# Commander's # Revised Exploration System

##### A system of exploration, danger and cunning made for the 5e system

Revision 1.3.1

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# Table of Contents

- ### [4**Travel**](#p4) - #### [5Time](#p5) - #### [6Danger](#p6) - #### [7Navigation](#p7) - #### [8Resources](#p8) - #### [9Discovery](#p9) - #### [10How it Works](#p10) - ### [11**Weather**](#p11) - #### [12Building Camp](#p12) - #### [13Temperature](#p13) - #### [15Wind](#p15) - #### [16Precipitation](#p16) - #### [19Generating Weather](#p19) - ### [23**Exploration**](#p23) - #### [23Time Pool Danger](#p23) - #### [24Complications and Encounters](#p24) - #### [25Resting](#p25) - #### [26Varying Degress of Success](#p26) - ### [27In Practice](#p27) - #### [28Exploration Flow Chart](#p28) - ### [29**Credits**](#p29)

___ >### Editor's Note >The Lasting Injuries table has been moved to Revised Combat Rules. > > > > ``` ``` >### Join the Discord! > Have questions or comments to give to the development team of Revised Exploration System or any other Commander brew? Join our discord! All critique is welcome and we'll be glad to have your feedback. > >If you wish to receive updates on this and future brews, ask for the **Scryer** role when you join. >____ >Commander Fayne's Brews >

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# The Trappings of Adventure

## Travel, but Interesting This system aims to make travel, combat, and exploration more engaging, fun, and ultimately more interesting for players through a simple, lightweight system that can be added to any existing 5th Edition D&D campaign. 5th Edition does a lot of things well, but it doesn't provide an interesting way to handle overland travel and leaves much of it up to the Dungeon Master to either roll random tables for encounters, which can become tedious after a few sessions, or to skip them entirely and focus on the interesting parts of the story: the dungeons and cities players visit throughout the campaign. But what if the journey to the dungeon was as captivating as the dungeon itself? What if the players were in a travel or survival-focused story and wanted something more engaging to encounter than d4+3 wolves at night? What if there was a genuine choice between taking the well-traveled and patrolled road safely or attempting to spend less time on the road by cutting through the dark forest? ## Clock is Ticking Similarly, once the players enter the dungeon, many spells, effects, and abilities state that they last for a certain duration, but 5th Edition doesn't provide a way to track that time, leaving it up to the DM to determine when the prescribed amount of time has passed. But what if there was a way for players to track the amount of time they've spent in dangerous dungeons, knowing precisely how much time is left on their Mage Armor? What if they knew exactly how much time remained on the single torch they were carrying and understood that delving deeper into this dungeon would necessitate resources they may not have? What if pints of oil were a genuine consideration for light, rather than simply another resource to track on the encumbrance table that no one uses? ``` ``` ## Weather or Not Finally, weather. Many systems can quickly get out of hand, tracking humidity, wind direction, and inches of rainfall that really just don't add anything to the story. But, weather is an important metric to consider every single day, not just while traveling or surviving in the wilderness. Even if your party stays behind the safe walls of a major metropolis solving urban crimes and killing sewer monsters, heavy rain or the scorching heat of a summer day can affect their strategy and planning. While 5e makes some effort to explain how heavy rains and strong winds affect ranged weapon attacks and ability to spot creatures in hiding, this system expands on that with more weather varieties, how to generate them, and the effects of natural resistances. Some players might have cold resistance or adventuring gear like winter clothes to help them, but sometimes the icy apocalypse of the frozen north is too much even for your white dragonborn buddies. ``` ```

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\page # Travel ___ Adventurers arguably spend more time on the road than in dungeons, cities, and taverns combined. Some of the best roleplay and deepest connections to one another can be formed during travel, and so often this opportunity goes missing when the Dungeon Master hand-waves the travel to get to the "good" parts. If you use this system, your travel to the dungeon can be as fun and rewarding as the dungeon itself. Just note that the travel and things they find along the way will add extra sessions to a campaign's length. ___ When calculating travel time, you'll first need to know how far away the party's destination is. If you are unsure, assume that most major medieval cities were within 4-5 days' travel of one another on foot, but there would be smaller villages or simple travel inns and hunting lodges about a day's walk from one another. Remote locations may take up to a month to reach, while distant, mythic locations may take a season or more. Remember that since travel will be much more interesting and fulfilling, assigning several days to weeks of travel won't be a slog, but a journey. However, it's important to note that this system handles travel in days. So, if you're planning for a month or several months of travel, it might be more prudent to convert this system's days into weeks. ___ Overland travel can be summarized by five major aspects. 1. **Time** - How long is the route or how far will we travel? 2. **Danger** - What level and type of danger will we encounter? 3. **Navigation** - How easy is it to find the destination? 4. **Resources** - How available are resources along the route? 5. **Discoveries** - What will we discover along the way? Before you plan a trip for the party, you will need to know the answers to each of these questions. While you may not have a clear answer, you should generally know what level of danger, or what type of discoveries they might make, so you can plan what the travel will look like. Is the route direct or winding and are there shortcuts available? Will there be wild game or flora to forage along the way? Is the area known to be dangerous and can the party afford another clash of steel? Does the party have time to investigate an ancient woodland shrine they spot along the path?

### Walking speeds The base travel rate in miles per hour at a normal pace is calculated by dividing the slowest character's speed by 10. The result is then multiplied by 8 (for eight hours of travel) to get the normal pace for daily travel.

** Average humanoid speed = 30ft** **30 / 10 = 3 mph** **3 x 8 = 24 miles a day at normal pace**

** Average horse speed = 60ft** ** 60 / 10 = 6 mph** ** 6 x 8 = 48 miles a day at normal pace** ### Flying Speeds The exception to this calculation is for flying animals. A Griffon has a fly speed of 80 ft. By this calculation, it flies at 8 miles per hour, which is just not fast enough for anything that can't hover to stay aloft. Instead, the normal flying pace of any creature with a flying speed is half their flying speed, in miles per hour. So, our Griffon would have a normal flying pace of 40 miles per hour, meaning Griffon riders can fly 320 miles a day. Like real life, it is decidedly faster to fly to a destination. However, this assumes fair winds and clear skies. High winds or inclement weather are considered difficult terrain for flying creatures, and nearly all winds at a height of a few hundred feet are high winds. Each hour of flight through difficult terrain will incur a constitution save to avoid exhaustion for both rider and mount; **DC10 + 1 for every hour of consecutive flight.** In any weather, a flying mount must rest for 1 hour for every 3 hours it flies. ### Sailing Finally, there is travel by ship over water. Most ships in the known world are powered either by winded sails or manual rowing. If rowing a ship, it can be done for 8 hours in the day, unless there are dedicated crews which can change shifts to keep rowing. Sailing vessels can sail 24 hours a day, provided someone is at the helm and there are winds with which to sail. The speed of each ship rowing and sailing is noted below. These speeds are over still waters. Assume stormy seas are difficult terrain, and a river's slow speed is 3mph, while rapids are 12 mph.

| Ship | MPH (rowed) |MPH (sailed)|Miles per day (rowed/sailed) |:--|--:|--:|--:| | Rafts, Barges, Makeshift Floats | 2 |2|16 | Rowboats, Keelboats | 3 |4|24/32 | Caravels, Corvettes, Clippers | 5 |12|40/120 | Cogs, Warships | 5 |8|40/100 | Carracks | 4 |8|32/100 | Galleons|4|8|32/100 | Galleys, Longships|8|8|64/64 | Airships | Cannot be rowed|12|120

