These rules are for off-road travel or travel through a dangerous area.
Resting
Normally, a creature cannot fully benefit from a long rest while on the road without a Sanctuary. It instead gets half its Maximum HP back, 25% of hit die back, and no spell slots. It still gains the full benefits of a short rest.
If the travelers have someone with Ranger levels, expertise in the Survival skill, or one of the backgrounds listed below*, that creature may make a Survival check against the Wilderness Survival DC every 5 days. On a success, they can provide one Sanctuary. A ranger makes this check with advantage.
*Far Traveler, Hermit, Marine, Outlander
Duties and Rolls
There are two duties: The Hunter/Gatherer and the Navigator. Both use the Wilderness Survival Table and are modified by the Seasons and Danger table. If one creature takes on both duties, it makes one of them at disadvantage. A creature can select either Intelligence (Nature) or Wisdom (Survival) for these checks. If there are more than two travelers, up to two more can try to assist on a roll, following the guidelines below.
- If an assistor doesn't have proficiency in either skill but doesn't have a negative in one of the skills, the creature making the check gains a +1 bonus to their roll
- If an assistor has proficiency with one of the skills, the creature making the check gains a 1d4 bonus to their roll
- If an assistor has expertise with one of the skills, the creature making the check gains a 1d6 bonus to their roll
For every 8 creature values, there must be at least one Hunter/Gatherer.
Creature Value Table
| Creature Size |
Creature Value |
| Tiny |
1/4 |
| Small/Medium |
1 |
| Large |
2 |
| Huge |
4 |
| Gargantuan |
8 |
Wilderness Survival Table
| Terrain Examples |
Starting DC |
| Changing landscape from regional magic |
20 |
| Forest, jungle, swamp, mountains, or open sea with overcast skies and no land in sight |
15 |
| Arctic, desert, hills, or open sea with clear skies and no land in sight. |
10 |
| Grassland, meadow, farmland, clear road. |
5 |
Season Table
| Season |
DC Modifier |
| Spring |
-2 |
| Summer |
-1 |
| Fall |
+2 |
| Winter |
+3 |
Danger
| Danger Rating |
DC Modifier |
Example |
| 1 |
+1 |
Road frequented by bandits; typical coastline or hills |
| 2 |
+2 |
Wilds teeming with predators both bestial and monstrous; typical arctic, desert, or mountains |
| 3 |
+3 |
Lands frequented by a family of chimera |
| 4 |
+4 |
Lands home to a powerful, predatory dragon |
For example, the DC for traveling through mountains (15) home to an adult dragon (+4) in the fall (+2) is 21.
If the Navigation check fails by 1-5, it takes the travelers 1.5x the time that it would normally take to arrive at their destination. If it fails by 6-10, the travelers take 2x the amount of time that it would take to arrive at their destination. If it fails by 11+, the travelers take 3x the amount of time that it would take to arrive at their destination.
If the Hunter/Gatherer check fails by 1-5, travelers take a -1 penalty to attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks. If it fails by 6-10, the travelers gain a level of Exhaustion. If it fails by 11+, they gain a second level of Exhaustion. Penalties acquired in this way can be removed by long resting with sufficient nutrition at a Sanctuary. Creatures that don't need to eat or drink aren't affected by this.
DM's Advice
There should not be more than a number of combative random encounters equal to half the total traveling days.
The DM is encouraged to take the degree of success or failure into account when determining the nature of random encounters, and remember that there are 3 pillars of D&D: Combat, Social, and Exploration.
Comments