex's Exploration DC. On success, the party may move up to one hex and locate a point of interest within it. On a failed navigation check, the party ends up in a random adjacent hex (roll a d6, label hexes 1 to 6 going clockwise) and becomes fatigued. If the navigator fails by 10 or more, the party ends up two hexes away and must face exhaustion.

Navigators receive a +2 circumstance bonus to navigation checks while exploring in mapped hexes.

Note: If you explore, navigate, or travel more than once before camping, you will incur forced march penalties.

Navigate

The party can take the navigate action to travel through unmapped hexes. The navigator should make a navigation check against the current hex's Exploration DC. If the check is successful, the party may navigate through as many hexes as their movement speed allows in an eight hour period. Successful navigation always takes 1 bell, even if you do not use your full movement.

On a failed navigation check, the party becomes badly lost and does not make progress for the day. A failed navigation attempt takes 2 bells, and each party member must make a fortitude save against the hex's Exploration DC or face exhaustion.

Note: If you explore, navigate, or travel more than once before camping, you will incur forced march penalties.

Travel

Travel to a new hex occurs when a party moves to a hex that has been previously mapped. Under normal circumstances, no checks are needed for travel. The Dungeon Master should compute the number of hexes traveled using the normal D&D movement rules. Unless travel is proceeding very slowly due to extreme terrain or a very slow party, the Dungeon Master may round the party’s position to the center of the nearest hex after eight hours (the bell is an approximate unit of time).

Note: If you explore, navigate, or travel more than once before camping, you will incur forced march penalties.

Suspend Exploration

Players may decide to suspend the wilderness exploration rules to perform any miscellaneous tasks, or to perform actions that are not covered by the wilderness exploration rules (for example, to spend exactly four hours traveling).

Downtime Actions

Party members may engage in various actions during downtime. Each player may only take one action per downtime session.

Players may assist each other with downtime actions. Everyone participating in the action rolls independently. Use the highest roll to determine the check result, adding a +2 for each person who rolls above 15. Assisting another player takes up a downtime action.

Cook

For full cooking rules, see the Cooking Reference

You can prepare food for your party by making a cooking check using either Profession (Chef) or Craft (Cooking). Cooking a meal requires cooking equipment worth at least 5gp and consumes oils and spices worth 10gp. Attempting to prepare a meal without proper tools imposes a -8 penalty on the check. Cooking without oils and spices imposes an additional -8 penalty.

Party members gain temporary hp based on your cooking check result. All party members gain the same amount of temporary hp, which is rolled by the chef. Any temporary hit points gained from eating a cooked meal disappear after 24 hours.

Synergies

• If you have 5 or more ranks in a culinary Knowledge or Profession skill other than Profession (Cooking), you gain a +2 bonus to cooking checks.
• If you have 5 or more ranks in Survival, you do not take penalties when cooking without proper equipment.

Craft Alchemical Items

Important Note: Crafting progress is made in sp while traveling because you are crafting by the day, not by the week.
For helpful charts, see the Alchemical Crafting Reference

You may attempt to craft an alchemical item during downtime. You must have alchemical crafting tools worth at least 200gp to craft while traveling, and may not take 10 on your craft alchemy checks.
If you do not finish crafting the item before traveling again, you lose all progress and materials spent in the crafting attempt.

You may only craft one type of item each downtime, but you can craft up to 5 of that item if you roll high enough on your craft (alchemy) check.

Forage

Make a survival check. If your check result meets the hex's exploration DC, you acquire 1d4 rations. For every 5 you exceed the DC, you acquire an additional d4 rations.

Synergies

• If you have 5 or more ranks in Craft (Alchemy), you get a +2 bonus on Survival checks to forage.
• If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (Nature), you get a +2 bonus on Survival checks to forage.

Fortify Camp

You can fortify camp using a Craft (Carpentry), Knowledge (Architecture & Engineering), or Profession (Carpenter) check. Make a knowledge check against the hex's exploration DC. If you succeed on your check, party members gain a +8 bonus on any checks made to detect an enemy while on watch.

If your check result exceeds the DC by 5 or more, when an enemy is detected by the person on watch, party members can position themselves anywhere within the camp before initiative starts.