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\page ## TIME If you only have a number of days in mind for distance, assume an average traveler can make 24 miles a day on road, or about 12 through the wilderness (even if this wilderness is flat grassy plains), and multiply that by how many days you think the party should travel. A horseback traveler can cover about twice this distance in both situations. If you already have a map and rough distances decided, you're well on your way. At the beginning of the day, the party decides how fast they will travel; slow, normal, or fast. A slow pace is careful, quiet, attentive, and makes foraging or hunting much easier, but covers little distance in a day. A fast pace is reckless, exhausting and noisy, but also covers far more ground. A normal pace is a balance between the two. To calculate the distance traveled by each pace, use the following calculations: for a slow pace, even though the party travels for 8 hours, they only cover 6 hours of distance. For a fast pace, even though they travel for 8 hours, they cover 12 hours of distance. So, if the party is on horseback, traveling at a fast pace, they would travel for 8 hours but cover 12 x 6 miles of distance, or 72 miles in a single day! ### Slow Pace - The party makes Perception checks with advantage - The party can make a Stealth check to remain hidden - The party may forage for food if the environment is suitable - Checks made for Navigation are made with advantage Traveling at a slow pace implies the party is taking routes which hide their movement using terrain and obstacles and they are being very careful and attentive. If you are not using distance measurement, simply count a slow pace as half a day's travel. Note that this isn't used when the party spots a group of enemies or are approaching a fortified location such as a fortress or Orcish camp. Rather, these checks are made at the start of the day (or the start of their decision to start traveling at a slow pace - more on that later) to avoid any possible encounters, stay true to their route, and come up with food at camp that evening. ### Normal Pace - Perception checks are made normally - The party Forage checks are with disadvantage - The party Stealth checks are with disadvantage - Checks made for navigation are made normally Traveling at a normal pace describes the average adventuring party walking single file along the path. They may be following a road, traveling the path of least resistance through a forest, or following along a cliff edge through a mountain pass. While the party can attempt to stay low in the terrain and try to remain hidden, they are still traveling quickly enough to make noise, giving disadvantage to stealth. Because of this, the party scares away game and might miss partially covered forage too. ``` ``` ### Fast Pace - Perception checks are made with disadvantage - The party cannot forage - The party cannot use stealth - While Navigation checks are made normally, the party leaves clear and obvious signs of their passing that any tracker can follow A fast pace is the most direct route to the party's destination. The group walks quickly or jogs, taking the most direct paths across plains, moving along ridgelines in forests or mountains, or sticking to the road in civilized areas. If you are not using distance measurement, assume a fast pace covers a day and a half of travel in a single day. At a fast pace, the adventurers focus more on their path than their surroundings, and since the party is loud and immediately visible, they cannot attempt to stay hidden. Moreover, because they are taking the most direct route, they may snap low branches, trample underbrush, or leave footprints that any predators can follow. ### Mixed Pace If at any point during the day, your party decides to change their pace, you will either need to measure the day's progress with what pace they spent the majority of the day traveling, or if you are using distance, how many hours they spent at each pace. Multiply the hours they spent at a slow pace by .75, and hours they spent at a fast pace by 1.5 to determine hours of distance they progressed toward their destination. Obviously some rolls you had them make at the beginning of the day will have additional penalties or benefits when they change pace. Have the party roll new skill checks for any check which has a new penalty or benefit.

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\page ## Danger The day is divided into six 4-hour sections: Morning, Afternoon, Twilight, Evening, Midnight, and Predawn. Roughly, this is three daytime sections and three nighttime sections. While the sections of the day don't need to be the same amount of time, adventurers typically travel for two sections, then spend a section making camp or interacting with a local inn, two sections for a long rest, and the last section for preparing for the next day of travel. A typical day might involve preparing during Predawn, traveling during Morning and Afternoon, Twilight spent looking for and setting up camp, and Evening and Midnight spent resting. At the beginning of the day, roll 6d6. Each die represents a section of the day. For each die that rolls at or below the danger rating for the area the party is traveling through, an encounter happens during that section. These encounters are not always combat encounters; more on that later. ___ #### In Practice Let's say your party is traveling through a frontier wilderness. At the beginning of their day you roll: ___ 6 2 5 4 1 3 ___ With the first roll being the Morning, this means they will have an encounter in Afternoon and one at Midnight. An encounter isn't always combat. All an "encounter" entails is the party encounters a challenge which uses resources. For each encounter rolled, roll that dice again. If the result is a 1, the party has a combat encounter. Otherwise, use a more freeform encounter, such as spotting sleeping drakes on the road, or falling victim to a snare trap they need to escape from before whoever set up the trap finds them. It's important to present challenges which drain the party's resources, particularly spell slots or resources only found in cities. Needing to float the wagon over a small river will use up pitch. Needing to clear hostile plants blocking the path will use alchemist fire and oil, or at the very least higher spell slots. The party should feel each encounter draining their various resources to feel like travel is a challenge to prepare for and overcome, instead of a set of dice checks which need successes. Some DMs are very adept at coming up with minor challenges on the fly, but not everyone is. Before a travel-centric campaign, it may be prudent to write several modular challenges, and have them on hand to reference when the party rolls an encounter. ``` ``` ### Daily Danger Values Be descriptive! Even if nothing happens for the given section, describe the rolling hills or lush forests as appropriate for the danger rating. A frontier forest next to a major city will feel **much** different than a hostile forest infested with undead far from civilization, even if the party won't encounter any undead to kill. ##### Civilized 1 Representing suburban, well-traveled areas or heavily patrolled roads. No area is truly safe, however, and there is a level of danger, even if minute, on any road. ##### Frontier 2 Wilderness forests, vast ranges or open sea. This is the "normal" amount of danger surrounding roads and communities that the average table thinks about while traveling. ##### Guarded 3 Areas which are inherently dangerous because of who lives there; for example, goblin forests or extensive cave systems like the Underdark. It should be assumed that these areas will be visibly dangerous or have otherwise obvious warning signs or common folklore about the area. ##### Hostile 4 These are places where the enemy makes active efforts to find trespassers like giant-owned mountain ranges or barbaric orc lands, or areas in which the terrain is openly hostile, like elemental planes or active war zones. The party should know that, while the enemy isn't actively looking for *them* necessarily, they will be looking for *someone*. ##### Perilous 5 Finally, this is monster terrain such as dragon lairs or supernatural areas such as the Hells or the Abyss. Danger levels like these are reserved for areas in which travel itself is the dungeon of the campaign. Note this does not represent the danger inside actual *dungeons*, rather this is the most dangerous overland travel where you still expect to spend more time traveling than in combat or exploring.

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\page ## Navigation Navigating through areas safely and efficiently, even with a map, is neither guaranteed nor easy. Each area the party travels has a Navigation DC to represent traveling in the right direction and being aware of where you are in relation to major landmarks to know when you're lost. ##### Commute - DC0 This represents following a clear and visible route, like a road, river, or dry creek bed. If the party is traveling wherever the road takes them, they don't need to make a check to avoid being lost. There might be a DC10 Survival or History check to determine when the next town is expected or how far they are from their starting point, but they can't really get lost if the route is clear enough. ##### Hike - DC5 This is when traveling through open ranges or sparse forests between two easily visible landmarks. It's hard to get lost when you can see the city on the horizon to the East and mountains on the horizon to the West, but it is still possible to get sidetracked in the hills between. ##### Trek - DC10 Here the party might be traveling across a wilderness with no landmarks such as open seas or deserts, or through expansive plains or arctic tundra. Here, the terrain is somewhat difficult to navigate, and there are no immediate signs when or if you do veer off course. ##### Expedition - DC15 This describes travel through mountain highlands, rugged hills, dense forests or lush jungles. These are the areas which are impossible to see further than a few hundred yards, or a direct route is impossible, so it is very easy to get lost. Note that it is relatively safe to travel forests, but easy to get lost, due to low danger but hard Navigation checks. ##### Gauntlet - DC20 This level of difficulty is reserved for traveling through dangerous terrain such as mountain crags, ancient ruins, flooded swamps, or pitch-dark caves, where the terrain is intraversable or incredibly challenging to navigate due to low visibility. It may also include a combination of difficult and easier terrain in the same area, like a mountain-top forest. #### Modifying Navigation Difficulty When encountering inclement weather or traveling at night, move the difficulty up one step. A simple hike would be a bit harder if the party is only moving under cover of night, or a trek through open tundra would be a bit harder when encountering a three day blizzard. ### Getting Lost For each day, the party must assign at least one person to navigate, aided by tools, other navigators, maps, and familiarity with the terrain. If a party member is navigating, they cannot forage, and their perception checks are made with disadvantage. The roll is performed in secret at the start of the day to avoid immediately alerting the party if they are lost. Note that the roll for navigation is not a designated skill check, though Survival is often used. It might be a History check to navigate old war-torn ruins, a Nature check to navigate using the stars, or even an Arcana check to navigate enchanted forests or magical elemental planes. Failing the Navigation DC means the party got lost at some point during the day, and they made only half the progress of the pace they were traveling for that day. Treat becoming lost as simply veering off course, not going in circles. Punishing a lost party with traps and hazards is possible, but be careful not to overdo it. The party can discover they are lost in various ways, such as spending more days between landmarks than expected or noting a landmark they didn't expect to see. However, the navigator shouldn't ask if they are lost at the end of each day as they would already be double-checking and verifying their path. However, there are other ways to determine if the party is lost. Spending more days between landmarks than they expect, for example, or noting a landmark they didn't expect to see. You could get creative and use one of their encounters to be a traveling patrol of peacekeepers who happily point the party in the right direction if they promise to route any bandits they meet along the way. Discovering they are lost should come through external situations, rather than looking over the route they've just walked. Don't simply allow the Ranger to make a check to magically know if they are lost. Instead, expect the party to make an active roleplay situation out of verifying their path. If the party is lost, they cannot finish their journey until they discover they are lost and pass a morning navigation check, after which they can arrive at their destination that day.

