Adventuring

Time Scales

In situations where keeping track of the passage of time is important, the GM determines the time a task requires. The GM might use a different time scale depending on the context of the situation at hand.
In a dungeon environment, the adventurers’ movement happens on a scale of minutes. It takes them about a minute to creep down a long hallway, another minute to check for traps on the door at the end of the hall, and a good ten minutes to search the chamber beyond for anything interesting or valuable.
In a city or wilderness, a scale of hours is often more appropriate. Adventurers eager to reach the lonely tower at the heart of the forest hurry across those fifteen miles in just under four hours’ time.
For long journeys, a scale of days works best. Following the road from Valderon to Arandesh, the adventurers spend four uneventful days before an orc ambush interrupts their journey. In combat and other fast-paced situations, the game relies on rounds, a 6-second span of time.

Travel

Swimming across a rushing river, sneaking down a dungeon corridor, scaling a treacherous mountain slope all sorts of movement play a key role in adventures.
When appropriate, the GM may summarize the adventurers' movement without calculating exact distances or travel times: "You travel through the forest and find the dungeon entrance late in the evening of the third day."
Even in a dungeon, particularly a large dungeon or a cave network, the GM might summarize movement between encounters: "After killing the guardian at the entrance to the ancient dwarven stronghold, you consult your map, which leads you through miles of echoing corridors to a chasm bridged by a narrow stone arch."
Sometimes it's important, though, to know how long it takes to get from one spot to another, whether the answer is in days, hours, or minutes. The rules for determining travel time depend on two factors: the speed and travel pace of the creatures moving and the terrain they're moving over.

Speed

Every character and monster has a speed, which is the distance in feet that the character or monster can walk in 1 round. This number assumes short bursts of energetic movement in the midst of a life-threatening situation.
The following rules determine how far a character or monster can move in a minute, an hour, or a day.

Travel Pace

While traveling over longer distances (greater than 1000 feet), a group of adventurers can move at the speed shown on the Travel Speed table. The table states how far the party can move in a period of time based on their base walking speed. When determining your travel speed, always round up to the nearest increment of 10. For example, a dwarf with a base walking speed of 25 can keep up with his human companions (base walking speed of 30) easily enough by walking at a slightly brisker pace.

Travel Speed

The distance that adventurers can cover is based on their base walking speed. For each increment of 10 feet, they can cover an additional 100 feet per minute, and an additional mile per hour. For example, a creature with a base walking speed of 30, and Constitution score of 10 could comfortably walk 24 miles per day before they risk exhaustion (described below). If they were hustling (also described below), they could walk 32 miles in that day. The Travel Speed table outlines the most common increments of base walking speed.

Travel Speed Table

Fatigue Threshold

A characters can travel for a limited number of hours before fatigue sets in, this is called their fatigue threshold. A character's fatigue threshold is equal to 8 + their Constitution modifier. This is the number of hours they can comfortably travel in a day. For each additional hour of travel beyond their fatigue threshold, the character gains a level of exhaustion at the end of the hour.
A long rest resets the number of hours spent traveling to zero.

Difficult Terrain

The travel speeds given in the Travel Pace table assume relatively simple terrain: roads, open plains, or clear dungeon corridors. But adventurers often face dense forests, deep swamps, rubble-filled ruins, steep mountains, and ice-covered ground—all considered difficult terrain.
You move at half speed in difficult terrain—moving 1 foot in difficult terrain costs 2 feet of speed—so you can cover only half the normal distance in a minute, an hour, or a day.

Activities While Traveling

Avoid Detection

Characters can move stealthily as long as the terrain allows for concealment. While moving in this way, characters move as though their base walking speed was 10 feet faster. If you successfully avoid detection, you have a chance of surprising foes if combat erupts.

Hustle

Characters can push themselves to move at a brisk pace. While moving at this pace, characters move as though their base walking speed was 10 feet faster. Characters moving at this pace suffer a -5 penalty to their passive Wisdom (Perception) score to notice hidden threats or points of interest, they also suffer a -10 penalty to their passive Wisdom (Survival) score to forage for food and water.

Mounted Travel

A mounted character uses the speed of their mount in place of their own. A character that is not proficient with their mount can not Avoid Detection or Hustle while mounted, and the character wears down their own fatigue threshold in addition to the mount's fatigue treshold.
For example, Harold's Fatigue Threshold is 8, he rides his riding horse for six hours before dismounting to traverse a mountain path on foot. If Harold has proficiency with Mounts (land), he can still travel for another 8 hours on foot before gaining exhaustion. If he is not proficient, the journey astride his horse tires him out as well and he can only travel for 2 hours on foot before hitting his Fatigue Threshold.
For short spans of time (up to an hour), many animals move much faster than humanoids. A character proficient with Mounts (land) can ride at a canter for about an hour once per long rest, covering twice the usual distance indicated in the Miles per Hour column. If fresh mounts are available every 10 to 12 miles, characters can cover larger distances at this pace, but this is very rare except in densely populated areas.

