overland travel rules

The complete guide to overlanding: What you need to know to get off the grid

Not to be confused with off-roading, here's everything you need to know in order to have a safe and successful overlanding trip

By Marvin King

Getting outside and exploring nature has become exceedingly popular over the past few years. And while I’ve always considered myself to be an avid traveler and seasoned camper, I found myself wanting to push the limits for how far “out there” I could go. My Toyota 4Runner SUV and all-terrain tires have been stable, constant companions on all my adventures. However, I recently learned there were some relatively simple updates I could do to my SUV that would make my escaping easier and more enjoyable. And that’s when I discovered overlanding.

Maybe you’ve never heard of overlanding before, or you’ve heard about it but never tried it. Either way, I’ll break down everything you need to know—from clarifying what overlanding is to sharing the best overlanding gear to suggesting some of the best places to test your overlanding skills. Consider this your complete guide to overlanding.

Related Interested in overlanding? Here’s where to start and what to know

Overlanding vs. off-roading

First, it’s important to note the difference between overlanding and off-roading. These two terms are often used interchangeably but they shouldn’t be. It’s valuable to know that overlanding includes off-roading, whereas off-roading doesn’t always include overlanding.

Off-roading can generally be defined as any driving activity that takes a vehicle on unsurfaced roads or over natural terrain. Overlanding, then, is technically a form of off-roading because you almost always cover some unsurfaced roads—but the goal of overlanding is to travel long distances and have a vehicle that can house you for the duration of the journey. And because overlanding is typically done over multiple days, in a variety of environments, more equipment is required.

Related How to off-road like a pro in your own vehicle

When I started making updates to my 4Runner, I had two major goals in mind: I wanted a vehicle that could get me from point A to point B (even if that meant taking dirt roads), and I wanted a vehicle that could take me completely off the grid for days at a time. The ability to be self-sufficient and self-reliant for long periods of time ultimately meant that I was building my 4Runner for overlanding.

Overlanding includes off-roading, whereas off-roading doesn’t always include overlanding.

Overlanding gear and equipment

Now that we’ve clarified what overlanding is, let’s get into some of the specifics around proper gear and equipment. Overlanding requires a lot out of your vehicle, as the intention is to stay outdoors for long periods of time with little to no maintenance. When evaluating a vehicle for overlanding, there is no one “right” option—it really depends on the driver and personal preference, and you definitely don’t have to own an SUV or truck to have a successful overlanding trip. However, here are a few important things to consider:

Four-wheel drive is a valuable feature on any overlanding vehicle. Even if you don’t plan to scale boulders, you may find yourself driving through uneven terrain, and having that extra traction and power will make all the difference.

Tires are non-negotiable when it comes to overlanding—having a set of reliable tires can be the difference between a good trip and a great trip. After all, the tougher the tire, the easier the escape. Look for tires that specifically mention off-road or all-terrain (sometimes listed as AT or A/T). I’m currently running a set of Toyo Open Country A/T III tires. They have gotten my 4Runner through every type of condition—including snow, mud, sand, and gravel. Remember to check your tires at least once a month, as well as any time you return to the highway after an off-road excursion. This includes checking tire pressure, tread depth, and inspecting the tires for any tears or damage.

Suspension is another important factor, as this helps maximize vehicle performance and absorb bumps for a safer, more comfortable ride. Look for a vehicle that has independent front suspension (IFS). This means that if you hit a bump or uneven ground, only the contacted wheel is affected while the rest of the wheels keep their own traction. Suspension is also important for weight. Depending on how long you plan to overland, you may be packing weeks’ worth of food and supplies, which can add significant weight to your vehicle. Even a simple tent topper on your car’s roof or truck bed adds extra strain, so be mindful of your vehicle’s maximum weight limit.

High ground clearance is not necessarily required for an overlanding trip, but it is something to consider. Having higher clearance on your car or truck means you can take on more unexpected terrain and not have to worry about scraping the undercarriage. To help increase the ground clearance on your vehicle and prevent damage, you can add undercarriage protection, such as skid plates, or raise your vehicle using torsion bars and spacer lifts.

Lastly, it never hurts to carry a few additional pieces of safety equipment —you never know what you might run into on (or off) the open road. Some safety items that I always carry with me on an overlanding trip are a recovery traction board , an air compressor , winch recovery straps , and a basic tool kit (hammer, pliers, screwdriver, and level).

Related 20 overlanding essentials: Gear and gadgets for the ultimate off-road camping adventure

What to pack for an overlanding trip

In addition to food, water, and the usual assortment of clothing and toiletries, I’ve found the below items to be crucial for a successful overlanding trip.

Coolers are really useful, especially when overlanding for multiple days in hot, desert-like conditions. You can even buy small, collapsible cooler bags to help preserve space. Another tip is to add a few frozen water bottles to your cooler—they can double as ice and fresh drinking water once they melt. If you are thinking about overlanding for longer than a week, you may want to consider investing in a small refrigerator that can connect to your car’s battery. Just be aware of the refrigerator’s voltage and how much power it will pull so you don’t end up draining your battery and getting stuck somewhere.

A camp stove gives you the option to cook different meals, especially if fires aren’t allowed where you’re overlanding. Try to get a multi-fuel stove if possible, which will allow you to burn different types of fuel (white gas, kerosene, unleaded gasoline, even alcohol) and not be so reliant on propane. However, if you want to forgo a stove completely and stick to campfires, then I suggest packing a cast iron skillet (you really only need one medium-sized skillet). These pans are extremely durable, reliable, and ideal for cooking over an open flame.

A tent or sleeping foundation adds extra space and comfort, especially if you plan to overland with passengers. I opted for a rooftop tent on my 4Runner because it gives me and my family more space and is super easy to install. It also allows us to be elevated off the ground, where we can stay dry and feel safer. If you don’t want to deal with a tent, then I still suggest having some sort of sleeping pad or blow-up mattress on hand. And if you have the space, some extra pillows and blankets from home can make a big difference. Overlanding can be physically demanding on your body so it’s important to get a good night’s rest.

Topographic maps and a compass are really valuable to have since, more often than not, overlanding will take you to far-out places with no cell service. Topographic maps help you chart your driving course and give you a much better idea of the terrain and elevation, while a compass helps guide which direction you should park your vehicle (especially important if you want to sleep in and not directly face the sunrise).

Comfortable camp chairs might seem unnecessary since you’ll be driving a lot during an overlanding trip, but there’s something to be said about being able to sit outside and enjoy the outdoors. Just be sure you bring chairs that can recline and have adjustable legs and feet to fit whatever terrain you’re sitting on. There can be a lot of downtime on an overlanding trip, and having some comfortable camp chairs to relax in will help pass the time.

A first aid kit should be an essential for any outdoor trip. I always keep a first aid kit in my 4Runner, that way I never forget it. In addition to some of the basics—Band-Aids, alcohol swabs, tweezers, and ibuprofen—I also like to carry materials for more serious injuries, such as gauze, splints, and wound irrigators. And lastly, my first-aid kit also includes a small fire extinguisher and a DeLorme inReach satellite tracker . This tracker not only allows me to send out an SOS signal but it also acts as a two-way messaging device and can download weather updates.

Best places to try overlanding

The best part about having an overland-ready vehicle is the freedom to go almost anywhere. Local and state campgrounds are a great place to ease into overlanding, especially if you have to drive a ways off the main highway to reach them. Call ahead and ask about road conditions leading to the campground, and find out if the campsites are paved or have hookups. To get a more authentic overlanding experience, look for remote campgrounds that have dirt roads and no hookups.

Related The ultimate guide to overlanding the California Crest Trail

Once you’ve mastered the more rugged campgrounds and you really want to get the most out of your overlanding vehicle, then it’s time to explore places that are completely off the grid. Start by purchasing a state atlas, and then picking a specific area that you want to explore. Look for public lands (sections labeled Bureau of Land Management, or BLM) and fire roads—both of which are great places to start since they offer wide open, safe options for overlanding. You can also check out maps on the United States Forest Service (USFS) website , which often include specific overlanding routes, 4×4 trails, backroads, and remote forest pathways. And lastly, there are some free overlanding apps, like onX , that are great for discovering new places and extremely helpful when it comes to planning your first trip.

Just remember, the whole point of overlanding is to break away from the hustle of daily life and enjoy some secluded time in nature. Plan a route and just go. And then go a little further the next time. Adventure is out there, you just have to find it.

After your overlanding trip

Once your overlanding trip is complete, your work isn’t finished just yet. You still have to unpack, clean, and do a maintenance check.

Before you leave the dirt roads and start driving on paved highways, always make sure your tire pressure is at the manufacturer’s recommended pressure. To get the most accurate reading, tire pressure should be checked when tires are “cold,” or have been driven less than a mile.

Back at your home base, be sure to give your vehicle a wash—or at least a good hose down—to get rid of any dirt or buildup that has accumulated on and under your vehicle. This will also help prevent rust if you do any overlanding in snowy or wet conditions. Be sure to wipe down and shake out all of your gear as well.

Once your vehicle has been cleaned off, it’s time to do a maintenance check (getting rid of the dirt and grim first will help you notice if anything is wrong or looks damaged). Some things I always check after an overlanding trip are the suspension, tire tread, tire pressure, wiper blades, and all fluid levels, including the oil.

Even though these aren’t the most fun or glamorous parts of overlanding, they are vital for maintaining the longevity of your vehicle so you can get back out there and do it all over again.

This article has links to products that were carefully selected by our editors. We may earn commission on your purchases from these links.  Visit this page  for the full details of our affiliate marketing policy.

Meet the Author

Marvin King

Marvin King is a full-time dad and part-time designer. He loves photography and long trips in his 4Runner. He is currently residing in the City of Trees, California.

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• / DnD 5e Overland Travel: 7 Proven Methods

DnD 5e Overland Travel: 7 Proven Methods

All the best methods for role-playing dnd 5e long distance travel.

By Riley Rath 

Table of Contents 

- we need several methods for our dnd 5e campaigns , - summary if dnd 5e long distance travel rules as written , - 7 different methods for running travel in dnd 5e, - dnd 5e overland travel dm tips , - conclusion: put it all together.

(This post is part of a series on "travel DnD 5e." Read the first post here . For more on exploration, start here ). 

Awesome Dice Has 7-Dice Sets for TTRPG Players

Explore new dnd dice, we need several methods for dnd 5e overland travel.

In a previous post , I talked about how travel is usually necessary for a  Dungeons and Dragons (or similar TTRPG) adventure, but the rules-as-written make it confusing and boring, so most tables skip it... so we skip it. 

But that doesn't solve the problem... we need better Dnd 5e overland travel. 

Cuz while the original 1974 version may not have had expansive homebrew and overland travel modules (like  Storm King's Thunder ) — you had to get a 3rd party supplement — worlds demand it... today's DnD is about so much more than getting from point A to point B. 