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\page ## Resources At the start of each day, each traveler must declare if they are foraging or not. Foraging is an active task that requires full attention, preventing adventurers from resting or working on other projects. Perception checks made while foraging are at disadvantage. At the end of the day, each traveler who chose to forage makes a Survival or Nature check against the forage DC. A success results in finding what is appropriate for the area, while a critical success counts as two successes, netting double the amount of forage. Water is found for the whole party by looking at the number of forage successes for the area. ##### Community - DC 5 Walking between close villages, through urban centers or over farmlands is a non-issue for finding resources, as they are readily available or for sale. Note that just because resources are easy to find, doesn't mean they are free! ##### Lush - DC 10 These represent jungles, forests, plains, or oceans with small game, fish, or wild produce and mushrooms. Water is found with a single success as the party finds creeks, rivers, and lakes somewhat easily. A success here finds enough forage for two meals, while a failure only finds enough for one. ##### Sparse - DC 15 These are mountain ranges, highlands, desert islands, taiga, or other places where rugged plants and animals survive, but they are hard to find. Little vegetation is edible, and it must be cooked. This is also the default for following well-traveled roads and paths, as the vegetation would be pretty picked clean, and prey animals would avoid populated areas. Water here is hidden or must be dug for and will be found with two successes. A forage success here finds two meals, while a failure finds nothing. ##### Arid - DC 20 Tundra, cave systems, alpine regions, or mesa flatlands are examples of arid resources. The vegetation here is tough and waxy, animals are very hard to find and are usually small game. Even though water is scarce here, it can be found with three successes. A forage success finds a single meal, while a failure finds nothing and might actually cause a loss of resources. ##### Desolate - DC 25 Finally, the driest wastelands, desert dunes, mountain peaks, frozen wastes, or elemental planes have the least resources available. Here, it is next to impossible to find food, and what little is found is not nearly enough to survive day to day. There is no water to be found in these locations, and a forage success only finds a single meal, while a
failure will almost certainly
cost other resources. ``` ``` ### Food and Water Requirements For every day of travel, each character needs to consume two waterskins and two meals. A waterskin holds half a gallon of water, and a meal is at least one pound of food. If a character doesn't eat or drink at all, they suffer a point of exhaustion at the beginning of the next day. This exhaustion can only be removed by meeting these requirements. Dehydration is the most pressing danger, but characters can ration water to delay its effects. To ration water, a character must consume at least one waterskin per day and make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw at the start of the next day. Failure results in a point of exhaustion. Similarly, a character can ration food by eating only one meal per day. For each day of rationing, the character must make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. Failure results in a point of exhaustion. The DC increases by 1 for each consecutive day of rationing. If a character suffers exhaustion while rationing, they cannot remove the points until they eat two meals and drink two waterskins. ### Finding Water and Forage Add up the successes for the forage check and include them in the total for water. If the total number of successes is appropriate for the region, the party finds a source of water to refill their waterskins. Foraging involves finding easily accessible vegetation or game that requires little preparation and is small enough to be carried, such as hunting rabbits, finding berries or mushrooms, scraping moss, or chewing on edible bark. If a hunter in the party wants to hunt bigger game to provide several pounds of meat, that should be handled separately. Remember that meat spoils within a day unless it is cured or smoked, both of which take time. ### Other Modifiers Many things affect the resource rating for the area. Winter might make a forest go from lush to sparse, or a rare rainstorm might change a mesa desert from arid to lush overnight. Consider changing a region's resource rating for major occurrences, but simply give advantage or disadvantage on the forage check for minor things like foraging at night. Another thing to consider is that not every plant or animal found is healthy to eat. There could be a chance the food is poisonous or inedible unless it has been boiled, requiring fire and a cooking pot. This would even give a nice use of the Nature skill to identify poisonous foodstuffs in the wilds and provide a reason to have cook's utensils.

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\page ## Discovery This part is arguably the best part of travel: what you find along the way that you didn't expect. When you roll a 6 on danger for the day, two things happen. One, no encounter! Two, there is a chance the party may discover something enticing. It might still be a horrible creature, but it will be guarding something worthwhile. For each die that rolled a 6, roll a die appropriate to the area they are traveling through. ##### Uncharted d4 Traveling through ancient ruins, abandoned dwarven mines, forgotten cities, or roads can yield abundant treasure. These areas often hold a great number of undiscovered rarities and are the places where many adventurers go to seek wealth, knowledge, or power. ##### Obscure d6 This is a normal level of discovery in the wildernesses surrounding civilizations. Abandoned graveyards, coastal waters, Druid groves, or elven forests would have this level
of discovery. Here, the heroes shouldn't expect to find something, but it wouldn't be a surprise if they do. ##### Well-Known d8 Traversing major roads or cities, village networks, trade rivers, or shipping routes doesn't usually reveal a lot. Here, discovering something is somewhat rare, as many people travel these places every day. But there might still be something hidden in the underbrush that gets overlooked by folks too busy to search. ##### Scarce d10 Expansive areas such as deserts or open seas have little, if anything, to discover. Any discovery in these locations would be legendary in nature, and the heroes should not expect to find anything of value unless they are on a specific quest or mission.

### Discovery Chance For each 6 you roll during the day's encounter rolls, roll a dice appropriate for the discovery rating of the region. If those dice show a 1, the party discovers something during the traveling. Place the discovery in any time slot of the day you want. Remember that the party will spend four of the six time slots not traveling and will either be resting or setting up or breaking down camp, making it narratively difficult to explain why they discover something during those times. But what is a discovery? ### Discovering the world A discovery is sort of a micro-dungeon, and will always have something to gain; important knowledge, loot, experience, or some combination thereof. It is different from an encounter but should be described and presented similarly so the party is still cautious; whereas the players might look to avoid combat with a pack of monsters on the road, they wouldn't necessarily run from a pack of monsters guarding a ruined tower. You should see a discovery as a chance to do some world building and for the party to learn more about the local culture, society, or history, and give the players reward for investing time and resources, both of which are now in limited supply. It could be something as simple as a shrine built by some wandering pilgrim to a lesser known deity, which if interacted with in a positive way could give the party some minor, temporary buff. It could be a dilapidated wizard tower which is all but ruined, save for the basement library, which might contain rotted books except for one preserved scroll. It might be an ancient guardhouse with a locked cellar and some horrible creature that has taken up residence in the cells, a long-dead corpse of a previous adventurer behind it with shiny, unused plate armor. Be creative with the discovery, but always reward your players for finding it.

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\page ## How it works in action Summarized, the process is simple. - Starting the day of travel, ask the party what pace they are traveling, who will be navigating, and who plans to forage while traveling. - Roll 6d6 in secret. Note encounters for the day, roll those encounters again to see if they are combat, roll any discovery chances and prepare those if necessary (much easier if these are prewritten and modular). - At the beginning of travel for the day, roll the navigation check in secret, and note if they will have made progress. Remember if they are following a road or river, this check is not necessary. - Describe the day by the section, running encounters and appropriate discoveries at their allotted times. Remember if party members are foraging or navigating, they have penalties to perception. - At the end of the day, ask anyone who foraged to roll their forage checks, noting for them how many meals they find, and note successes for water. - Have heroes who are rationing roll saves, and finally note who is on watch for any nighttime encounters. That's it!