Vehicular Travel

A character aboard a vehicle uses the speed of the vehicle, or the mount pulling it.
Land Vehicles. Characters in wagons, carriages, or other ordinary land vehicles travel at a pace determined by the character steering the vehicle. Characters in such vehicles cannot attempt to Avoid Detection while traveling, and can only Hustle if the character steering the vehicle has proficiency with Vehicles (land).
Waterborne Vehicles. Characters in a waterborne vessel are limited to the speed of the vessel, and they don't suffer penalties for a fast pace or gain benefits from a slow pace. Depending on the vessel and the size of the crew, ships might be able to travel for up to 24 hours per day.
Certain special mounts, such as a pegasus or griffon, or special vehicles, such as a carpet of flying, allow you to travel more swiftly and have their own special rules.

Special Types of Movement

Movement through dangerous dungeons or wilderness areas often involves more than simply walking. Adventurers might have to climb, crawl, swim, or jump to get where they need to go.

Climbing, Swimming, and Crawling

Each foot of movement costs 1 extra foot (2 extra feet in difficult terrain) when you're climbing, swimming, or crawling. You ignore this extra cost if you have a climbing speed and use it to climb, or a swimming speed and use it to swim. If you don't have a climbing speed or are climbing a slippery vertical surface or one with few handholds, the GM will often require a successful Strength (Athletics) check. Similarly, gaining any distance in rough water might require a successful Strength (Athletics) check.

Jumping

Your Strength determines how far you can jump.
Long Jump. When you make a long jump, you cover a number of feet up to your Strength score if you move at least 10 feet on foot immediately before the jump. When you make a standing long jump, you can leap only half that distance. Either way, each foot you clear on the jump costs a foot of movement.
This rule assumes that the height of your jump doesn't matter, such as a jump across a stream or chasm. At your GM's option, you must succeed on a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check to clear a low obstacle (no taller than a quarter of the jump's distance), such as a hedge or low wall. Otherwise, you hit it.
When you land in difficult terrain, you must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to land on your feet. Otherwise, you land prone.
High Jump. When you make a high jump, you leap into the air a number of feet equal to 3 + your Strength modifier (minimum of 0 feet) if you move at least 10 feet on foot immediately before the jump. When you make a standing high jump, you can jump only half that distance. Either way, each foot you clear on the jump costs a foot of movement. In some circumstances, your GM might allow you to make a Strength (Athletics) check to jump higher than you normally can.
You can extend your arms half your height above yourself during the jump. Thus, you can reach above you a distance equal to the height of the jump plus 1½ times your height.

Flying

Flying creatures enjoy many benefits of mobility, but they must also deal with the danger of falling. If a flying creature is knocked prone, has its speed reduced to 0, or is otherwise deprived of the ability to move, the creature falls, unless it has the ability to hover or it is being held aloft by magic, such as by the fly spell.

Marching Order

When traveling or exploring, players will establish a marching order.
A marching order makes it easier to determine which characters are affected by traps, which ones can spot hidden enemies, and which ones are the closest to those enemies when a fight breaks out.
A character might occupy the front rank, one or more middle ranks, or the back rank. Characters in the front and back ranks need enough room to travel side by side with others in their rank. When space is too tight, the marching order must change, usually by moving characters to a middle rank.
Fewer Than Three Ranks. If an adventuring party arranges its marching order with only two ranks, they are a front rank and a back rank. If there's only one rank, it's considered a front rank.

Nourishment

Characters who don’t eat or drink suffer the effects of exhaustion. Exhaustion caused by lack of food or water can’t be removed until the character eats and drinks the full required amount.

Food

A character needs a certain amount of food per day to feel satiated. The amount of food a creature needs is determined by their size as listed in the Daily Food Requirements Table. A creature can make food last longer by subsisting on half rations. Eating half of your daily required amount of food in a day counts as half a day without food.

Daily Food Requirements

Starvation

A creature can go without food for a limited number of days before starvation sets in, this is called their starvation limit. A character's starvation limit is equal to 2 + their Constitution modifier (minimum 1). At the end of each day beyond that limit, the character suffers one level of exhaustion .
A normal day of eating resets the count of days without food to zero.

Water

The amount of water a creature needs each day is also determined by their size and is listed in the Water Requirement Table. A creature needs to drink double their required water each day if the weather is hot.