Like, you know how there is "no WRONG way to eat a Reese's"?  Well... in a similar way... there is no RIGHT way to travel in DnD 5e . 

Fun 5e travel is situational... it depends on your players, where you are in the story, and the destination up ahead... if you try to shoe-horn in a single method for every situation, you only continue the stereotype that DnD travel sucks. 

How you get there often  (though not always) matters. 

There are a lot of different ways to run travel in DnD 5e, and this post goes through them all and helps you choose which one is best for you. This post is part 2 of our travel series, the goal being: 

• To make travel a REAL option in your campaigns.
• Add a different, fun flavor of adventure into your DnD campaign.
• Add something you and your players will look forward to.

Summary of 5th Edition Overland Travel Rules as Written 

So in our other post, we covered the DnD 5e overland travel rules and why they suck. Not pulling punches here: WOTC rules and nonexistent guidelines are hot garbage and the reason no one enjoys traveling during adventures or runs it in their campaigns. 

Here is a summary of the rules: 

• When traveling, the players choose a travel pace. This dictates their movement speed. 
• Different travel speeds mean players cover a certain number of miles/hexes in a day, and each have different consequences.
• If the travel pace of the creatures in your party are different, then you will move at the rate of the slowest creature (so be aware of the races of your party composition).
• If you travel at a fast pace, you take levels of exhaustion that require you to take a long rest in order to return to normal.
• Traveling at a normal pace results in no penalties or benefits.
• But if you move at a slow pace, you can move stealthily by moving at half speed. 
• Rangers can travel easier through difficult terrain.
• Pages 111 of the DMG detail how players need to keep track of rations and foraging. 
• Travel often includes wilderness survival encounters, such as sinking swaps, rushing rivers, and avalanches.

7 Different Methods for Running DnD 5e Long Distance Travel

(Note: While many different DnD content creators offer multiple travel methods, the Dungeon Dude was, imo, the most comprehensive. Watch it here ). 

Solution 1: Narrate and "Hand Wave" Travel

I know... this post is about making dnd 5e overland travel fun... but a sure-fire way to make it NOT fun is to ALWAYS role-play travel every time the players go anywhere! I insist... DO NOT RUN TRAVEL JUST FOR THE SAKE OF TRAVELING!

Ginny D comically elaborates on this. Watch the whole thing here , but here's a summary: most of our attempts to spice up travel just ends up as filler. Which is a boring waste of time for you and everyone at the table.

Sometimes the distance is too short... or too safe... or too boring to justify spending the time. Sometimes the narrative will suffer too much if you take all the time to travel somewhere. And sometimes the mood of the players or tone at the table demands you get to the point. Regardless, at some point in your adventure, you will discover that narrating the journey is the best choice in that particular moment. 

For example, unless there is bad weather or a threat waiting for them  (due to their decisions, of course) , I usually skip travel if my party is backtracking the same route. There is an argument to be made that the party's familiarity with the route would make it much harder for them to run into dangerous encounters. 

This is the "Dnd Fast Travel" method... plot armor for player characters. 

Another reason to skip traveling is if the destination is guaranteed to be 1,000% more interesting than the journey... you don't want travel to distract a highly-immersed and engaged table. Maybe after many sessions of investigating, they JUST discovered the location of an ancient dwarven stronghold... you are probably going to want to carry their excitement straight to the entrance to the cave network rather than waste it on a slog of goblin ambushes on the road. 

When skipping dnd 5e overland travel, just have three or four sentences describing what the characters see, how fast they travel, etc. and then have them arrive at the destination. No dice rolls... no random encounters... no supplies... no nothing. Just get there!

Solution 2: Roll Every Hour

This is straight from page 106 of the DMG. Have players roll survival and perception checks every hour and roll some sort of random encounter every hour. The "random encounter" does NOT equal combat... it can be an NPC, a pretty view, a discovery... etc. 

This is surely going to result in the 6 encounters for which the DnD 5e rest system was designed . It will certainly drain the PCs hit points, spell slots, and other resources. Which is great... and very much like video game RPGs. However, it will also make dnd 5e long distance travel take FOREVER!!!!!

Don't do this unless you are hella hardcore and want to have your adventure be as realistic as possible, measuring exact distances. It is maaaaaybe an option if your entire adventure is just one long travel session (like in  Lord of the Rings )... but even that has plenty of narration. 

I believe this isn't travel at all... it's a mock  Final Fantasy RPG mechanic!

It's just standard DnD! It, like solution 1, gets rid of long distance dnd travel, but does so by stretching it out so much that it becomes the game itself. 

In my opinion, the fact that the  Dungeon Master's Guide only offers these two solutions shows how much WOTC dropped the ball. It's been 9 years, everyone... you are professionals... come on. 

Solution 3: DnD 5e Overland Travel Takes One Hour of Playtime

This is the most popular suggestion for fixing dnd 5e overland travel. Luke at the DM Lair makes the case that DMs should set aside 1 hour for travel. This is an hour of real-world activity. This hour would be enough for a short, 30-minute combat encounter, maybe a 10-minute discovery, some role-playing, and narration. He also points out that random encounters like these provide an opportunity to use fun monsters and creatures that won't otherwise come up in your game/plot. 

And while I love the DM Lair... what he does... and understand where he is coming from... and agree that this is sometimes great... I respectfully disagree with this method. I think that any of the other methods would result in both a better game experience and better story. 

Admittedly, if the party is traveling through a mountain pass or a single forest, then it works fine. But if they are traveling across continents or oceans? Or across wildly different climates? Or for so long that the seasons change? The "one single encounter" method is rarely the right way to run dnd 5e overland travel. As stated previously , the "random encounter" just makes traveling take much longer than it needs to. 

Order of the Stick has a great comic that makes fun of this... and points out how weird it is. It is one of the only times players KNOW they will get a long rest as soon as the battle ends. Which means... they will throw everything they got. Hold nothing back. After all, why not? They will just long rest and get it all back just before they reach the dungeon entrance. No stakes... no consequences... no choice... no fun... because it is a meaningless encounter that does not impact the players, the story, or their state as they arrive. 

However, if you  insist on sticking to this method, the Dungeon Dudes make an amazing point that you must heed. They suggest you treat the single travel encounter as a "dungeon room 0" that foreshadows what lies in wait at the destination. This method builds anticipation, creates a sense of the passage of time, while also getting the party quickly to the action. 

Solution 4: When All Else Fails... Run a Skill Challenge!

A skill challenge is widely considered the best thing 4e gave to us. Here is how it basically works: 

• DM says the players will resolve an encounter more cinematically rather than with a social or combat encounter.
• The DM sets an appropriate DC (difficulty class). 
• The DM sets the scene, describing the threats and obstacles the player characters have to overcome.
• Each "round," players select a skill check (or saving throw) to make. 
• If the player succeed a certain number of times, they win the skill challenge and continue their journey. 
• If the players fail a certain number of times, then they fail the skill challenge and a new scene begins.

This is the method Matt Coleville uses  ( check out Matt Coleville's video here ) . A skill challenge can bring some tension and reduce an otherwise complicated and lengthy encounter into something that is quick, cinematically exciting, and allows players to shine in different ways. They can be used in DnD 5e overland travel for anything from navigating the wilderness, surviving a flood, or socializing with random passersby on the road. Like a montage in a movie, it is a great way to accomplish A LOT in a short amount of time. 

Now, personally, I believe too many people rely on skill challenges to accomplish too much in their campaigns . That said,  they firmly belong in the exploration pillar , and therefore also have their place in dnd 5e travel mechanics. In my games, they are particularly helpful to quickly backtrack across terrain the party is already familiar with. Long story short: a skill challenge can be a useful travel tool and, when done well, very fun... especially when combined with travel roles (see the next travel post... HERE ). 

Solution 5: Let Dnd 5e Overland Travel Take a Single Game Session (or Two)

**If the first few solutions are about minimizing the journey time as much as possible, then the final few are about getting the MOST out of it**

If you want to be intentional about weaving travel into your DnD campaign and table culture, then I definitely advocate setting aside at least a session to make it fun. But how do you design a whole session around getting somewhere? 

The Dungeon Dudes offer a helpful image you are probably familiar with: Design the route(s) like you would desgin a large dungeon . Give their journey a clear structure with multiple ways to go. But instead of "rooms," you have encounters and alternation between social, combat, and exploration encounters. And don't forget to narrate the areas as they travel through and in between each encounter!

This method creates 5e travel encounters, which solves the principle problem facing everything that belongs to the exploration pillar... the lack of scenes .

Oh, what was that? Worried your adventurers will have the benefits of a long rest for each encounter? BOOM... use a rest mechanic I first heard about on We Speak Common :  "It takes 24 hours to gain the benefits of a long rest an 8 hours for a short rest."

Why apply this to dnd 5e overland travel? Because when you are on a journey... whether it be by plane, sea, car, horseback, or on foot... it is TIRING. It takes it out of you! 

**I expand on this in the third travel post, which contains — in my not-so-humble opinion — the best way to play travel in most dnd campaigns.**

Solution 6: 5e Travel as an Entire Adventure Arc

This solution is similar to solutions 2 and 4. You don't roll every hour like in solution 2, but you also don't design the route like a dungeon in solution 4. It is getting every ounce of fun out of 5e travel... but it is also the most time consuming. With this method, the journey IS the destination; you'll spend anything from a handful of sessions to months or even  years on the journey. Here are some situations for which this bold strategy works best: 

• If the setting/environment the players are moving through is particularly dangerous (ex: Chult in  Tomb of Annihilation ). 
• If the party begins due to some common, basic reason and you want to reveal the plot through what they encounter along the road.
• If the party joins a caravan, or the crew aboard a boat, and you want to give them ample time to get to know the NPCs. 
• If the party is fleeing and needs to rebrand, redefine, or rediscover who they are before they dive back into the main plot again.
• If you want your campaign to have a more episodic or anthology format (like  Avatar: The Last Airbender ). You slowly build the overarching plot, but have separate mini-adventures that add variety to your campaign . 

One thing I love about this method is how much downtime there is. Players will have plenty of opportunities to track rations, forage in the forests, and interact with villagers along the road. 

And though the road may be lonely, the party can keep each other company! Periodically roll which player characters make small talk. It's a great opportunity to discuss things outside of the adventure, open up, and create more complex characters. 

Solution 7: Do a Hex Crawl! 

Hex crawls are a specific mechanic invented to marry exploration and travel together. Typically, they are best when parties are searching the wilderness, rather than traveling across roads and communities. For these reasons, it will be receiving special attention in an upcoming blog post!

"What About Planar or Sea Travel?" 