- ##### [Return to Top](#p2)

``` ``` >### Outlanders and Rangers Unfortunately, two bits of 5e ruin this system's challenge: the Outlander background feature, Wanderer, and the Ranger class feature, Natural Explorer. Consider the following changes to these classes to keep the challenge of overland travels: > > - Outlander Feature: Wanderer - You have an excellent memory for maps and geography, and you can always recall the general layout of the terrain, settlements and other features around you. In addition, you and up to 5 people have advantage on forage checks for food and water. > > - Ranger: Natural Explorer - Change "Your group can’t become lost except by magical means." to "You have advantage on Navigation Checks." and "When you forage, you find twice as much food as you normally would." to "When you forage, your successes count as two successes, and critical successes count four times. You may forgo this foraging bonus to navigate and forage at the same time without penalty."

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\page # Weather ___ Weather is an important and major aspect of every day, and this system reflects the difficulty in traveling, fighting, and building camp while weather is a factor. From high winds or rain making it difficult to build fires, to precipitation making cold and lightning damage more dangerous, to obscuring fog or dust storms making it near impossible to navigate or spot an ambush, weather should be as important a metric to know as what CR the party will encounter on the road. #### Building Camp Building shelter and warmth in inclement weather is a
difficult task, and one which is crucial to the survival
and comfort of a traveling adventure party with
hopes to rest and recover spells and abilities,
and keep themselves safe while doing so. However,
there's a vast difference between building camp
during a warm summer night after a day of comfortable
travel, and building camp in an active blizzard high
up in the mountains far from civilization. #### Wind Wind chiefly affects three things; ranged attacks,
unprotected fires, and smoke or gas based spells.
As the wind gets stronger, these things become
harder or downright impossible. Additionally,
flying creatures have a much harder time
flying with strong winds, and camp becomes
more difficult to establish if the wind is blowing
your tents down. #### Precipitation Precipitation affects firearms, the need for secure
shelter, wagon travel, and can also snuff unprotected
flames. Additionally, heavy precipitation can
affect visibility or make wagon travel impossible.
Some damage types are affected too, as cold and
lightning damage can be a greater danger to a wet
or cold character than fire damage. #### Temperature Weather is temperature. A three day hike over
easy terrain is much more difficult when
traveling through dangerously hot climates,
and suffering the effects of extreme cold is far
more a difficult task than simply wearing hats and
gloves. Precipitation also affects temperatures,
as a light rain on a hot summer day could be
refreshing, while a light rain at near freezing
temps is a recipe for disaster. #### Generating Weather From wet and dry seasons in tropical coastlines, to
arid wastelands of lethal heat, to the frozen north
locked in an eternal winter, every region's weather varies
with season and climate. Here, you will find the varying
climates and seasonal weather for those climates.
Generating weather is as easy as picking one of the five
climates appropriate for your region, then rolling each
day to determine the precipitation and temperature,
and optionally the wind speed and direction
as well.

WEATHER

\page ## Building Camp A campsite must be established when the party plans to rest in the wilderness after a day of travel. Here, the party must adhere to the three requirements of established campsites; **Safety, Fire,** and **Shelter.** #### Safety Finding a flat, defensible position for a campsite is probably the most important aspect of establishing camp. The party can't build a fire or set up tents on a mountain scramble, for example. Even while traveling underground where the atmosphere is mostly stable, if tepid, the party will still need to find some flat, unbroken ground to build a fire. Multiply the area's Danger value by 5 for the base DC for completing a successful Safety check. #### Fire The most common way to get warm in the woods is to build a fire. This requires gathering/preparing wood, starting a fire, and keeping it fed and sheltered from the elements. Fire is also needed to cook food and warm snow if the party's source of water is foraged in cold environments, and they can't cook food without a mess kit or cook's utensils. There are two basic types of fires; campfires and bonfires. A campfire takes up a 5 ft square and creatures need to be at least 5 ft away from it to benefit from its ambient heat, and a campfire takes around 150 pounds of firewood for a 6-8 hours of fire. Bonfires take up a 10 ft square and creatures need to only be within 10 ft of the fire to benefit from it. A bonfire burns around 300 pounds of firewood per night. Use the area's Resource value for the base DC for completing a successful Fire check. If a character begins looking for wood during the evening, they can gather enough wood for an hour, or around 25 pounds, with a successful Fire check. #### Shelter The most common type of shelter in the wilderness is a tent. A one-person tent requires six stakes (one at each corner, and one to secure the two tent poles). Two-person tents require eight stakes, as there's an additional connection point in the center of the long sides. Tents must be secured with stakes, though stakes can be made in the field if materials are available. However, iron stakes are required in mountainous or rocky terrain. The party's shelter can be a covered wagon, but starting a fire inside it would be dangerous and destructive. Also, bear in mind that a typical wagon is about the size of a two-person tent, so there may not be enough room for everyone to sleep comfortably inside. Use the area's Navigation value for the base DC to successfully complete a Shelter check. #### Peaceful Rest If a character is woken up three times during the night, including any time they are on watch or are roused for combat, the character must succeed in a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or gain a point of exhaustion once they finish their long rest. As such, it is essential to have both a safe and uninterrupted sleep. Some creatures, such as elves or warforged, do not rest but instead enter a state of meditation or low awareness that still counts as sleep. These creatures still cannot be roused while completing their long rest, and will still need to succeed in the saving throw to avoid exhaustion. ### Successful Camping Putting this all together, the party will need to succeed in checks for each aspect of a good camp. Here, failure is important to be punished fairly. Setting up shelters with failed checks doesn't mean the tents fall over; it just means another character will attempt to set up the tents. Failing to light a fire just means someone else will try. Instead, consider the punishment for failed checks to be that the party camps less comfortably. Perhaps failing a Safety check means the party wakes up to flooded tents and recovers no hit dice at the end of their long rest. Maybe a failure of a Warmth check means all the firewood was used up in the first few hours of the night, and the party doesn't benefit from ambient heat to recover from the elements. Failing a shelter check might mean that at some point in the night, the wind blows the tents over, and if this happens for the third time, the characters may need to succeed in Constitution saving throws to avoid waking up exhausted.

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\page ## Temperature ___

#### Constitution Saves Each time a creature repeats the saving throw for a given temperature effect, increase the DC by +1. Reduce the DC by 5 for each hour a creature spends in Chilly to Warm temperatures, back to the original DC. If a creature's temperature is somehow extended beyond the limits of this table in either lethal heat or cold, the character suffers disadvantage on the saving throw. When a creature is rolling saving throws induced by cold temperatures, they require twice as much food for the day if they spend more than 4 hours in those conditions. Conversely, when a creature is rolling saving throws induced by heat, they require twice as much water for the day if they spend more than an hour in those conditions. If these requirements are not met, the saving throws are made with disadvantage. #### Weather Effects on Temperature Wind and rain can cool you on a hot day, but make even moderate cold feel much worse. Humidity can also affect what an ambient temperature feels like, preventing sweat from doing its job and making cold temperatures chill to the bone. Any effects which move in the same direction do not combine. For example, rain and wind do not combine to set the temp two steps toward cold. However, rain and humidity would combine to have a neutral effect on temperature. - **Moderate Wind** - Lower temps one step. Higher winds have no further effects on temperature. - **Rain and Fog** - Lower temps one step. If this brings temperature to Moderate Cold, rain or fog becomes freezing rain. - **Snow** - Lower temps one step. - **Clear Skies** - Direct sunlight raises temps one step during Afternoon. - **Humidity** Move temps one step away from Comfortable. ``` ``` #### Clothing and Adaptations Wearing the proper attire or having natural elemental resistances make extreme temperatures more manageable. - **Winter Clothing** - While wearing winter clothing, raise temps two steps. - **Travelers Clothing** - While wearing traveler's clothing, move one step toward Comfortable. - **Heavy Armor** - Armor is a severe detriment in extreme temperatures as the metal heats or conducts cold to the wearer. Move one step away from Comfortable. - **Desert Clothing** - Loose fitting and light colored clothes made to protect from the sun. Move two steps toward comfortable from heat. - **Torches** Carrying a torch raises temps one step for the one holding it. Oil burning lamps and lanterns only provide light, not any meaningful heat. - **Cold Resistance** - Move all cold temperatures 3 steps toward comfortable. - **Fire Resistance** - Move all hot temperatures 3 steps toward comfortable. - **Fur and Scales** - Creatures which have fur move one step to comfortable, while with scales provide two steps from hot to comfortable. #### Campsite Survival - **Building a Fire** - Within 5ft, a small campfire raises temps one step. Within 10 ft, a bonfire raises temps two steps, and within 20ft raises one. - **Pitching a Tent** - A tent provides meager shelter from the elements. Inside a tent is one step closer to Comfortable. - **Food** - Food and drink helps with recovery. After consuming hot or iced food, a character has advantage on the next temperature related saving throw and is one step closer to Comfortable for one hour.