Daily Water Requirements

Dehydration

A creature can go without water for 24 hours, or half that amount of time if the weather is hot. After 24 hours without water, the creature begins feeling severe thirst. A creature can function normally for a limited amount of time while severely thirsty before they suffer the effects of dehydration, this is called their dehydration limit. A character's dehydration limit is a number of hours equal to four times their Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 hour). After every hour without water beyond their dehydration limit, the character gains a level of exhaustion at the end of the hour.
A normal day's worth of water consumption resets the count of hours without water.

Resting

Heroic though they might be, PCs can't spend every hour of the day in the thick of exploration, social interaction, and combat. They need rest-time to sleep and eat, tend their wounds, refresh their minds and spirits for spellcasting, and brace themselves for further adventure.
Adventurers, as well as other creatures, can take short rests in the midst of a day and a long rest to end it.

Short Rest

You can take a short rest during a period of downtime, at least 30 minutes long, during which you do nothing more strenuous than eating, drinking, and tending to wounds. You receive the following benefits at the end of a short rest:

• You regain hit points equal to your character level + your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1).


• You regain mana equal to half your character level (rounded up).

You can take a short rest twice before taking a long rest after which any expended short rests are restored. Whenever you take a long rest, the benefits of any unused short rests are added to your long rest.

Long Rest

A long rest is a period of extended downtime, at least 8 hours long, during which a character sleeps or performs light activity: reading, talking, eating, or standing watch for no more than 2 hours. A character receives the following benefits at the end of a long rest:

• You regain hit points equal to twice your character level multiplied by your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1).


• You regain mana equal to half your character level (rounded up) multiplied by your Spellcasting Ability modifier (minimum of 1). If you have more than one Spellcasting Ability modifier, choose the highest one.


• You reduce your level of exhaustion by 1.


• You gain the benefits of any unused short rests.

A group traveling through a hostile environment can attempt to rest, but they aren’t entirely safe from danger, and their rest might be interrupted. The 8 hours of rest do not need to be consecutive, however, and after an interruption, characters can continue their rest.
While sleeping in light armor has no adverse effects on the wearer, sleeping in medium or heavy armor results in poor rest. A character that sleeps in medium or heavy armor halves hit points and mana regained after completing a long rest. If a character would have lost a level of exhaustion from taking a long rest, sleeping in medium or heavy armor prevents it.
Though a long rest typically happens at night, a group gains the same benefits for resting during the day. Either way, they can gain the benefits of a long rest only once every 24 hours.

Senses and Light

The most fundamental tasks of adventuring—noticing danger, finding hidden objects, hitting an enemy in combat, and targeting a spell, to name just a few—rely heavily on a character's ability to see. Darkness and other effects that obscure vision can prove a significant hindrance.

Vision and Light

A given area might be lightly or heavily obscured. In a lightly obscured area, such as dim light, patchy fog, or moderate foliage, creatures have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
A heavily obscured area—such as darkness, opaque fog, or dense foliage—blocks vision entirely. A creature effectively suffers from the blinded condition when trying to see something in that area.
The presence or absence of light in an environment creates three categories of illumination: bright light, dim light, and darkness.
Bright light lets most creatures see normally. Even gloomy days provide bright light, as do torches, lanterns, fires, and other sources of illumination within a specific radius.
Dim light, also called shadows, creates a lightly obscured area. An area of dim light is usually a boundary between a source of bright light, such as a torch, and surrounding darkness. The soft light of twilight and dawn also counts as dim light. A particularly brilliant full moon might bathe the land in dim light.
Darkness creates a heavily obscured area. Characters face darkness outdoors at night (even most moonlit nights), within the confines of an unlit dungeon or a subterranean vault, or in an area of magical darkness.

Special Senses

Some creatures might have special senses that allow them to perceive the world around them differently. Certain items, class features and spells can also allow a character to gain these abilities. These special senses are described below.

Blindsight

A creature with blindsight can perceive its surroundings without relying on sight, within a specific radius. Creatures without eyes, such as oozes, and creatures with echolocation or heightened senses, such as bats and true dragons, have this sense.

Darkvision

Within a specified range, a creature with darkvision can see in dim light as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light, so areas of darkness are only lightly obscured as far as that creature is concerned. However, the creature can't discern color in that darkness, only shades of gray.

Truesight

A creature with truesight can, out to a specific range, see in normal and magical darkness, see invisible creatures and objects, automatically detect visual illusions and succeed on saving throws against them, and perceives the original form of a shapechanger or a creature that is transformed by magic. Furthermore, the creature can see into the Ethereal Plane.

Tremorsense

A creature with tremorsense can detect and pinpoint the origin of vibrations within a specific radius, provided that the creature and the source of the vibrations are in contact with the same ground or substance. Tremorsense can’t be used to detect flying or incorporeal creatures.