Dungeons and Dragons is a fantasy game that takes players on epic adventures across the outer and inner planes. However, planar travel in dnd 5e is all about magical settings that are different from standard Dnd 5e overland travel. They are covered in our  Travel DnD 5e Guide .

DnD 5e Overland Travel DM Tips

**There may be no "one size fits all" method... but here are some tips that always work no matter which way you choose to run it: sure-fire tips and tricks, starting with the most important...**

A) Narrate the Surroundings Well and Often 

When you travel in real life, you get out of your familiar surroundings and are thrust into the big, wide world. New settings, new cities, new peoples. And all of these different settings come with unique sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and sensations... and they are MEMORABLE. 

Guy from How to Be a Great GM points this out. He looked back on his backpacking trips and realized that what he remembers are the VIEWS from the mountain top. You know what he DOESN'T remember? Packing his food for the trip, driving to the trail, or setting up a tent. 

So DMs... you gatta regularly narrate what the characters are traveling through... like, A LOT. 

• When they enter a new area... 
• When they come across something that you need to draw their attention to... 
• And/or if 10 minutes have passed and the image in the mind's eye is fading... 

Dnd 5e Overland Travel is part of the exploration pillar ; for players to explore, they need to visualize the environment their characters are in. So always lean on over-narrating. 

And players... as the DM actively narrates, you must actively visualize . It doesn't happen passively and requires intentional effort. But trust me, it will be worth it! The adventure will feel so much more fantastic and cinematic.

B) Travel When the Player Characters Are at Lower Levels

In the previous post, I said travel can help the world feel dangerous and give it a sense a scale. That is particularly true when your players are level 1 pip-squeaks. I mean, if a Giant Rat can kill them... how are they going to fare against something as common as an Owlbear? 

On the flip side, this is particularly NOT true when they are bigger and stronger... starting around level 9. At that point, they will have access to spells like Magnificent Mansion and Teleport, which will turn arduous trekking into a walk in the park. Simply put: the tension, wonder, and experience of travel matters at lower levels. 

As your players level up and get stronger and stronger, they will find the bloodthirsty bandits that gave them such trouble are now barely an inconvenience. So much so that you can role-play a bandit encounter rather than roll it! But if you traveled at lower levels, narrating an easy battle at higher levels will reinforce just how much stronger the players have gotten! They will think  "wow... what used to take us several sessions now takes just 5 minutes!"

So if your players want to enjoy traveling in your adventure, YOU HAVE TO START EARLY. Because by level 15, players will be throwing their heads back in laughter when warned of the trek to the mountains... cuz last session they used "Gate" to magically traverse the outer planes of the cosmos... 

C) Maintain 3 Traveling Basics 

The "basics" include three things: 

• Financial/material cost
• Marching order
• Conversation 

DnD parties often adventure for potential riches... but getting there also  costs them riches. Even in the real world, long distance travel is a dangerous and expensive adventure. Ask how many taverns they stay in, what kind of food they plan on eating, what supplies they need, etc. They gold you give them is for so much more than fancy armor and magic items!

Does this mean you have to track every little thing? Heavens, no. 

• If they fall into some rapids and crash against rocks... yeah, maybe their equipment should be damaged. 
• And if they choose to stay at taverns... yeah, refer to the lifestyle expenses on page 157 – 158 of the PHB . 
• And if they choose to camp in bad weather for a week... yeah, give them a level of exhaustion until they get good sleep in a warm bed . 

The Dungeon Coach also pointed out how helpful it is to have the players decide on a "standard" marching order. Knowing who is where will come in handy when there is some sort of encounter. The DM can seamlessly transition from narration to encounter, keeping the pace of the game exciting. 

And if I may add to this point, a lot of stuff happens when the players are NOT on the road. Knowing what the characters are generally up to is better than asking them every time they break camp. So have several other "marching orders:" 

• Who keeps watch when... 
• What characters do at a tavern... 
• What they look for when they enter a town... 

Finally, just like in the real world, dnd 5e overland travel can be peaceful and uneventful. And so what do people do in those situations? They talk to one another! They catch up, ask random questions, play "I spy with my little eye," in the back of the station wagon/horse wagon!

If your table hates role-playing, then maybe this isn't for them. But my table loves it, so what I do is set up two random tables: A) characters and B) topics. If my players have nothing particularly exciting to talk about, I roll rive for characters and once for topics. And boom... in between dnd 5e overland travel encounters, those two characters have to have a conversation about that topic!

Sometimes it is just silly and fun, and other times characters learn how to fight better in combat encounters, and other times there are HUGE reveals that never would have happened!

Conclusion: Put It All Together

There you have it... seven suggestions for better dnd 5e overland travel... each of which works great with five additional tips on how to make it more fun and interesting for everyone at the table. 

In the hands of a skilled DM, each of these will work pretty well. However, each are forgetting one, crucial element... a missing piece that, until added, will leave the "travel dnd 5e puzzle" incomplete. The next post ( read it here now ) discusses that missing piece, as well as 3 super-simple mechanics you can use to make journeying across long distances truly special. 

But to wrap this up, here is a summary: 

The 7 Methods of DnD 5e Overland Travel: 

• Hand wave it away... skip to the "good part"
• Roll every hour
• One encounter/hour of play time 
• Take a single game session (or two)
• Do a skill challenge
• Spend the entire adventure arc traveling
• Run a hex crawl

3 Suggestions for Better Travel Gameplay: 

• Narrate your surroundings well and often 
• Explore when player characters are at lower levels
• Maintain the 3 basics

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 Riley Rath 

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DND Overland Travel Fundamentals & “Authenticity”

Welcome back; I recently reviewed my DND overland travel notes for the Solo RPG live stream we’ve been doing on Twitch. As I was checking my notes and thinking about what might happen during Lia’s multi-week travel from Split Valley Oasis to Karjunton, I realized I haven’t made a blog discussing what preparation would actually be helpful for a player character engaging in DND overland travel. 

If you haven’t checked it out, we’re running a solo D&D 5e adventure, and you can catch it live on Twitch . Or, if you want to catch up on everything in the story so far, you can see the previous episodes on YouTube . We’ve also started uploading videos about DM tips and tricks, plus general Game Master craft. Give it a look!

Needless to say, there’s a lot of weird misinformation and speculation about pre-industrial travel, especially around the not-so-well-documented Western Europe’s dark and medieval periods. Questions about how people traveled, to where, and how. Why did they travel, what did they take with them, and what challenges and dangers did they face? So, I thought I’d speak my piece.

Longtime followers of the blog will know that I was a Boy/Venture Scout growing up, and with that came a lot of experience outdoors with camping, backpacking, boat travel, orienteering, wilderness survival, etc. So for my games, I view travel through that lens, complemented by what historical accounts/records we have about pre-industrial travel and living history done by hobbyists and serious time-period reenactors.

In writing this, I’m hoping to meet my goal of showcasing more verisimilitude in fantasy TTRPG travel by answering these questions:

• Who were the sort of people traveling around?
• Where were they going and why?
• How did they travel? The Do’s/Don’ts

If done correctly, you should have a better idea of what to implement into your DND overland travel, including DND travel speed and a broader idea of D&D travel encounters, obstacles, and challenges to add to your game. And I think the best way to kick that off is to ensure we’re on the same page regarding the common misconceptions about people and travel in our own history.

Ye Olde Common Misconceptions of Overland Travel & People

Whether it’s a history book, museum, or just people talking about olden times we have no personal firsthand accounts of experiencing, it places a distance, even a barrier, between the us of now and the them of the past. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that as modern people on the bleeding edge of history, we’re incredibly different from the people of yesteryear. We’re smarter and better than those people in the past because they were dumb and believed in silly nonsense.

But we’re not different on a genetic or even an intellectual level. 

Here is some food for thought. We have fragments and evidence found across centuries that help to normalize the people of the past. Ancient Roman writings complaining about a shop owner, delays, and wrong orders being delivered. There are examples of places being defaced with crude drawings and crass graffiti. We have satirical works like Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales that bury a grain of truth in hyperbolic stereotypes. 

Viewing these, we recognize that people’s most common daily struggles are eternal. We’re the same. We still get wrong orders shipped to us from Amazon or delivered by DoorDash, and we complain on review sites. Certainly, you can find graffiti defacing walls and buildings where you live, the same as it was thousands of years ago. And, you probably have frustrations with the ultra-rich, politicians, organized religion, celebrities, and being disenfranchised from the powers of government. Yep, they faced all the same issues.

Technology, information, and culture change but many of the fundamental challenges of being a person in a society just trying to get by are constants in the human condition. So think of them as you think of yourself, family, and friends, not as inhuman alien life forms. So, with our minds in the right headspace, let’s talk about who might take part in DND overland travel and why.

Overland Travel: Who & Why

Well, spoiler alert, everyone traveled at least a little. You’re probably aware of the pervasive idea that most people in the medieval time period never went more than a few miles from home. NEVER is the keyword that’s wrong. Absolutes are simple but dangerously so. It would be more accurate to say that most people in the medieval period RARELY traveled more than a few miles from home. That’s not too difficult to imagine. I personally RARELY travel more than a few (relative since I own an automobile) miles from my home. 

Being an agrarian society, most people worked where they lived. Other than occasional day trips to the nearest town market, church, or fair day, people didn’t often need to travel anywhere. They were also busy. You may have heard that medieval peasants had more holidays than we do currently, which is true. It’s a long time to consider, but somewhere between eight weeks (56 days) to half a year (182 days) was typical.

It’s important to remember they didn’t have our post-industrial idea of the weekend, which nets us, modern workers, 104 days off each year. Then remember that most peasants couldn’t do much productive work on their lord’s land during the winter, plus they only spent SOME of their work time working on the lord’s land and the rest on their personal field share. All to say, there were plenty of opportunities time-wise for someone to travel, though DND overland travel in the winter would be ill-advised. 

Nobles, artisans, and religious officials all traveled as a core part of their work. Nobles to court and touring their demesne, clergy to meetings and carrying messages between different churches and cathedrals, and artisan “journeymen” literally traveled for years growing their skill under different masters as freelance jobbers. Travel was pretty typical for most castes, of course, more limited to peasants who were often tied to the land where they lived. 

Common People Did Travel Afar Overland

It was a cultural tradition for people, even peasants, to go on a pilgrimage. A pilgrimage was THE vacation experience for people from all walks of life. A commoner often needed to get permission from their lord and, usually, a document approving their travel from the church in case they were stopped en route. Consider this pilgrimage one of those lifetime experiences. People who take a gap year to travel or do a whirlwind tour of Europe or East Asia. 

Probably the nicest thing about going on pilgrimage is that it was usually an equalizer in society. Many pilgrimages required the devout to travel by foot and take a vow of poverty to rely on the hospitality of strangers and the church for shelter and sustenance. It was a rare opportunity for people of all castes to rub elbows as equals. For instance, look at the different people in the traveling group of Canterbury Tales. There are nobles, clergy, merchants, servants, learned professionals, and artisans journeying together.