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\page #### Miscellaneous Effects - **Situations** - Where it makes sense, feel free to provide a step in temperature due to magic items or other items and situations not covered here. Being inside a lava filled cave might move three steps toward hot, or the air inside a white dragon's lair might be two steps toward cold. - **Spell Effects** Many spells create cold or heat as a duration. These spells increase the temperature for the caster or the area of effect. For example, *Produce Flame* moves the caster one step toward heat while it is active, and *Armor of Agathys* moves the caster one step toward cold for the spell's duration. Spells which create fog or smoke can increase temps one step toward cold or heat, respectively. - **Items** Many items not listed here are made to protect from the elements. A wide brimmed hat might negate direct sunlight from Clear Skies, or a rain cloak might negate the cold step from rain. ### Modified Spells There are few spells that have an affect on temperature, precipitation, or wind. As such, it can become difficult or impossible for magic users to protect themselves from the elements. The following spells are modified to provide additional benefits while using this weather system. ##### Cantrips - **Control Flames** - You can cause a fire within a 5-foot cube to generate more heat, raising temps one more step toward heat than normal for the duration of the spell. - **Create Bonfire** - This spell's duration can be increased to 1 hour if cast with a 1st or 2nd level slot, or to 8 hours if cast with a 3rd or 4th level slot. With a 5th level slot, this spell can last for 24 hours. The fire created by this spell counts as a campfire. - **Druidcraft** - This spell can be used to predict the temperature, wind, and precipitation in the local region. The DM will roll for these elements when the spell is cast, so the players can know what the weather will be like. ##### 1st Level - **Fog Cloud** - This spell moves temps one step toward cold, and additionally can be extended with higher spell slots. At 3rd level it lasts for 8 hours, and at 5th level it lasts for 24 hours. ##### 2nd Level - **Continual Flame** This spell can create an ever burning torch light which produces heat. To produce heat, the spell requires 100gp worth of ruby dust, and the spell creates an object which gives off the heat of a torch. - **Warding Wind** - For the spell's duration, the wind is counted as Strong winds for the caster and those within it. This spell's duration can be increased to 1 hour with a 3rd level spell slot, and to 8 hours with a 5th
level spell slot. ``` ``` ##### 3rd Level - **Daylight** - This spell has the effect of direct sunlight, moving one step toward heat on any creature within its bright light radius. Additionally, the spell's duration can be increased to 8 hours with a 5th level spell slot. - **Tiny Hut** - As this spell would completely negate the challenge of the weather and camping system, it's best to play without it. However, if you truly wish to allow your players to use it, rule the inside of the dome only increases temperatures two steps toward comfortable, but still stops precipitation and wind from penetrating it. Additionally, allow any creature to enter the hut; it shouldn't be an impenetrable fortress of magic. - **Protection from Energy** - When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level, you can maintain your concentration on the spell for up to 8 hours. When you use a spell slot of 5th level or higher, you can maintain your concentration on the spell for up to 24 hours. ##### 4th Level - **Fire Shield** - When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level, you can extend the duration of the spell for up to 1 hour. When you use a spell slot of 5th level or higher, you can extend the spell’s duration for up to 8 hours. - **Private Sanctum** - You can choose for the spell's area to keep the temperature three steps toward comfortable, and block wind and precipitation. ##### 6th Level - **Druid Grove** - As part of this spell, you can make the area two steps toward comfortable, in addition to the other benefits. For the tresspassers part of the spell, you can invoke the ambient temperature to be two steps away from comfortable.

WEATHER

\page ## Wind ___

#### Shooting in a Storm Wind presents difficulty for ranged weapon attacks, exposed flames, flying creatures, and gas or smoke based spells. Extreme winds can even make it difficult to walk or set up camp, while storm winds can even cause a hazard to your hit points. Consult the following table for atmospheric wind. ``` ``` ___ **Light**. Little more than a light breeze. You can feel it on your face, leaves rustle, smoke drifts at an angle, banners and flags may flap lazily. These winds can snuff exposed candles but have little to no effect on travel and may even feel refreshing. ___ **Moderate**. Big gusts kick up dirt, sway branches, and send small waves in bodies of water. Moderate winds are difficult for flying creatures to fly against, treating them as difficult terrain, or if using Revised Combat Rules, they treat flying into the wind as ascending. These winds snuff out lamps and torches, but hooded and bullseye lanterns remain lit. Moderate winds also disperse smoke or gaseous spells according to the spell's description. ___ **Strong**. Strong winds become a travel hazard. Trees sway, dirt can sting, and small fires are impossible to start. Tents need stakes to stay upright. Flying creatures Large and smaller cannot fly into strong winds. Smoke and gaseous spells are instantly dispersed. Ranged weapon attacks except for Firearms suffer disadvantage. Walking into the wind is treated as difficult terrain and campfires cannot be started. ___ **Gale**. Gale winds become a dangerous hazard. Small items may be carried along the ground, and Firearm weapon attacks suffer disadvantage and all ranged weapon attacks automatically miss beyond normal range. Gale winds end fire spells instantly after their immediate effect. Flying creatures treat all flying as if ascending, and cannot fly against Gale winds. ___ **Storm**. Storm winds become destructive. Strong bursts of storm wind can uproot small trees, flatten even staked down tents, and can begin to damage rooftops and small structures. Medium items can be carried along the ground while small items are carried with the wind. Flying creatures cannot fly during storm winds except for magical means. Walking into the wind is impossible for Large and smaller creatures. ___ **Hurricane**. Hurricane winds are potentially deadly. Trees are uprooted, Medium and smaller creatures are lifted off the ground and into the storm, while large and bigger creatures are buffeted along the ground. Walking into the wind is impossible for all creatures. All ranged attacks automatically miss. Structures can be entirely destroyed.

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\page ## Precipitation Rain and snow are the most common types of precipitation and can grind travel to a halt if it is in excess. Many expeditions have failed or returned home because of massive amounts of rainfall or insurmountable feet of snow. Thick fog and dust storms can also reduce visibility or even render anything beyond a few feet completely opaque. Beyond that, storms can present hail and extreme blizzards can drop wintery mixes and freezing rain that cling ice to every available surface. And in a fantasy setting, more than water can fall from the sky, though that is covered in the Strange Weather section. ### Damage Effects The environment has a heavy impact on elemental damage types associated with atmospheric conditions. The following atmospheres create different conditions for damage. - **Dry** - Fire damage rolls 1 die size larger. Lightning damage rerolls damage dice that roll their maximum value. - **Damp** - Lightning damage rolls one die size larger. Fire damage rolls one die size smaller. Firearm weapons increase their misfire range by +1 in damp conditions. - **Wet** - Lightning damage rolls an additional damage die when any damage die rolls its maximum value. Fire damage deals only half its rolled total in addition to rolling one die size smaller. Firearm weapons do not function in wet conditions. - **Torrid** - Fire damage rolls an additional damage die when any damage die rolls its maximum value. Cold damage deals only half its rolled total in addition to rolling one die size smaller. - **Cold** - Cold damage rolls one die size bigger. Fire damage rolls one die size smaller. - **Frigid** - Cold damage rolls an additional damage die when any damage die rolls its maximum value. Fire damage deals only half its rolled total in addition to rolling one die size smaller. ### Wagon Travel Traveling over soft muddy ground or through snow can be difficult to impossible with a wagon of any sort. - **Slowed** - A party traveling with a wagon makes only half its travel pace for the day with a wagon - **Unsteady** - A party traveling with a wagon makes only half its travel pace. In addition, the driver of the wagon needs to pass a Land Vehicle check every section of the day they travel with the wagon. The DC starts at 15, but increases by 1 for each consecutive day section with this condition. If the driver fails, the wagon is stuck and the party spends the rest of the section of the day getting it unstuck, gaining no progress on their travel journey for that section. ``` ``` ### Long Rest DC Attempting to complete a long rest in the wild while in certain conditions can be downright unbearable. When sleeping in some precipitation, a character must succeed a Constitution saving throw at the end of a long rest against the Long Rest DC for that precipitation. On a failure, the character does not gain any hit dice or remove any points of exhaustion. ___ ### Precipitation Types #### Clear Skies/Cloud Cover With no precipitation, travel is easy and building camp has no detriments. However, Clear Skies incur **direct sunlight** to the temperature scale, while any cloud cover does not. #### Light Rain Light rain is most rain storms, from a light sprinkle that creates a few puddles to a couple inches of rain over an hour. - Small unprotected fires are snuffed, such as campfires, lamps, and candles. Pitch torches still burn. - Wagon travel is Slowed. - Without shelter, a character must succeed a DC 12 Long Rest saving throw. - Light Rain is Damp and Cold. #### Heavy Rain Heavy rain is a monsoon of continuous rainfall that soaks everything as if held underwater briefly. - All unprotected fires are snuffed, even torches. Only hooded and bullseye lanterns can house a flame. - Wagon travel is Unsteady. - Without shelter, a character must succeed a DC 17 Long Rest saving throw. - All creatures further than 30 ft are considered lightly obscured. - Heavy Rain is Wet and Cold. #### Thunderstorm Thunderstorms bring hail and lightning in excess, and can quickly flood an area with sheets of rainfall in a short time. - All unprotected fires are snuffed. - Wagon travel is Unsteady. - Without shelter, a character must succeed a DC 20 Long Rest saving throw. - All creatures further than 30 ft are lightly obscured. - Each hour, roll a d4. On a 1, hail falls for 10 minutes. Characters without shelter in hail must roll a Constitution saving throw. If they fail, roll a d20 and roll that total d4 dice. Half of this total is bludgeoning damage, and the other half is cold damage. - Thunderstorms immediately elevate the wind speed to Storm winds. - Thunderstorms are Wet and Cold, and any saving throw made to avoid lightning damage suffers disadvantage.

