Travel Rules

Travel Rules

 

The party chooses between traveling with stealth, survival or athletics. They roll the appropriate skill and the result determines the number of travel actions they can take. Which skill they use determine which set of travel actions they can choose from, and the bonus action they get to take. A roll of 21+ also gives a special bonus, depending on the used skill.

Stealth Travel Actions
Bonus Action: 21+ Bonus:
 * Camouflage: Spend 1 Travel Action to give the entire party advantage on Stealth checks for 1 hour.
 * Assassinate: Spend 1 Travel Action to set up a surprise attack on an enemy.
 * Hide Camp: Spend 1 Travel Action to locate a hidden camp site for resting.
 * The Long Route: Spend 1 day to avoid an enemy's notice.
 * Shortcut: +1 day of movement.

Survival Travel Actions
Bonus Action: 21+ Bonus:
 * Hunt: Spend 1 Travel Action to find food for your party for today.
 * Find: Spend 1 Travel Action to gain your bearings, and avoid becoming Lost.
 * Make Camp: Spend 1 Travel Action to locate a secure camp site for resting.
 * Forage: Spend 1 day to find food for your party for today and tomorrow.
 * Shortcut: +1 day of movement.

Athletics Travel Actions
Bonus Action: 21+ Bonus:  
 * Endure: Spend 1 Travel Action to march on, enduring difficult weather.
 * Keep Pace: Spend 1 Travel Action to increase your pace, gaining 1 day of movement.
 * Motivate: Spend 1 Travel Action to give your party advantage on Athletics and Acrobatics tests for 1 hour.
 * Forced March: Gain 1 day of movement at the cost of 1 level of Exhaustion.
 * Brute Force: 1 Safe Camp.

Traveling along roads is generally safer, and you'll be more likely to run into other travelers as well.

Tracks or trails tend to follow major features of the land, or use landmarks as guideposts. They're safer than the wilds, but not by much.

Traveling through the wilderness is often secluded, but can also be dangerous. You can also discover dramatic and exotic features of the wilderness by heading off the beaten path.

Speed of Travel
A character's speed describes movement in short-duration, life threatening situations. Here's how far characters can move over an extended period of time.

A standard travel day is 8 hours. Characters may engage in a Forced March to travel for longer, but at the end of each hour they must make a Constitution saving throw against exhaustion.

       

Horses can only travel at a Fast pace on a road or trail. They can only sustain a Fast pace for a single watch before suffering a level of exhaustion. If they move at a Fast pace for a day, they must make a Constitution saving throw or die.

 

Navigation
Characters are capable of finding their way in the wilderness through features like the positioning of the sun, direction of the wind, flight patterns of birds, and other natural phenomena. They may also use local landmarks to guide themselves.

If the characters are traveling off of a road, track, or trail and they lack clear directions for where they're going, they must make a Survival check each watch to see if they head in the right direction. The odds can be modified in a few ways:

Searching for a Location
When characters have traveled to the approximate location of their destination but haven't found it yet, they must make a Perception check to locate it. This search takes 1 hour, and represents finding vantage points, scouting, looking for fine details mentioned, and other similar tactics.

Searching the Wilderness
The West Marches are a wild place, filled with danger and adventure. The wilderness hides its treasures well, but they are densely packed for those who know how to look.

Characters who choose to search the wilderness can stop making progress in order to explore nearby landmarks, tracks, trails, and other interesting features. For every watch spent this way, the players make an additional roll on the Discovery Chart to find what's hidden in the wilderness

How far can I see?

Distance to the horizon is governed by your height, as follows.

  * Mountains can be seen from 70 miles away