And these can be long journeys for those who could afford the time away. Many clergy and nobles traveled from their homes to the Vatican by foot. But, most ordinary people couldn’t take quite that much time off and still have a home when they returned. But consider even a pilgrimage from Sheffield to Canterbury Cathedral. It seems inconsequential to me as a modern person, but I grew up where places were far apart, even by car. So a 230-mile pilgrimage doesn’t seem too bad before you think about having to walk it.

Using the still-in-place Roman roads that crisscross Britain, a pilgrim could average about 11.5 miles per day by foot. Yes, people CAN walk 20-24 miles daily, but I’m guessing you haven’t tried that, especially for a week or longer over terrain using footpaths. That pace is unsustainable, even impossible for many people in good physical condition and with clear weather. But, at 11.5 miles/day, the journey would take about three weeks, often staying in a hospital or inn each night along the way. It’s far from impossible; it’s more like taking a road trip across the US. You’ll probably do it once in your life, have fond memories of the experience, but probably not want to do it again anytime soon.

D&D Overland Travel: Why Did People Travel

We discussed the most prominent reason, pilgrimage, a cultural rite that transcended socio-economic status. It was common for everyone to take a pilgrimage at least once in life, but where depended on their amount of free time and who could attend to responsibilities in their absence. But, there are plenty of other reasons people travel, same as today.

Here are the six most common reasons for travel you can use in your D&D/TTRPG games:

Coming of Age

We briefly touched on gap years and international travel before. But also a semester/year abroad. We realize that exposure to different cultures and societies is a net positive for a person. It challenges the norms and assumptions we’ve taken as facts and helps us increase our perspective on issues and empathy with other people. The same is true of a person going away to college. Immersing yourself in a new environment with different people generally broadens our horizons in a good way. 

People did the same in ye olde times. Young people were taking on as apprentices to master craftsmen in different places; people moved to court to begin their political careers or to find suitable political partners to wed. Many young men unhappy with their prospects or lack of inheritance at home ran off to the sea, became professional soldiers, or sought to explore new and strange lands to make their fortune. There is an intrinsic movement to coming-of-age observances, whether moving into your own apartment for the first time or searching for a place that offers a more lucrative future.

We touched on this briefly, but travel was integral to many people’s livelihoods and the responsibilities of their station. Nobles traveled back and forth between their estates and court, plus made regular tours of their demesne. A fitting example of this is paladins. In D&D, paladins are holy warriors, more like templars than actual, historical paladins. Paladins came from Charlemagne and represented his most powerful and trustworthy retainers; his right-hand lords/knights. 

Paladins acted as Charlemagne’s official representative and spent most of their time touring the large Frankish kingdom to keep an eye on other nobles to ensure loyalty and stamp out any ideas of insurrection or a coup. A big difference from D&D’s interpretation of the paladin, which has become more well-known, no? 

Everyone traveled for work. Even commoners took goods to market, grain to their lord’s mill, or tools to the closest smithy for repairs. In the best cases, these would be day trips of only a few miles but sometimes would require overnight or multiple days to complete. Travel was every day for all, especially in the local area. These give some firm ideas of the types of non-combat D&D travel encounters you can include in your games.

Today we travel to see family, especially for significant life events like graduations, births, clan meetings (reunions), weddings, and funerals. Again, the people of today and our historical counterparts are the same. Perhaps the biggest difference is the speed of information transmission. Mail and parcel delivery is another of D&D’s modern anachronisms. In medieval Europe, at least, there wasn’t a regulated postal service. So information was slow and usually done as a favor for people. 

If you were traveling one or two towns over, people would commonly ask you to deliver letters and items to family and friends along the route—another novel style of minor quest to introduce into your DND overland travel. You may wonder how vital regulated post service has become. Well, consider that it was so crucial to American revolutionaries that the Continental Congress named a Postmaster General nearly a full year before signing the Declaration of Independence. Reliable and discreet transmission of information and goods is critical. And without regulated post, most people could only learn news through traveling acquaintances or visiting friends and family themselves.

Everyone enjoys a little away time from work for relaxation and to spend time with friends and loved ones. While official holidays were peppered around the calendar, it wouldn’t be strange for someone with a few days off to gather friends and family for a short trip. They might go to a holiday fair or take a simple hunting/fishing trip. Remember that people then act like we do now, just with a different perspective. While we might enjoy a staycation sitting on the couch eating snacks and watching TV, they didn’t have those modern luxuries. 

They would go elsewhere for entertainment and leisure. And people would especially travel for leisure if there were family or friends at the destination where they could stay for free, making it economical for all social castes. Undoubtedly, travelers would camp if needed but would avoid sleeping rough if possible. Essentially, they might sleep rough to go fishing at a particular place, but not specifically go camping and then maybe also do some fishing. 

Camping as a recreational activity didn’t exist until the turn of the 20th century. Teddy Roosevelt and other naturalists popularized it in the US with the romancing of the US wilderness and the designation of many state and national park areas. It coincides with the birth of the Boy Scouts, which would later explode in popularity worldwide after WWI. All to say, people did not want to stay outdoors if they could avoid it.

If there’s one thing war is pretty well known for by soldiers, it’s marching. The saying “hurry up and wait” is often used to describe the daily life of soldiers. You move to a place and wait there for further orders. Often we think of modern wars as these rare, giant international crises. In comparison, wars were often shorter and smaller in scale. A war could constitute levying the able-bodied from nearby villages and crossing the nearest river into a rival lord’s lands.

But this would often constitute extensive travel for people of all castes to leave their lord’s lands and enter someone else’s lands with people and places they had never seen before, even if it were only a day or two’s walk from home. Of course, there were plenty of larger conflicts as well, crusades, defense from invaders, invasion across seas, and even coming to the aid of neighboring nations and allies. 

As noted previously, for many non-inheriting young men, war offered a path of action to wealth, fame, and status earning new titles like their ancestors by earning it in blood with a sword in service to nobles and royalty. And all socio-economic levels took part in the campaigns of war. Nobles and professional soldiers, clergy and artisans who supported their efforts, even the baggage trains of families, hangers-on, and thieves who robbed the dead on the battlefield. Wars were common, affected everyone, and most often included overland travel of some distance. 

We briefly touched on journeymen, day wage members of the various medieval-esque guild system. After completing their apprenticeship, journeymen can work on their own, typically as part of a team or crew under another master. They were skilled day laborers who would travel to different towns and outlying villages to offer their services. And they could converge on large-scale projects such as the construction of a castle or temple. 

These projects take enormous manpower and would entice skilled professionals from all over the area. But guilders aren’t the only people who traveled for work. Commoners would bring goods to market and raw resources to places for refinement, like ore to smelters and crop yields to mills. We’ve well-established that nobles needed to tour their properties and attend court. But they would also go on diplomatic missions, take part in tournaments, and need to visit different towns and cities to secure resources required to manage their domain.

And for the clergy, remember the lack of a formal post service. Clergy were often in charge of transporting information, people, and items as representatives of the faith. Case in point, many introductions of Friar Tuck in Robin Hood media has him captured in Sherwood Forest while transporting a wagon of communion wine. An example of this I enjoy in contemporary media is the film Pilgrimage (2017). In it, a group of monks is bidden by the Pope to transport a holy relic from their Irish monastery to Rome during the turbulent time of the Norman invasion and occupation of Gaelic Ireland.

If you needed to transport important items, people, and communication across distances, you needed to enlist the aid of someone you could trust to make the journey and complete the task on your behalf. 

Those are the major reasons why people of all sorts would be traveling on roads around the countryside. Don’t undersell how useful it can be to use a fedex quest as part of your DND overland travel.

Now, let’s look at HOW they would go about this travel. 

DND Overland Travel: How People Move

Imagine yourself getting ready to take a trip, which could be for business or a function of your work. What’s the first thing you do? For me, and most people, it’s preparing for the trip. I want to have a strong understanding of the basics, where I’m going and staying, when and for how long, plus how to get to the place and what I’m going to need once I’m there. 

Far before packing, I need to organize and prepare for the trip. What documentation do I need, what items should I pack, what route should I take, when should I plan the journey, and who will accompany me? A successful trip is complex in modern times and was in history too. First, let’s look at travel permission and modes of transportation. 

Overland Travel Permission & Protection

Today, most people can travel when, where, and how they like, assuming we can afford the luxury. But, in the anachronistic time, we are trying to duplicate in fantasy TTRPGs; that wasn’t the case. Travelers would need some form of writ, permission to travel to certain places. Often part of that writ was an insurance of protection for travelers. That could mean consent from one lord to another for passage through their lands on the way to court. That may seem silly, but it’s important to remember that all the lords under a nation’s leader were not always friendly with each other. 

If a neighboring lord is found riding with armed guards and retinues into your lands without permission, it would be reasonable to see it as an expansionist declaration of war against you. For people like pilgrims, they would often ask bishops and higher clergy members to bless their pilgrimage. Part of that blessing would be a signed writ of travel stating that the traveler is a pilgrim and is to be offered hospitality on their journey. It would also likely state that they were under the protection of the church/Pope, and any attack on the pilgrim is an attack on the church. This writ and protection would make it much easier and safer for a pilgrim to make their journey.

And commoners like serfs and villeins would need permission from their local noble to make journeys, sometimes even within the noble’s demesne. But, because of how often people would travel, this was usually just a formality. A noble might only block one of their peasant’s travels because they are needed for upcoming work on the lord’s lands, or they (or a relation) have done something to upset the noble and are using the denial of travel as retribution.

Choosing a Route for DND Overland Travel

Let’s address the elephant in the room and one of the biggest misconceptions in D&D and other fantasy TTRPGs. Stop using maps. Until the invention of the printing press and more precise navigational tools, maps weren’t very accurate, even local ones. That’s maybe harsh. Maps were still valuable for a strategic, 30,000 ft view looking down, sort of way. You simply couldn’t rely on them as an accurate reference for travel. Instead, most people would put together a travel itinerary for a distant location instead of using a map. 

What’s An Overland Travel Itinerary?

Boiled down to its very core, a travel itinerary is the equivalent of today’s driving directions provided by GPS navigation. Rather than an illustrated guide, an itinerary provides the steps you need to take to reach your destination. Here’s an example of a short itinerary:

• Leave Hillsdan headed North along the road
• Travel along the road to Innsmith
• Take the Eastbound path leaving Innsmith
• Cross the bridge over Brillwater River and take the left path fork Northwest
• Travel along the path (~2 days) until you reach a crossroads with a sign for Moggard’s Keep
• Follow the sign’s path to Moggard’s Keep (~3 leagues)

It’s pretty simple. Of course, the weakness of a travel itinerary is you need to know the path that will take you to your destination. Which… you probably don’t. And most of the locals probably don’t know either. Often, you would fill out an itinerary in chunks by getting directions from the locals once you arrived at a location en route. 