Hunt

Make a survival check. If your check result meets the hexs exploration DC, you acquire 1d8 rations. For every 5 you exceed the DC, you acquire an additional d8 rations.

Without the track feat (or the assistance of someone with the track feat), you take a -8 penalty on Survival checks made to hunt.

Synergies

• If you have 5 or more ranks in Craft (Trapmaking), you receive a +4 bonus on Survival checks to hunt.
• If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (Nature), you get a +2 bonus on Survival checks to hunt.
• If you have 5 or more ranks in Move silently, you get a +2 bonus on Survival checks to hunt.

Map

A hex that has been explored can be added to the map with a successful Craft (Map), Knowledge (Geography), or Profession (Cartographer) check against the hex's exploration DC. Mapping a hex awards the party with 100*AEL XP divided evenly among its members after returning from the expedition, and the hex is revealed on the official map.

If the party's navigator failed their navigation check to explore the hex, the cartographer receives a -12 penalty to their mapping check.

Rest

You can spend all of downtime resting. You recover a number of hit points equal to your constitution modifier (minimum 1) and heal one point of ability damage in addition to the normal benefits of resting.

If you are exhausted, you become fatigued after resting. If you are fatigued, resting removes the condition.

Seek

While wandering the wilderness, you may attempt to find a nearby traveler. There is a 50% chance no one is in the area, resulting in an automatic failure.
Make a seek check using search, spot, listen, or gather information against the hex's Exploration DC. If you succeed, roll on the social encounters table. For every 10 you exceed the DC by, roll an additional social encoutner.

You may also seek a specific person or point of interest you have previously encountered in the region. Seeking in this way has no chance of automatic failure. If you succeed on a seek check against the hex's Exploration DC, roll on the relevant random encounter table. While seeking in this way, ignore any rolled encounters except the one you are looking for. If you do not roll the result you are seeking, double the number of encounters rolled on your next successful seek check (1 for the first success, 2 for the second, 4 for the third, 8 for the fourth, etc). This bonus resets if you return to town or roll the encounter.

If the party explored the hex you are seeking in within the last 2 bells, you get a +4 bonus to your seek check.

If you fail a seek check by 5 or more, roll an environmental encounter. If you roll a natural 1 or fail by 10 or more, roll a combat encounter. There is a 10% chance your party is close enough to help you.

Cooking

You can prepare food for your party by making a cooking check using either Profession (Chef) or Craft (Cooking). Cooking a meal requires cooking equipment worth at least 5gp and consumes oils and spices worth 10gp. Attempting to prepare a meal without proper tools imposes a -8 penalty on the check. Cooking without oils and spices imposes an additional -8 penalty.

Party members gain temporary hp based on your check result. All party members gain the same amount of temporary hp, which is rolled by the chef. Any temporary hit points gained from eating a cooked meal disappear after 24 hours.

High Quality Ingredients

You can increase the number of temporary hit points gained from your meal by using high quality ingredients. Similarly, pairing your meal with fine wine or good ale can bolster its effects. Any ingredients or alcohol served with the meal is consumed upon use.

Example: Lana the Rouge is cooking a meal for her party. She cooks with ingredients forged by her party member, Ernest the Druid. Additionally, Lana uses spices worth 50gp, oils worth 60gp, and serves the meal with fine spirits worth 125gp. The result of Lana's check is a 22. This means anyone who ate the meal would receive 1d8+6+1d3 temporary hit points (1d8+2 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 1d3 from the check result, spices, oils, foraged ingredients, and alcohol respectively).

*You do not need to expend 10gp of oils and spices when using high quality versions of the ingredients
^† You may only benefit from one type of alcohol during a meal

Synergies

• If you have 5 or more ranks in a culinary Knowledge or Profession skill other than Profession (Cooking), you gain a +2 bonus to cooking checks.
• If you have 5 or more ranks in Survival, you do not take penalties when cooking without proper equipment.

Alchemical Item Crafting Charts

These charts show the minimum Craft (Alchemy) check required to craft items during downtime.

Alchemical Items

Alchemical Capsules

Alchemical Weapon Capsules