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\page #### Light Snow From flurries to visible flakes, light snow can largely be ignored outside the temperature change that comes with it. - Wagon travel is Slowed. - All creatures further than 30 ft are lightly obscured. - Without fire, a character must succeed a DC 12 Long Rest saving throw. - Light Snow is Cold. #### Heavy Snow Heavy or thick snowflakes that obscure the landscape and create feet of snow in hours. - Small unprotected fires are snuffed, such as campfires, lamps and candles. Pitch torchers still burn. - Without fire, a character must succeed a DC 17 Long Rest saving throw. - Wagon travel is Unsteady. - All creatures further than 30 ft away are lightly obscured, and additionally benefit from half cover. - Heavy Snow is Damp and Cold. #### Blizzard A blizzard can create whiteout conditions and the rare occurrence of thundersnow. - Small unprotected fires are snuffed, though pitch torches still burn. - Wagon travel is Unsteady. - Without fire and shelter, a character must succeed a DC 20 Long Rest saving throw. - All creatures further than 10 ft are lightly obscured, and additionally benefit from half cover. All creatures beyond 30ft are heavily obscured. - Blizzards immediately elevate the wind speed to Gale winds. - Blizzards are Damp and Frigid, and any saving throw made to avoid cold damage suffers disadvantage. #### Humid Heavy humidity that gathers moisture on every surface and makes for an unbearable heat in the summer. - Wind speed is immediately decreased to calm. - Increase ambient temperature two steps toward heat. - Characters must succeed a Constitution saving throw at the end of each hour spent in humidity or gain 1 point of exhaustion. Drinking at least half a waterskin during this hour automatically succeeds this saving throw. - Humid is Damp and Torrid. #### Light Fog A hazy atmosphere that may only be visible at great distances. - When building fire, light fog imposes disadvantage on the check - Creatures further away than 60 ft are lightly obscured. - Light fog is Damp. ``` ``` #### Heavy Fog Thick fog that can appear opaque at great distances. - When building a fire, heavy Fog imposes disadvantage on checks to build a fire. - All creatures are lightly obscured, and further away than 30 ft are heavily obscured. - Heavy fog is Damp. #### Freezing Rain When light rain or fog occurs in Chilly temperature, this precipitation becomes Freezing Rain. - All unprotected fires are snuffed, even torches. - Wagon Travel is Unsteady. - When a creature uses its maximum or more movement in a single turn, or any time it receives any bludgeoning damage, it must succeed a DC 10 Acrobatics check or fall prone. - Without fire and shelter, a character must succeed a DC 20 Long Rest saving throw. - Freezing Rain is Wet and Frigid. #### Tornado/Hurricane - Wind speed is immediately elevated to Hurricane winds - Wagon travel is impossible, and your wagon may blow away! - Medium and smaller creatures must succeed a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be swept up into the storm. They are caught in the high winds and receive 4d6 bludgeoning damage every round until they leave the storm. Once the storm is over, if they fall 100 feet to the ground. - Large and bigger creatures make this saving throw with advantage, and even if they fail, they are lifted 30 feet off the ground before they fall. - Rest is impossible without shelter. - Tornado/Hurricane is Wet and Cold.

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\page #### Dust Storm Fine particles carried on high winds, a dust storm reduces visibility and extracts every bit of moisture from the air. - Wind speed is immediately elevated to Strong winds. - Wagon Travel is Slowed - Without shelter, a character must succeed a DC 12 Long Rest saving throw. - Creatures are lightly obscured, and further than 30 ft are heavily obscured. - For each hour in a dust storm without face protection, a character must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or suffer a point of exhaustion. This DC increases by +1 each hour until the character spends at least one day section in shelter. - Dust storms are Dry. #### Sandstorm Sand and small rocks carried on gale force winds, a sandstorm is a more abrasive and dangerous dust storm. - Wind speed is immediately elevated to Gale winds - Wagon Travel is Slowed - Characters without shelter must succeed a DC 17 Long Rest saving throw. - All creatures are lightly obscured and benefit from half cover, and further than 30 ft are heavily obscured. This cover can be negated if a character is wearing eye protection. - For each hour in a dust storm without face protection, a character must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or suffer a point of exhaustion and also suffers 2d4 points of slashing damage. This DC increases by +1 each hour until the character spends at least one day section in shelter. - Sandstorms are Dry and Torrid. ``` ``` #### Blackstorm Blackstorms are mighty walls of dust and sand carried on the high winds of a moving storm front in dry or arid regions. - Wind Speed is immediately elevated to Storm winds - All unprotected fires are snuffed. - Firearm weapons increase their misfire range by +1 - Without shelter, a character must succeed a DC 20 Long Rest saving throw. - For each hour in a dust storm without face protection, a character must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or suffer a point of exhaustion and also suffers 4d4 points of slashing damage. This DC increases by +1 each hour until the player spends at least one day section in shelter. - All creatures further than 10 ft are lightly obscured and benefit from three quarters cover. All creatures beyond 30ft are heavily obscured. This cover can be negated if a character is wearing eye protection. - Blackstorms are Dry and Torrid

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\page ``` ``` ## Generating Weather Weather varies with the climate and season. Given a region's typical rainfall and seasonal temperatures, an area can vary from heavy rain every week during a wet season in a tropical climate all the way to arid dust storms once a month in a sunny desert. ### Climate There are 5 climate types, outlined here with the seasons. Choose an appropriate climate for your region, from **Arid, Tropical, Temperate, Continental,** and **Polar** Generating weather follows a set path that you control each day with a die roll. Each weather type sets on a track, depicted below. At the start of each day, roll a d100. The weather for that day is then one step closer to your roll. For example, while traveling during winter, if the previous day was Heavy Clouds, and today you roll a 25 on your d100 roll, the weather for the next day will be Light Snow. If you roll the current weather type, the day continues with the same weather. ### Wind Speed Wind can be generated similarly along the following path. You can roll a d8 to randomly determine which direction the winds blow that day, with 1 being north, 2 being northeast, and so on. ##### Windspeed |d100|Wind| |:--|:--| |1| Hurricane| |2-10| Storm| |11-20| Gale| |21-40| Strong| |41-70| Moderate| |71-99| Light Wind| |100|Calm| ### Temperature Variance For added unpredictability, you can generate random temperature by rolling a d6. ##### Temperature |d4|Variance| |:--|:--| |1-3| Given temperature for the season| |4| One step Colder| |5| One step Warmer| |6| Two steps away from Comfortable|

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\page # Exploration ___ Tracking time in minutes and hours during exploration is just as important as tracking time with rounds in combat, or tracking days with times of rest or travel. A lot of resource equipment uses time in increments of minutes to hours, such as torches or oil lamps, as well as many concentration spells and magical effects like Detect Magic or Mage Armor. This system aims to add a reliable means of tracking exploration time in a way in which anyone can see the amount of time that has passed. Generally, the cost of doing something while exploring is time or resources, banked against the danger of the environment or its denizens. You can cast a spell using a spell slot, or use time to cast it as a ritual. You can recklessly kick in every door, or you can use time and open it cautiously. ### The Time Pool When the party enters an area they will explore for several hours, state that time tracking for exploration has now begun, and set a single die in a visible location. The die you select represents the level of danger of the area. ##### Deserted - d12 This level of danger represents an area essentially empty and stable. It may only be haunted or perhaps our heroes have killed most of the monsters. As an example the party is exploring a Goblin warren while the goblins are out on a night raid, but there might be one or two left behind. ##### Preoccupied - d10 This level of danger represents an area that is mostly empty, or the enemies within are busy doing something else. Perhaps the Goblin tribe has returned but is busy carousing and drinking their stolen ale. They are wholly focused on their victory rounds and will intentionally ignore or might be too drunk to notice distractions. ##### Passive - d8 This level of danger should be expected in most dungeons. In our Goblin tribe example, the Goblins have finished their party and have retired for the evening. They are now sleeping off various ales, but they could be roused if our heroes are especially noisy or careless. ##### Alert - d6 This amount of danger represents vigilant or patrolling enemies, otherwise on the lookout for foes but are currently unaware of any trespassers. Our Goblins have now slept off their hangovers and have gone back to guarding their
warren for any intrusion, though the hint of trespassers
might lure them. ##### Searching - d4 The highest amount of danger which isn't active
combat. Enemies are searching for trespassers or
are following a trail of clues that might lead them
to the party. Our Goblins have gotten thirsty and
a loud crash of a trap going off in the distance
has raised the alarm. The Goblins dispatch a
group to investigate, but they haven't actually
seen or encountered our heroes yet. ``` ``` ### Caution or Ransack Whenever your party enters a dungeon, they will describe what they want to do, and you decide if that takes time, or can be done in less than a minute. When a party member signals they'd like to do something that you know will take longer than a minute, but shorter than ten minutes, you should ask:

** "While they are doing that, is there anything else the party wishes to do?"**

This signals to the party that the thing one of them requested to do will take some time and that during this, they can choose to also do something that will take some time. This also gives them an opportunity to interrupt their companion if they feel there is a different course of action they should take, or opt to help their companion to give them advantage on their check. Once all party members have selected to do something with the time that will pass, have each member roll the respective checks, drop a die into the Time Pool for party members to see, then describe the outcome. It is important to drop the dice into the Time Pool before resolving any actions, as the hour mark might tick before the action is done, or the action itself might prompt a complication or encounter, explained below. Many things should take time to complete, beyond the obvious such as ritual spells. Searching a room for hidden loot, investigating a hallway for traps, skimming through a book or treating a wound with a Healer's Kit would all take longer than a minute. Note that each of these things might take a different amount of time, but that all would take somewhere between 1 and 10 minutes. If your party has elected to do something that you feel would take longer than ten minutes, simply describe their progress in ten minute increments and continue until they do something else. Make an obvious note of dice dropping into the Time Pool as they complete this task.

EXPLORATION

\page Once the action that prompted a time dice to be added is completed, roughly ten minutes have passed. The Party should note this for spells and other effects. #### Exploration time Additionally, add a die to the Time Pool while the party travels for an especially long amount of time from location to location, not necessarily going from room to room, but rather when traveling down long hallways, trekking up several flights of stairs, grappling and climbing up a rock wall or crossing a rushing river. Remember that a creature is traveling more slowly and carefully while attempting to hide or be stealthy, and is usually at half speed while swimming, or climbing, or crawlings so while walking down a long hallway wouldn't normally add a die, perhaps sneaking down that same hallway would. This gives some value to players who might have otherwise had a useless ability to climb, swim, or sneak at normal speed, as now they are invaluable for traversing a dungeon quickly while also being careful. You could also add a die to the Time Pool if the party waits in one location for too long, maybe from discussing a plan, waiting for a monster to leave the area, or waiting for a window of opportunity. Keep an eye on the clock when they are in real-time, active conversation among one another, and toss a Time Dice into the Pool when 10 minutes have passed. If during the course of exploring, a dungeon increases in danger, the new dice size can join the others in the pool. ### Complications Once 6 passages of time have occurred, there are 6 dice in the Time Pool and an hour has passed. Gather up all dice, even if they are of different sizes, and roll them together. A complication occurs if there are any 1's among the dice. Complications can be described as the opposite of discoveries. They are context sensitive to the dungeon but are always bad luck for the party. For example, if exploring a cave or ancient ruin, there might be a cave in. While delving a Bug Bear mine, there might be a patrol of guards that wander by. While exploring a crypt, some undead might spontaneously wake due to no fault of the party, but begin wandering the halls in search of flesh, resulting in future time dice being a smaller size. The complication from time passing is not the party's fault, but rather is a result of the dungeon itself being a hostile and dangerous place. #### Reset Regardless of there being complication, once a full
Time Pool is rolled, all dice are removed from the Pool
and roughly 1 hour has passed. The party should note
this for things such as torches and spell effects before
you continue on with the dungeon. Additionally, consider the evolving danger of the
dungeon. Did the patrol of Goblins searching for
the source of the noise come up with nothing?
Did paying respect to a shrine of death cause the
undead return to their slumber once again? Consider changing the Time Dice size to fit how the dungeon evolves. ``` ``` ### Encounters Sometimes the party may decide to do something reckless, loud, or that would otherwise draw attention. If they do, pick up the Time Pool and roll the current number of dice. If there are any 1's, the party causes an encounter. For example, a roaming pack of monsters hears the commotion and comes to investigate, or a sleeping dragon is awakened and begins searching her lair for intruders. Or, perhaps the party is smashing down a door and the action causes a cave-in above the frame. Note that combat is usually loud as well. You may rule that a combat encounter itself is cause enough for another encounter roll if the party is not trying to silently kill their enemies. In this case, roll another singular die for the appropriate level of danger. It is assumed that when the encounter happens, all relevant or nearby enemies have come to investigate, so the single die roll represents distant enemies who might only hear echoes of combat or explosive spells. Consider that combat removes some of the threat from the dungeon, and that a significant encounter may lower the danger, increasing the Time Dice size. ### Illusion of Safety You might note this does mean that after the turn of the hour, the dungeon is inherently safer due to the Time Pool resetting, however, this can be explained by the rise and fall of danger as it occurs naturally, and that the Time Pool does not represent exactly one hour to the minute. Not every time the party smashes a door down does the Hobgoblin war patrol immediately hear it. The party will spend a significant amount of time performing various actions, that as long as you keep track of time passing, they will hardly notice.

EXPLORATION

\page ### Dungeon Resting Resting in a dungeon is extremely dangerous. Imagine a wanted criminal trying to find a safe, hidden spot within the city's main guard house to rest for an hour, or even overnight, without getting caught. It's possible, sure, but extremely unlikely. Spending even an hour in one place, even if hidden and quiet, is much more dangerous than moving around and being aware of surroundings. When the players take a short rest, roll 6 dice of the current danger, leaving the current Time Pool untouched. If there is a 1, the short rest is interrupted by a Complication. If there is no 1, the party miraculously completes their short rest and can recover hit dice and abilities. Completing a Long Rest uninterrupted in a dungeon is next to impossible, outside of extenuating circumstances. This virtually guarantees that something bad will happen, and it probably will happen more than once. Roll for each hour, and describe how the hour passes. This almost requires the party to set up a watch and be in a defensible location. However, if something does happen, consider again the lower threat level of the dungeon and roll the next hour at a lower danger level. Due to the mental and physical taxing of combat and high-stress situations, any more than one interruption during sleep will prompt a Constitution saving throw when the characters wake up, with a DC of 10 plus 1 for each interruption. A failure on this save gives a level of exhaustion, due to lack of sleep or general taxing of the body. This inherently makes it extremely risky and expensive to rest in a dungeon, necessitating magical stealth or vigilant guard, rather than relying on plopping down in a dark room to long rest in the middle of a monster lair.

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``` ``` ### Perception vs Investigation There is much debate about how perception versus investigation should be used, and whether each skill involves interacting with what they intend to search over. However, with this system of time tracking, it can be immediately clear which is which. ___ **Perception** takes no time and involves quickly looking, while Investigation is more involved and adds a die into the Time Pool. ___ Perception is done quickly; looking over a door or chest for obvious traps is easy and quick to do. Most traps are not well hidden and take advantage of trust or blind courage, and these traps will be found with a successful Perception check. ___ **Investigation** is more involved, searching for any hidden traps before setting them off or taking time to test a chest or door very carefully in as many ways as possible to feel a trap before it will set off. ___ Perhaps while looking at a wall, you can't tell anything about it. But by carefully knocking and listening every 3 feet along the wall, you can hear where the knocking sounds hollow and deduce a hidden door. No matter how high a creature rolls on perception, it will never be able to tell a Mimic is a mimic at a distance, while poking at things in the room with a pole to see if they stick requires time and investigation. In general, perception is quickly looking without interaction, while investigation involves careful interaction.

>### Shorter Short Rest >One of the best ways to improve the short rest is to simply make it take 10 minutes instead of 1 hour. This falls more in line with how long it takes to recover after exertion and also represents a more realistic timeframe for first aid. > >This also means a short rest could be reasonably completed in a dungeon, as 10 minutes passing is much safer than an entire hour and would make resting in dangerous locations actually viable. The added benefit is some of the weaker classes that recover resources on a short rest like Monk and Warlock become stronger.

EXPLORATION