Imagine the above example, but Moggard’s Keep isn’t the traveler’s final destination; it’s a checkpoint. Upon arriving at the keep, the traveler must speak with people to determine the path to reach the next checkpoint and add the directions to their itinerary. Where maps would be helpful is to gain a fundamental understanding of where you’re going, how far away it is, and what would serve as the major checkpoints along the path for your itinerary.

The travel itinerary is one of my favorite tricks as a DM/GM. Because it helps to reframe what it takes for DND overland travel across unfamiliar lands, it gives a reason for players to WANT to engage in D&D travel encounters (confirm directions/itinerary). Actually, it provides a pretty reasonable idea of how people can become lost even though they’re traveling an established road. They may have gotten bad directions, missed a signpost, or changed course too early and taken the wrong crossroad. 

Common D&D Overland Travel Misconception

It’s faster to travel cross-country than along roadways/footpaths. Just like today, it can be faster, but it’s also perilous. Wild animals, trespassing, outlaws and hill folk, monsters, not to mention the fundamental dangers of traveling over rough terrain, make doing so dangerous. Hopefully, by understanding the issue with map accuracy, limited knowledge of local areas, and the dangers of traveling and sleeping in unfamiliar places, you should be able to communicate with your players how not good of an idea it is to treat cross-country DND overland travel as simple. 

Transportation Modes

Historically at least, most people had two choices of travel. They could take a waterway, or they could use a road. And most journeys would use both in combination. It seems simple enough, and you probably have a good idea of how people travel. 

Barges, Boats, and Ships

People like to be lazy. When traveling along the coast or following a river, waterways are often faster and allow travelers to carry far more items than they could overland. So, for those who could afford to pay for transport by water, they would. 

Horses represent a certain level of affluence and station in most historical and fantastical resources. There is a misconception about horses, though, and that’s how much it increases the party’s speed. Horses can gallop faster than people can run but can’t go fast for long. Most travel by horse is at walking speed, making it not noticeably the same speed as travel by foot. Of course, with relay stations of fresh horses, riders can cover extreme distances quickly, but that requires specialized infrastructure.

Instead, horses shine because they can carry more stuff than you can on your back. It’s more likely for a traveler to put their goods on a horse and lead it rather than try to ride the horse too. Also, traveling by mount will leave the traveler fresh and not exhausted from walking. That’s especially important for considering combats in D&D travel encounters.

Cabs, Carts, & Wagons

Similarly to mounts, a lot of people did not want to ride in land vehicles. The real estate on a cart or wagon was seen as more useful to fill with gear and supplies than people with legs that could walk. Even well-made carriages were not a very comfortable mode of travel. In most instances, people prefer riding a horse to taking a carriage. 

And I don’t blame them. These vehicles didn’t have shock absorbers, and the seats often lacked padding. In a time when most roads were unpaved and not graded, bumping around on a wooden bench would be incredibly uncomfortable. Also, vehicles tend to have problems. They have parts that break and are more likely to get stuck, such as in mud or unable to go up a steep grade in the trail. They can prove unreliable means of transportation. 

DND Overland Travel By Foot

Humans are the most-gifted long distance terrestrial creature. We are built to walk and do it at length. Travel by foot was standard, especially for those of lesser means. But, it also made travelers vulnerable to robbers. Most people would travel together in groups, or at least pairs with some form of basic weapon to use as a deterrent. And traveling alone was suspicious. In folklore, solitary travel was usually only done by evil people and supernatural creatures, and a lone traveler was often regarded as suspect. 

And, despite how it may sound, the traveler support network of civilization made it quite easy for travel to be successful by foot.

Overland Traveler Support Network

The first thing that’s important to discuss is the right of hospitality. This idea is explored by Kant and was referenced even earlier as Hospitium, a Greco-Roman concept. According to Kant, it’s defined as “the right of a stranger not to be treated as an enemy when they arrive in the land of another.”

The idea is that a stranger knocks on a door to invoke the right of hospitality; the host is duty-bound to provide food, lodging, information, minor items, and services as the traveler may require. This idea is an ancient and authentic tradition necessary for people traveling long distances where hostels, inns, and other paid accommodations were unavailable. Part of the ritual is a sacred promise for the visitor not to harm the host and vice versa, enforced mainly by the gods’ ire for breaking the accord’s sanctity.

If you haven’t tried this to mix up your DND overland travel and random D&D travel encounters, I would suggest it. As a player, my D&D characters often invoke the right of hospitality. And we can see the idea baked into the rules of D&D 5e with many background features, such as those for nobles, sailors, acolytes, and folk heroes.

Speaking of accommodations, why not just stay at an inn? Well, because historically, inns were only sustainable in larger communities. I couch much of my worldbuilding for D&D and fantasy settings of Medieval Demographics Made Easy by S. John Ross, which uses the Domesday Book and other historical references as its foundation. It states that a settlement will guarantee one inn per 2,000 residents, and that’s quite a bit larger than the average village or sleepy hamlet. Thus comes the need for cultural touchstones like the right of hospitality. 

Especially when we consider the distance between settlements. There are a lot of misconceptions in popular fiction that little villages exist, cut off from the rest of the world by days and days of overland travel. But, we have a dirth of existing settlements and records that show it wasn’t so in reality. I’ve mentioned this video in posts before, but it does an excellent job illustrating this phenomenon where towns are strung together in networks roughly 10 miles apart and why.

These are market towns, places with services that people in surrounding villages need to access sometimes. And they’re positioned in a way so that a pre-automobile person only needs to walk about 5 miles to reach a town. That’s a short enough trip to make a day trip into town whenever you need a more specialized service, to visit the market, or even to attend a worship service. They’re that distance because, organically, that’s the most practical distance. Then larger cities are even further apart. 

I think another good example of a support network for DND overland travel is the 53 shukuba (way stations/post towns) of the Tōkaidō, the critical highway between Kyoto and Edō (Tokyo) created at the turn of the 17th century by the Emperor of Japan. Unlike Western medieval roadways, the state government heavily regulated the Tōkaidō, and the 53 way stations helped to make it safe for travelers of all types quickly and safely make their way between Japan’s two capital cities.

The Tōkaidō is what I would consider the best source for a regulated pre-industrial “highway” as it was well-documented and stayed in operation for 250 years. It helps illustrate the relative safety and ease with which people could travel around the lands so long as they had the need and means to do so. 

That sounds good, but what challenges would a DND overland traveler face? In the next section, we’ll discuss the essentials of what a traveler would need. 

Essentials for DND Overland Travel

First, we need to lay out what is necessary for basic survival. Travelers need air, shelter, water, food, and security in that order of importance. 

Air and D&D Overland Travel

Usually, the air isn’t something most travelers need to consider, but D&D adventurers and the places they travel are often unusual. Especially if we want to add planar travel and underwater adventures into our game. In these circumstances, air is the primary concern for travelers. 

Shelter for Overland Travel

As noted earlier, are you expecting the characters to sleep rough in your DND overland travel segment? But inns and tents are not the only forms of shelter to protect people from exposure. It also includes clothing, and having the proper attire for the environment you’re traveling through can mean the difference between comfort and death in hours or even minutes.

Shelter also includes things like a campfire, which will help to keep temperatures mild for travelers when the temperatures begin to drop. Fires are also useful for keeping wild animals away from your camp and purifying water, which we’ll discuss next.

Water for Overland Travel

As humans, we can’t live very long without the precious element of water. The constant intake and excretion of water are essential to our body’s functioning. In Dungeons & Dragons and other TTRPGs, we usually only pay attention to a PC’s need for water when traveling through dry, inhospitable terrain like a desert. 

But that’s because we see water as readily available in most other biomes. That’s true, but not all water is safe and potable. Ocean water is not drinkable, making travel across the seas much like traveling across a desert. Likewise, still waters like lakes and wetlands are often full of pathogens that make people very sick, even kill them if ingested. Even safe sources, like a spring or well, can be fouled through tampering and natural causes. 

It reminds me of an episode of the TV show Hell on Wheels, where the railroad work camp’s water source makes many people sick because there was a drowned rat in the reservoir tank. Ash filtering, boiling, and adding alcohol or vinegar can make most freshwater sources potable and are known processes that have been around for thousands of years.

To make this more engaging for your game, set it as a challenge for your players to overcome. For instance, the party generally boils water while resting in camp to refill their waterskins. But what happens if they need to travel through a wetland where there’s no available dry wood for a fire to boil their water? Or if they are crossing the steppes or tundra without trees for fuel?

These situations are half of why the spell Purify Food & Drink is absolutely vital for adventuring. The other half is food.

Rations and Foraging in Overland Travel

Oh, food. We love it, and it’s the fuel we need to keep moving. Walking all day and fighting monsters is hungry work, and adventurers need a lot of calories to keep going. Many groups handwave this resource management aspect, but I like to focus on it. 

If you’ve been reading the blog for any time, you know I enjoy the exploration pillar of D&D the most. And for all the alterations and changes D&D has gone through across its editions, at the end of the day, it’s still a resource management game. Hit points, spell slots, potions, scrolls, abilities, etc., are all resources for the player characters. The same is true of food. 

As humans, we can survive some days without food, and we can survive even more depending on our body’s muscle mass, fat stores, and activity level. Rations are the go-to item for dealing with the food situation for DND overland travel. 

Longtime readers know I like to use a resource die mechanic to track things like rations. That’s because rations are not magical, and they’re not a guaranteed resource. A guesstimated week of rations can last longer or shorter than advertised. Especially in a pseudo-Medieval context where meals and ingredients are not individually portioned. 

Sometimes you eat more than you expect or lose resources. You can drop or spill critical food items. They can spoil (no refrigeration or freeze-drying, remember), get contaminated, infested with weevils and worms, or be pillaged by wildlife in the night. I use a resource die because the controlled randomness of dice rolls helps model this variation of circumstance.

Foraging & Travel

Another significant point concerning food and rations is foraging. Foraging for food serves two essential functions in DND overland travel. First, iron rations are neither very balanced nutritionally nor very tasty. Brined and salted meat, hard cheese, and hardtack aren’t things you want to live off, and consumption of just these items led to scurvy and rickets for sailors and soldiers. So often, people would forage for additional food to combine with these staples to make a more rounded and better-tasting meal.

However, foraging (and I’m including fishing and hunting in this) has some downsides. First, foraging takes time. And I think that’s what needs to be added to the 5e Outlander background. The background’s feature allows the PC to forage enough food for six people as long as forage is available. Many Dungeon Masters wanting to make wilderness survival a part of their game struggle against this background’s feature because it makes it hard to make food as a resource feel insecure.

The big question 5e’s rules don’t address is the TIME it takes to do these things. Our best guess when it comes to the study of hunter/gatherer societies is they spent about THREE HOURS PER DAY collecting food and then additional time preparing it (butchering meat/fish, cleaning and processing edible flora). Essentially, this is not grabbing a handful of berries off a bush while walking. It requires dedicated time. That’s why in my homebrew exploration/travel rules, foraging for food takes a camp day to accomplish.

The second downside to foraging is it’s dangerous. Specific flora and fauna are poisonous to people, especially plants; it’s challenging to identify an edible plant from similar non-edible plants. Animals can be sick or riddled with parasites, which can pass to a person upon consumption. And more plants are edible if they’re processed correctly. 

For example, oak tree acorns are normally inedible by people. But, removing the meat from the shell and soaking it in water will remove the tannic acid that makes them extremely bitter and nauseating to eat, which is in stark contrast to birch, which is almost entirely safe for humans to consume (leaves, twigs, inner bark, sap).

That’s why it’s absolutely essential a forager is trained to recognize safe forage and how to prepare it properly. Otherwise, there’s a high likelihood your PC is going to make themselves and the whole party very sick. 

Security for D&D Overland Travel

Arms and armor are the least important concerns for travelers, even in D&D. Consider, for every D&D travel encounter combat the PCs have, how many breaths have they taken, sips of water, bites of food, how much weather have they endured? 

And the truth is, the go-to answer to potentially violent encounters is de-escalation and removing yourself from the scene. And that’s constant, whether you’re facing man, monster, or beast. Luckily, I can tell you from experience that animals will generally avoid a person, especially a group of people. 

Humans are predators, and most animals are not. Likewise, animals on the hunt are looking for an advantage, and they look for an easy target and one they can cull from the group. A mountain lion is a real threat for a lone wanderer, but it will only attack a group in most cases if it’s defending its young.

Monsters and men can be reasoned with to some degree. Of course, this will depend a lot on your game. Are all orcs evil? In my games, I treat sapient monsters like people. They are like hillfolk. They live on the fringe of civilization and have a healthy wariness of strangers. They can be bandits and raiders, but they’re not just indiscriminate “evil.”

The most dangerous situations and potential for death are from the environment and accidents traveling and exploring rather than goblin ambushes. So the best security for adventurers is to remove themselves from a dangerous situation. This resolution can be achieved by backing away slowly, attempting to parlay, or even trying to intimidate and scare away potential threats. 

Overland Travel Arms & Armor

Fine, we can talk about it since you’re forcing the issue. If you can only bring one self-defense item with you, I’d suggest a spear or a quarterstaff if you can’t get a spear. That would be my choice because it creates distance between you and an aggressor. Of course, in D&D 5e, they don’t model spears or staffs as weapons that provide reach. 

As secondary weapons, I would choose a sling and a dagger. Slings are cheap, you can forage for ammunition, and they’re easy to repair on the road and in camp. These are not things you can say about any other missile weapon. And D&D does the weapon dirty with 1d4 damage. A proficient slinger can reach speeds of 100 mph with their bullet and is estimated to have the equitable kinetic energy of a .44 Magnum round upon hit. 

Until the invention of the pistol, daggers were THE self-defense item. They’re relatively cheap and easy to carry. Daggers can be concealed and used in close quarters where you can’t use other weapons. You can see in many HEMA (Historic European Martial Arts) and other historical fighting arts that the dagger is indispensable. Primarily it’s used by a combatant who advances inside the range of their opponent’s weapon and then pulls their dagger to commence with violent shanking. And, unlike larger-bladed weapons, a dagger is much easier to care for and has a substantially lessened risk of deformation or breaking.

And if you lack a dagger, you can forage and fashion a perfectly adequate wooden club.

Armor is a bit trickier. In general, armor, like most weapons, are tools of war. So, for the needs of adventurers, we would want something that’s light and somewhat comfortable to lug around on the road for days on end. But it also needs to protect us. 

The go-to piece of armor for most of history was the shield, and it’s one of the easiest/cheapest pieces of armor to construct and repair. There are instances in history where free people were expected to aid the common defense (fyrd/militia) and provide their own gear. Chief among these was often the spear and shield due to the cost of materials and construction. 

The basic body armor of choice would be a gambeson (padded armor). I would also include a padded cap (arming cap) for the head. 

It’s also important to note that real armor doesn’t work like D&D and most media representations. Padding is needed between the person and the metal armor to wear it comfortably. In this respect, a gambeson is the base layer of stacking of body armor. But, by itself, a gambeson provides pretty good protection against slashing and bludgeoning damage. 

From there, much of it is up to availability, means, and personal preference. Most reasonable adventurers wouldn’t be wearing full plate. Besides being expensive, it’s cumbersome, heavy, and offers poor visibility with a helmet. 

Personally, I would go for a chain hauberk over the gambeson if I could afford it. If not, maybe a maille coif and jack chains. These armor pieces are very flexible and are much easier to don/doff than full-piece armors like plate. Gauntlets are a necessity, and I would opt for a kettle helm because it offers good protection with excellent visibility and has a brim to help keep the sun and rain out of my eyes. And for traveling, I wouldn’t wear any leg armor. 

People often didn’t wear leg armor, not because it wasn’t dangerous, but because they restricted movement significantly. Lifting and setting weight with every step is a swift way to tire yourself out walking, running, or fighting. And fatigue in battle will get you killed. 

Closing Out DND Overland Travel & Authenticity

Well, I hope you learned something new reading this blog because I definitely learned a few new things writing it. If you are interested in more information about this topic, I suggest checking out one of the bazillion primitive survival or historical authenticity-focused LARP and history channels on YouTube. It’s a bottomless rabbit hole for study.

And, if this blog does well, I already have notes to discuss travel clothing and traveler kit gear. Likewise, if you want me to cover a topic in a future blog or video, reach out in the comments below or on Reddit, Twitter, or YouTube. 

Did You Know RedRaggedFiend is More Than a Blog?

It’s true, we host videos on YouTube and have PWYW documents in our DriveThruRPG store to help Dungeon Masters and Game Masters run better and smoother games for your players. You can also find us on Twitch. Currently, we’re streaming a D&D 5e solo adventure about a disgraced academic uncovering the mystery surrounding her old research and the sudden death of an interested librarian.

If that sounds interesting, or you just want to see how I’m using 5e to play D&D alone, come check it out! Also, check out our worldbuilding process posts to see how to build a fully-realized world from scratch.

In the next blog post, I think we’ll be touching on language mapping for our worldbuilding process, so be sure to come back for that. 

That’s all for now and I’ll see you in the next one!

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Home » Budget Travel » The ULTIMATE Guide to Overland Travel (2024)

The ULTIMATE Guide to Overland Travel (2024)

It is absolutely without question that my best travel journeys to date have been overland.

Some were on motorbike, others were by way of a cardboard sign on the side of the road, and I have visions of future journeys that involve a big old school bus traversing the lands between Europe and Asia.

Overland travel is inspiring, and it is undoubtedly the best way to hit the road, especially as a backpacker looking to save money and dig deep into countries and cultures. While social media may have you thinking that you need to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a tricked out 4×4 to become an overlander, I’m here to completely dispel that myth.

Sure, van life and Land Rover Defenders are certainly a type of overlanding, but they’re not the end all be all.

Overland travel can be as simple as sticking out your thumb and hitchhiking, or using trains and shared taxis to get from one place to another. But regardless of the rig you choose, I guarantee you the experience of coasting along wide open plains at your own pace, sharing meals of yak yogurt with nomads, and getting to pitch your tent (or park your ride) just about anywhere will be absolutely worth it.

But still, I totally understand that it can all be intimidating. So let’s set the record straight with this ultimate guide to overland travel – where you’ll see that this is very much a “do as you like” adventure.

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What is Overland Travel?

While you most likely already know the literal definition – traveling by land AKA avoiding flights – there’s a lot more to overland travel than just what’s in the name.

Overland travel – whether it be by foot, by bicycle, by rail, by van or whatever method you choose – is an art in and of itself. Closely intertwined with my other favorite form of budget backpacking – slow travel – overlanding allows you to get to know the places you visit far more deeply than a bunch of flights ever could.

Overlanding is TRULY where the journey matters even more than even the destinations themselves. It’s what gave me some of the best moments of my life, something I know virtually all of my favorite adventurers would agree on when reflecting upon their own journeys. 

And once you get started, I promise you you’ll only want to dig deeper and deeper into what it means to become an overlander…

Why YOU Should Overland

Before we REALLY get into this, I want to make something clear.

Overland travel doesn’t HAVE to be an odyssey. While it is for many travellers – like my journey from the UK to Papua New Guinea – you can travel overland without crossing a single international border.

The thing is, there are no rules to this type of travel. There’s no right or wrong way to become an overlander. You don’t need a tricked-out Land Rover Defender, you don’t need a van, you don’t need a bicycle. Hell, plenty of inspiring adventurers have embarked on incredible journeys with nothing but their backpack, a sign, and a stuck-up thumb.

So that, my friends, is one of the reasons WHY you should try overland travel: it’s truly for everyone and anyone.

But beyond that, in all my years on the road, it’s this type of travel that’s kept me addicted to life on the road. It’s absolutely not the most comfortable, but it will teach you the most about the world, and about yourself too. 

Overland travel will push you to your limits, and really make you work for each and every view and experience you attain.

For some – like cyclists – that work may be physical. For others, it may be mental: such as moving past introverted tendencies to get around by hitchhiking or dealing with driving in brand-new countries with insane motorists.

It allows you to experience life on the ground to the fullest: minute by minute, mile by mile.

Ways to Travel Overland

This is no one-size-fits-all all method of travel, as there are so many ways to overland. I’ve even seen people do it completely by foot or on something as crazy as a unicycle.

But the following are the most common, and popular, ways to get around on the ground: 

While I am not a cycling fan myself, those who have done it have nothing but incredible things to say about bikepacking – which is essentially overlanding with a bicycle strapped with a whole lot of stuff. Travelling by bicycle gives you the chance to slow down and see more than virtually any other way of overlanding.

For one your speed (most cyclists don’t do more than 70km per day, depending on the terrain) will allow you to take in just about every village and turn – you’ll get to camp in places far off the tourist trail and meet an incredible lot of locals.

But moreover, cycling is as simple as it is cheap: you don’t need to worry about fuel or engine oil, it’s significantly easier to repair issues, and spare parts don’t tend to weigh that much. It’s also a hell of an accomplishment: unlike all the other forms of overland travel aside from walking, you’ll be physically putting in work every single day.