\page ## Varying Degrees of Success Consider using varying degrees of success to further reward or punish your players with time spent when they are being cautious. #### Fortune Favors the Skilled For obstacles that present a loss of time, use the following guidelines - **Success** - If a player succeeds at a check which might take time, it takes 10 minutes and adds a Time Dice to the pile. - **Major Success** - If a player succeeds by 5 or more, they complete the task quickly and do not take any time. - **Triumph** - If a player succeeds by 10 or more, not only do they not take any time, but they also gain some advantage - **Failure** - If a player fails at this same check, they take 10 minutes and fail the check but can try again. - **Major Failure** - If a player fails by 5 or more, they fail the check and perhaps cannot try again - **Disaster** - If a player fails by 10 or more, they may not try again and also cause some disadvantage Let's take the obvious example of picking a lock. Choosing to pick a lock takes more time than bashing the door down. If they succeed, you add a Time Dice and explain the lock was difficult but they found the right way to pick it in the end. If they succeed by 5 or more, you explain the lock felt rather simple, perhaps even worn with age and they picked it in a matter of seconds. If they succeed by 10 or more, they pick the lock in a matter of seconds and also realize they recognize the style of locks here, making further pick attempts only cost time if they fail. However, if the player attempts the lock and fails, Time Dice are added, and you explain that the lock is proving more difficult than you thought, but with more time, they could eventually get it open. If they fail by 5 or more, you explain that it took several minutes, and the stubborn lock jammed itself to their picking attempts; no further attempts are possible without the key resetting the lock. Finally, if the player fails by 10 or more, they spent several minutes trying to pick the lock, end up jamming the lock, and also break their lockpick off inside! #### Delayed Dice Roll Try rolling some skill checks only when their success or failure becomes relevant. A good example is a rope knot. When tying up a prisoner, usually the DM asks for some skill check for tying knots. And if the player rolls poorly, sometimes another player asks if they can "look over" the knot for good handiwork, an obvious smoke screen for "let me roll better." Would they have asked to look over the knot if that player rolled well? Instead, let the player just tie up the prisoner without a roll. They go about other business and later when the prisoner is trying to escape, *then* have the player roll a skill check for the knot. This prevents players acting on their roll instead of playing the narrative. Roleplaying vs Roll Playing. This works for a lot of different skill checks; stealth checks only when an enemy comes near, sleight of hand only after a guard searches for contraband, medicine checks to treat disease only after a day of rest, etc.

EXPLORATION

\page ## In Practice After another failed pick attempt, the dwarven rogue, Durik, gruffs and slams his shoulder into a rotten door. He stumbles forward into a darkened room, ignoring the wincing of his companions. "Wood doors," he snorts, "underground even!" An Elven woman, Lesae, walks in behind him and puts her finger to her lips, "Quickly! We need to keep out of sight. They own this place-" "Aye, not much for upkeep," Durik retorts with a shake of his head. He closes what is left of the door behind his friend, a halfling tracker named Ivy, and their employer, a man who calls himself the Steward. ___ *At this point, the DM notes there are 4d6 dice in the Time Pool. Since smashing open the door is a loud action, he rolls the dice and comes up with a 1. He describes a passing patrol of Hobgoblins hearing the noise and coming to investigate. The players say they all hide, and roll Stealth checks.* ___ Ivy listens at the door, noting a patrol getting nearer. She quickly quiets the party with a gesture to her lips while pointing at the door. Lesae shoots Durik a glare, but all hold their breaths as the hobgoblins investigate. Soon, however, they pass on, unaware of the adventurers hidden away. The room is suddenly lit by the Elf holding her hand aloft; a *Light* spell shines from a ring on Lesae's finger. The party looks around to discover a decrepit study. There are several bookshelves of moldy books, a small chest next to a rotting desk, and a painting behind the desk depicting a fierce battle between two mages. There is another door to the room on a different wall. ___ *Lesae's player says she would like to cast detect magic as a ritual, believing they are safe for now since the patrol wandered off. Durik's player states he'd like to investigate the chest for traps, then pick the lock. The investigation check will take time, but picking the lock might not.* ___ Lesae opens her magic tome and begins quietly muttering a spell in silent concentration. Seeing her taking time for this, Durik goes to the chest. He bends down, holding his beard back to look over the chest carefully, gently testing the lock and hinges for any hostile mechanism. ___ *The DM states, "Would anyone else like to do something while time passes?"* *Ivy's player states she will stay at the door and listen. The Steward's player asks if he knows anything about the painting and the DM has him roll a History check.* ___ Ivy keeps her attention on the door, freeing her shortbow with an arrow nocked and ready. The Steward notes he has seen the painting's style before at a magic academy. The artist is an ancient master, and the painting is quite valuable, but it would be impossible to remove it from the wall without destroying it. He notes nothing else of interest and decides to investigate the rotting books, to see if any are still legible. ___ *Since recalling history isn't time intensive, the DM rules the Steward can now spend his time investigating the books with his Investigation check. Durik rolls an Investigation check for traps on the chest and Ivy rolls a Perception with disadvantage for listening through a water rotted door. The DM drops a d6 into the Time Pool, noting that there are now 5d6.* ___ During the next few minutes Lesae finishes her ritual and sees a faint magical aura. "There is something of magic you're hiding," she says to the masterwork. Durik grunts, "I'm no' 'ere for history, I'm 'ere for gold." He finds no traps on the chest, and begins picking the lock. The Steward speaks up, "Try to not destroy it, Lesae," he warns, "It's a valuable piece of..." he pauses, glancing at Durik, "...history." The dwarf rolls his eyes. "And we're not just here for treasure, we're here to catalogue what could be recovered if this place is made safe for my temple once again." He closes a book and places it back on the bookshelf. Most books are destroyed beyond recognition, but the ones that remain are written in a language he doesn't know. "I will ask the Enlightened to bless me with understanding for these esoteric works, but..." the Steward pauses as he grabs a book made of stone, attached to a chain in the wall. "Curious," the Steward stops before pulling the chain too far. "Durik, can you check this decoy book? It appears to be some mechanism within the wall." "Aye. Ask your god to bless ye while I actually do some work," Durik states flatly, "I'll look it over once I'm done 'ere," ___ *The Steward's player decides to cast Comprehend Languages as a ritual. Again the DM asks the party if they want to do anything while this ritual is cast. Lesae's player decides to look over the painting with a Perception check. Durik's player rolls a Thieves Tools check and the DM sees the success is 5 over the DC, and says Durik will pick the lock quickly. Ivy's player says she stays at the door again.* ___ Durik skillfully sets the lock and opens the chest to reveal a handful of coins and a key, pocketing the coins before the rest of the party can see. "Lesae, see if this key fits something around tha' painting." As soon as the elven woman looks over to Durik, he tosses her the key and then joins the Steward quietly preparing a ritual at the bookshelf. With a quick look from her keen eyes, Lesae spots a previously hidden key hole. With a smile, she slips the key into it and feels a click as the painting pops out and slides to the side, revealing a magic scroll. ___ *The DM drops another dice into the Time Pool, informing Lesae's player that her Detect Magic spell has faded.* *There are now 6d6 and it is time to roll for a Complication. This happens before any actions complete. He comes up with a 1 but does not tell the party.* ___ Ivy hears footsteps approach and hushes the Steward during his ritual, which interrupts it. The party falls silent and Ivy hears the creature begin to walk away but when she opens her door to look, she sees nothing. ___ *The DM informs the party that something has discovered them and the danger level has increased to **Searching**.* ___ Lesae's casts an *Invisibility* as Durik throws caution to the wind and pulls the chain, hoping for an escape. With a click, the bookshelf swings open like a door, revealing a secret passage and a fleeing goblin; apparently what Ivy had heard earlier. "Don't let him escape!" Durik bellows out, freeing two handaxes from his belt. Ivy draws her bow and shoots, narrowly missing the goblin as it rounds a corner. ___ *The party rolls initiative and chases after the goblin. The DM informs them an hour has passed, and Lesae notes her Invisibility spell started on 1/6 Time Dice as the party chases after the goblin, further into the bowls of the ruined temple of the Enlightened.*

EXPLORATION

\page

#### This FlowChart should help you resolve how to conduct exploration Time Pools.

FLOW CHART

\page ### Credits Homebrew by Commander Fayne. All rights reserved except which are copyright of their respective holders. All art credited is used with permission. This material can not be sold, resold or profited from in any way, in accordance with Creative Commons. ##### Page Art Credit - Cover Page, "Gibbon Rock" Bram Sels, https://www.artstation.com/bramsels - Pg. 2, "Mana Source" Tom Garden, https://www.artstation.com/tomgarden - Pg. 3, "Dungeon" Simon Barle, https://www.artstation.com/simonbarle - Pg. 5, "Alms Collector" Bram Sels, https://www.artstation.com/bramsels - Pg. 6, "Forest" Artem Demura, https://www.artstation.com/stargrave - Pg. 7, "Navigator Seer" Christof Grobelski, https://www.artstation.com/christofgrobelski - Pg. 8, "Witch" Yuliya Litvinova, https://www.artstation.com/litvinova - Pg. 9, "Waterfall" Pat Presley, https://www.artstation.com/phattro - Pg. 10, "Formless Reality" Felipe Escobar, https://scrolller.com/formless-reality-by-felipe-escobar-bravo-174ykpp0d5 - Pg. 11, "Storm" Conar Cross, https://www.artstation.com/conarcross - Pg. 12, "Camping in the Desert" Francesco Furneri, https://www.artstation.com/jackfurneri - Pg. 14, "Arcs" Stas Yurev, "https://www.artstation.com/yurev" - Pg. 15, "Archers View" Shahzeb Khan Raza, https://www.artstation.com/shahzebkhanraza - Pg. 17, "Snow Dragon" JiaHao, https://www.artstation.com/jiahao - Pg. 18, "Bayek Dream" Martin Deschambault, https://www.artstation.com/dechambo - Pg. 19, "Channeled Strom" Joseph Meehan, https://www.artstation.com/meehanjo - Pg. 22, "Snow World" Gavin O'Donnell, https://www.artstation.com/gavinodonnell - Pg. 23, "Swamp Ambush" Greg Rutkowski, https://www.artstation.com/rutkowski - Pg. 24, "Dragon Eating" Leesha Hannigan, https://www.artstation.com/leeshahannigan - Pg. 25, "Icewind Dale" Stepan Alekseev, https://www.artstation.com/chosac - Pg. 26, "Spires IV" Conar Cross, https://www.artstation.com/conarcross - Pg. 27, "Exploration FlowChart" CommanderFayne - Pg. 29, "Viking Weapon Arrangement" Russell Dongjun Lu. https://www.artstation.com/ludongjun ``` ``` > ##### Support us on Patreon! > Like what we're doing and want more? Support gets you access to exclusive content, previews of upcoming brews or changes to current brews, and of course a greater appreciation from the development team on Commander's Brews. Thank you! > > >##### Thank you to my wonderful Patrons! - Anton Palikhov - Carlos Kennelly - Elyah Martin - Michael Zedeh - Fiddlewink3rd - Wavy - Riukee - Lucin0x - shutmc1 - Fortunato Martinez - Zoey Nightlight - raydencaye - John Siegmund

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