By Motorbike

As much as I love hitchhiking, traveling by motorbike truly ignites a passion that I have rarely found in other methods of exploring. The feeling of crisp mountain wind on my face as I coast through surreal scenery is one that just doesn’t get old, and it’s certainly something I’d like to try out for longer periods.

The one thing to keep in mind though is that start-up costs will not be cheap. Good bikes that can actually make it across continents are not cheap, and you’ll also need to buy extra tires, tons of fluids, and other parts that likely will not be available in the places you intend to ride.

But still: it’s worth it. You get the benefits of cycling without the intense struggle, and you’ll be able to maneuver in places where cars cannot. You’ll be able to carry a lot more than a bicycle could, and it will still be cheaper than any van or 4×4.

By Van/Your Own Vehicle

Perhaps the most OG form of overland travel is with your own car: whether it be a van, a 4×4 or an old ambulance, I’ve seen adventurous souls carving their own paths in virtually every type of rig you could imagine.

With the popularity of vanlife these days, I’m sure you’ve thought about or at least heard about this craze. I mean, the upsides are many. Your home is with you at all times, you can carry so much more stuff, and you can design your ride exactly as you like. For many, the process of building their house on wheels is just as special as the trip itself.

But there are negatives too: many countries require a carnet de passage that often requires a hefty deposit, repairs can be super expensive, and it’s a whole lot of responsibility. But if you’re determined to make it happen, this is undoubtedly the most comfortable and adventurous way to travel overland, as you can go just about anywhere and won’t be as limited by weather.

By Hitchhiking

My overland hitching journey from UK to Papua New Guinea may not have been completed, but it certainly brought me some incredible (and life-changing) travel memories that I’ll hold on to forever.

Exploring overland by way of the thumb is not for the faint of heart, or for those lacking patience. But it will bring you closer to strangers and teach you more about the world than any other type of travel. When you’re in a vehicle of any kind (even a bicycle) it somewhat separates you from locals: you’re self-sufficient, right?

But when you’re relying on the kindness of random folks to help you see the world, it opens up doors you didn’t even know were in sight. It leads to unexpected family dinners in local homes, to long chats alongside crackling fires, and to hours spent in random places you would have never visited otherwise. Hitchhiking will change you for the better if you let it, and all you need to get started is a smile, a sign and a stuck-up thumb.

Overland Travel Tips

My top travel tips for making your adventure as smooth as it can be…

1. Do your visa research 

While most Westerners are privileged to be able to enter many countries without a visa, you can’t just roll up everywhere. Places like Pakistan, Vietnam, India, and Azerbaijan still require e-visas in advance, and China (often a pain for a lot of overlanders) has a set of very specific rules that usually requires applying for a sticker visa from your home country.

Make sure you read up on every destination you plan to overland through to ensure you don’t find yourself caught out in no man’s land. Sometimes visa rules can change abruptly too, so it’s key to stay on top of them.

2. Bring a LOT of Spare Parts 

I cannot stress this enough: if you’re travelling by way of ANY vehicle, it is absolutely essential that you have a good amount of spare parts in tow. Many of the best places to overland are NOT known for their equipment, which means you could potentially be caught out far, far away from civilization.

Spruce up your rig before heading out into super remote areas, and prepare for the unplanned. It’s far better to be a bit overloaded but have everything you need for a mishap than to travel light and become stranded.

3. Don’t forget the little things

You won’t realize how much you need a laundry bag, an eye mask or a good headlamp until you’re stuck in the middle of nowhere with none of the above to be found.

For little things like these, it’s definitely worth it to double up on your supply. You never know when something can get lost or break on the road. 

4. Bring a first aid kit 

Whether you’re walking, cycling, or traveling in a jacked-out 4×4, the need for a first aid kit remains. You never know when you might need it, but when that time comes, you’ll be incredibly happy you added it to your packing list.

While these honestly aren’t that cheap these days, it’s worth it to splurge on a large, well-stocked one that will actually last you a decent amount of time. If you have any favorite OTC medicines, I highly recommend hoarding them before you head out: pharmacies out in the wild leave much to be desired. 

5. Go slow 

The art of slow travel goes hand in hand with overlanding, but sometimes it can be easy to fixate on the destination rather than the journey.

But unless you have a hard deadline to meet, take it easy out there. The whole point of overlanding is to experience the route, not just each individual destination.

Take some rest days where you do nothing but take it all in. Perhaps dive into some journaling, or park yourself at a nice lake or even a beach. The road has infinite pleasures to indulge in. 

6. Download Maps in Advance

Even if you’re well prepared with a local SIM card, there will undoubtedly be places without service somewhere along your journey.

Unless you have a paper map like the kind I used to travel with back in the day, get all your necessary navigation downloaded and ready for use when you find yourself with a solid data or Wi-Fi connection.

7. Use Google Translate or Dictionaries 

While English speakers are pretty privileged in that we can get by in most of the world, most does not mean everywhere. Take Central Asia for example where Russian rules – you’re going to need some assistance.

While learning a bit of the language in advance is certainly helpful, Google Translate’s offline abilities have truly saved me many times, and it’s a free app you should definitely download. The old-school dictionary method is useful too, especially if you plan to spend time in one place or region for a while. 

Overland Travel Packing List

While your specific adventure packing list may look different depending on your method of overlanding, these are a few universal expedition items that anyone will need on the road.

Osprey Aether 70

• Features: Stow-On-The-Go™ trekking pole attachment >
• > External hydration sleeve in backpanel
• > New IsoForm? CM™ hipbelt

ORIA Combination Lock

• Features: 2 pack : set includes 2 zinc alloy 4-digit re-settable combination travel locks >
• > Offers 10,000 combinations
• > Small volume, light weight, fit through the holes of a lot of suitcases

World Travel Adapter

• Features: Input socket: Euro, USA / Japan, Australia / China, United Kingdom (UK version not in Switzerland) >
• > Retractable plugs: Euro, UK, USA / Japan, Australia / China
• > Charge a laptop and two usb devices at once

• Features: Higher resolution display (300 ppi) – with twice as many pixels >
• > Built-in adjustable light – read day and night
• > A single battery charge lasts weeks, not hours

MacBook Pro

• Features: 2.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz >
• > 8GB 2133MHz LPDDR3 memory
• > 128GB SSD storage

Where to Start Overland Travel

You can certainly overland anywhere: from somewhere as simple your home state/province to any country that calls to you, but overall I’d say these are the best places for a truly epic overland travel journey.

Central Asia

The 5 Stans are some of the most adventurous places left on this planet, and they’re home to some of the most mesmerizing roads at that. As of 2023, it’s easy for Western passport holders to travel through all of them (save Turkmenistan), and each one (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan) has something incredible to offer.

Public transport is also expensive and lacking in most of these locales, which makes overlanding that much more valuable.

All four Stans are all interconnected, safe, and essentially a big old playground for overlanders. Do not underestimate the size of this region though: I’d recommend blocking out at least 3 months to get a real feel for what it has to offer.

South/Southeast Asia

Ah, South and Southeast Asia . Home to some of my favourite countries in the world that have made the most indelible marks on my travels and my life.

India, Pakistan, Nepal and the infamous Banana Pancake trail (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam) are perfect places to give overland exploring a try.

Public transport is widespread, and you’ll get a feel for what it’s like to cross borders. But of course, having your own vehicle will make things even more accessible and give you access to rural areas most do not get to see.

When I rode a rickshaw around India , I found myself incredibly off trail in places that had never even seen foreigners before.

Every year, thousands of Europeans head East to Asia in their own cycles, 4x4s or by way of hitchhiking. And while the journey from Europe to Asia is absolutely epic, you can also opt to travel within the continent too.

With so many countries to check out, it may be the easiest (though certainly not the cheapest) place in the world to overland. Border crossings are simple, and so many countries are interconnected, that it’s a breeze to spend months moving about.

For Brits, Americans and other non-EU nationals, it’s key to be aware of the 90-day visa rule within the European Union. Luckily, there are some fantastic countries out East that you can visit once your time is up.

Many van lifers take to the wide open roads of the United States , with 49 to choose from (discounting Hawaii) and the ability to head north into Canada, I can see why this massive country has become so popular in the world of overland adventuring.

Personally, the USA is not at the top of my bucket list for many reasons, but if you’re already living there and want to get a feel for overland travel, incredible landscapes and opportunities await. Just note that public transportation and hitchhiking are definitely not recommended, as the former barely exists and the latter is not safe .

So van lifers, this is your time to shine. I know many folks who have fixed up relatively cheap vans and set out to see virtually all the states in the Union. If you have limited time or money, definitely focus your energy on the West Coast . That’s where you’ll find all the national parks and the scenery that makes the country worth exploring.

Getting Insured BEFORE Hitting the Road

Regardless of where or how you plan to overland, you should definitely sort some solid travel insurance before leaving home.

ALWAYS sort out your backpacker insurance before your trip. There’s plenty to choose from in that department, but a good place to start is Safety Wing .

They offer month-to-month payments, no lock-in contracts, and require absolutely no itineraries: that’s the exact kind of insurance long-term travellers and digital nomads need.

SafetyWing is cheap, easy, and admin-free: just sign up lickety-split so you can get back to it!

Click the button below to learn more about SafetyWing’s setup or read our insider review for the full tasty scoop.

Final Thoughts on Overland Travel

I hope I’ve now convinced you that your next trip should be an overland one. Ditching flights and committing to crossing borders and provinces on your own wheels (or by way of hitchhiking) will take your travels to entirely new heights.

You’ll have experiences that aren’t possible if you’re jetting about between places, and you’ll get to know each country and region like never before.

With so many ways to make it happen, from cycling to van life to even public buses, overland travel is something that is truly for everyone and anyone.

So what are you waiting for – get to planning and get the hell out there.

Will Hatton

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Will is a freaking trooper!!! I retained great advises from this articles like: Little things we dont think about, hoard your otc in advances, travel by train, buses, mini vans, bike, download your map is a great one when you out of wifi!! Visas if we go to china or india, google translate a must have and to talk t locals and meet people on the journey, enjoy the journey more than the destination, and to buy a kindle to read if no internet, i myself always have been wanted to explore asia and reading this give me ideas on how to get there cheaper and to see the best of all places.

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Overland Journeys

Variant rules for extended travel in 5th edition dungeons & dragons.

Within the standard 5th Edition ruleset, there's very little space given over to the 'third pillar' of the game experience - exploration. Many DMs will either gloss over extended travel with nothing more than evocative narration, or simply craft their campaigns to avoid having to deal with it in the first place.

These rules are intended to provide a way for DMs to include epic quests and gruelling journeys, where simply getting from A to B is a feat in itself.

Journeys as Dungeons

The classic dungeon crawl is as old as D&D itself, and many an adventure is built entirely around a party's daring delve into a dark demense, in search of fame, fortune and sweet, sweet experience points. This ruleset effectively re-imagines an overland journey as a kind of dungeon crawl, with each room in the dungeon being replaced by a scene on the journey.

The biggest issue with overland travel, from a DM's standpoint, is that the party will be able to get a long rest every night. This means that unless the DM chooses to pack the journey full of four or more encounters every day , the party will be full rested and refreshed for almost every encounter. To correct for this, introduce the following modification:

Variant Rule: Resting on the Road For the player characters to take a long rest, they must ensure they have at least a basic level of comfort and safety. Comfort requires each character to sleep in a bed, with four solid walls and a roof above them. Safety requires the party to not need to set a watch overnight. Unless both of these conditions are met, the rest only gives the benefits of a short rest.

Step 1: The Route

Upon beginning a journey, first determine the route to be traveled, noting the distance and the terrain type . Each type of terrain has a travel speed and a travel DC , as noted below.

Terrain Types

Terrain should be classified into one of the types below, which are shown with their corresponding maximum speed and travel DC:

Good Roads. Max speed: Fast. Travel DC: 5. Safe, well-traveled roads and trade routes, often connecting major cities. Navigation is trivial, and danger is rare.

Bad Roads. Max speed: Fast. Travel DC: 10. Old roads, disused or bandit-prone, connecting towns or running through dangerous wilderness areas. Navigation is simple, though the road sometimes vanishes for stretches of a few miles, and dangers are more common.

Grassland. Max speed: Medium. Travel DC: 10. Rolling hills, plains, or farmland, potentially with game trails or other pathways. Navigation is by landmark and the horizon, and there are often predators and other dangers to be mindful of.

Forest. Max speed: Slow. Travel DC: 15. Thick woodlands, forests and other areas of heavy tree cover. Navigation can be hard, without paths or trails, and dangers lurk beneath the boughs.

Swamp. Max speed: Slow. Travel DC: 20. Bogs, marshes and swampland, with uncertain footing and inhospitable quagmires. Navigation is tough, and dangers abound.

Mountain. Max speed: Slow. Travel DC: 20. Cliffs, mountain passes, clustered caverns and ragged ravines. Trails are few and far between, passes are narrow and hard to cross, and predators prowl the peaks.

Desert. Max speed: Slow. Travel DC: 25. Dessicated dunes, shifting sands and barren wastes, with little in the way of sustenance or guiding landmarks. Footing is uncertain, days are sweltering, nights are chill, and predators stalk any travellers.

Arctic. Max speed: Medium. Travel DC: 20. Freezing glaciers and snow-covered reaches, far from the grasp of civilisation. Navigation is hard in the snow, and dangers can creep close without warning.

Underdark. Max speed: Medium. Travel DC: 25. A web of subterranean tunnels and subsurface mushroom forests, infested with monsters and precarious empires of drow and duergar. It's easy to be turned around in the Underdark, and even easier to fall victim to one of the many threats.

Travel Speeds

Each terrain type has its own travel speed, which is the amount of miles the party can cross each day of travel.

Slow. 10 miles per day

Medium. 20 miles per day.

Fast. 30 miles per day.

PART 1 | THE ROUTE

Example Alberic, Bern, Charise and Darius are travelling from the town of Secomber deep into the High Forest in search of a lost temple. It's a long, arduous trek through the huge woodland region, and the group estimate the whole journey to be roughly two hundred miles. Forest terrain has a travel speed of Medium, which equates to twenty miles per day. This means that the trip should take around ten days of travel.

Step 2: Embarking

With the journey duration and difficulty assigned, it can be populated with events. The number and difficulty of encounters the party finds along their quest will be modified according to the party's skill in the roles below, to result in a dynamic, reactive journey.

Remember that not all encounters have to be combat, or even hostile. Think of each encounter as a "point of interest" along the route - an opportunity for the DM to zoom in on the party as they find something interesting, or a potential threat to avoid or confront.

Once the party has planned their journey, the There are four roles for the party to fill along the journey, the Navigator , the Lookout , the Scout , and the Hunter . Each role requires a skill check, the results of which will affect the time it takes the party to complete the journey and the difficulties they face along the way.

In parties with fewer than four members, each character can fill up to two roles, though if they choose to fill two roles their skill checks for both will be made with disadvantage.

In parties with more than four members, up to two characters can fill each role - in a role filled by two characters, the character with the highest modifier for the check makes the skill check with advantage.

The Navigator

The Navigator is in charge of reading the map, orienteering and keeping the party on-course and on-time. At the outset of each journey leg, the Navigator makes an Intelligence (Survival) check against the terrain's travel DC, with the result affecting how quickly the party can complete the journey.

• Pass by 5 or more: Short-cut. The journey's travel time is reduced by 10%, and if there are any long rest locations along the way, the party will find them.
• Pass: On-track. The journey takes the expected amount of time.
• Fail: Off-course. The journey's travel time is increased by 50%.

The Lookout

The Lookout is in charge of watching for danger, alerting the party when bandits or roving predators are near, and keeping an eye out for places or things of interest along the way. At the outset of each journey leg, the Lookout makes a Wisdom (Perception) check against the terrain's travel DC, with the result affecting how many encounters the party will come across along the journey.

• Pass by 5 or more: In the clear. The party will see 1 encounter per ten days of travel.
• Pass: Interesting times. The party will see 2 encounters per ten days of travel.
• Fail: Dangerous terrain. The party will see 3 encounters per ten days of travel.
• Fail by 5 or more: Stalked by misfortune. The party will see 4 encounters per ten days of travel.

The Scout is in charge of assessing the terrain ahead, and steering the party clear of monster lairs and environmental hazards. At the outset of each journey leg, the Scout makes a Wisdom (Nature) check against the terrain's travel DC, with the result affecting the difficulty of the encounters the party will face along the way.

Encounter difficulty is adjusted by the DM using the CR system on page 274 of the Dungeon Master's Guide.

• Pass by 5 or more: No threat. The journey's encounters will be Easy.
• Pass: On guard. The journey's encounters will be Medium.
• Fail: Uncertain territory. The journey's encounters will be Hard.
• Fail by 5 or more: Danger abounds. The journey's encounters will be Deadly.

The Hunter is in charge of keeping the party fed and watered, tracking down game animals, searching for fresh water, and monitoring the party's supplies. At the outset of each journey leg, the Hunter makes an attack roll against the terrain's travel DC, with the result affecting how physically draining the trip is.

• Pass by 5 or more: Abundance. The party consume no supplies, as food is plentiful. Each player characters may remove one level of Exhaustion, if they have any.
• Pass: Good hunting. The party consume their supplies at half the usual rate, if they have any, as they can forage sufficient food to sustain them.
• Fail: Sparse pickings. Game is in short supply - the party can only find enough forage to just about keep them alive, and must rely solely on their supplies for solid meals and clean water. If they run out, each member gains one level of Exhaustion for each ten days travelled without supplies.
• Fail by 5 or more: Barren. Game is absent and the party is unable to find sources of potable water - the party consume their supplies at double the usual rate, if they have any. Should they run out, each member gains one level of Exhaustion for each ten days travelled without supplies.

PART 2 | EMBARKING

Example Alberic, Bern, Charise and Darius are about to set off on their trek through the High Forest, and each of them chooses a role. The forest's travel DC is 15, so they'll each make their checks against a DC of 15. Alberic, a learned wizard, chooses to navigate. He makes an Intelligence (Survival) check and scores a 16 - a pass. The party will be on-time to make the journey in the expected ten days. Charise, a cunning rogue, chooses to be the lookout. She makes a Wisdom (Perception) check and scores a 19 - a pass. The party will see two encounters across their ten-day trip. Bern, as a wise druid, elects to scout. He makes a Wisdom (Nature) check, but only scores a 9 - a fail by 5 or more! The two encounters the party faces, if they turn to combat, will be Deadly ! Darius, a skilled fighter, takes charge of hunting. He makes an attack roll, and scores a 14 - a failure. Luckily, the group brought enough rations and supplies to last them the full ten days, because they're forced to rely entirely on rations as forage and food is little to be found. If anything happens to them, the whole group would be forced to gain a level of exhaustion!

Step 3: The Encounters

With the journey's real duration determined, and the number and difficulty of encounters along the way decided, all that remains is for the Dungeon Master to combine it all into a cohesive whole.

Premade Encounters

Should the DM wish, each encounter along the route can be pre-planned in advance. The DM might decide that the party will first wander into the territories of an isolationist enclave of wood elves, before a few days later stumbling across the entrance to an overgrown temple still crawling with foul undead, for example.

This approach works best if there is either sufficient time between the outset of the journey and the actual in-game traveling for the DM to plan out these encounters, or if the DM already has enough worldbuilding detail in place for the region - it allows the encounters the party face to both evoke the foes and themes of the campaign, but also to be carefully crafted for the party themselves.

Random Encounters

If the DM prefers, they can simply roll on the random tables found on pages 92 - 112 of Xanathar's Guide to Everything , which are broken down by terrain type and Challenge Rating. As a simple conversion:

For Easy encounters , roll on the table for the level bracket below the players.

For Hard encounters , roll on the table for the level bracket above the players.

For Deadly encounters , roll on the table for the level bracket two above the players.

Example The DM for Alberic, Bern, Charise and Darius elects to roll for the two encounters the party will face along their journey. The party are level 7, but thanks to Bern's fumbling scouting their encounters will be Deadly, so the DM finds the table for Forest encounters at levels 17+ (XGE p.100) and makes two rolls. She gets an 18 and a 91 - a herd of unicorns, and an ancient green dragon. She's confident that the good-aligned party won't find conflict with the unicorns, but the ancient dragon is far above their weight class: the four adventurers will have to play their cards right to avoid a potentially lethal fight.

There are some class features or other game elements that can alter how the DM might like to use these rules, which are addressed below.

Characters with the Outlander background. The Wanderer feature states "you can find food and fresh water for yourself and up to five other people each day, provided that the land offers berries, small game, water, and so forth." As such, it is recommended that if the character with this feature takes the Hunter role, they make their attack roll with advantage - their background helps them find what game is around, but cannot help if there simply is nothing to find, after all.

Rangers with Favoured Terrain. The Natural Explorer feature grants a number of benefits which sadly see little use in many campaigns. With this in mind, it is recommended that they apply to these journey rules as such:

• If the journey is made through the Ranger's favoured terrain, the party's maximum speed is raised by one level (from Slow to Medium, or from Medium to Fast).
• If the journey is made through the Ranger's favoured terrain, the terrain's travel DC is lowered by 5.
• If the journey is made through the Ranger's favoured terrain, the Ranger makes their check for any role they fill with advantage.

PART 3 | PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

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There are three movement scales, as follows.

• Tactical, for combat, measured in feet (or squares) per round.
• Local, for exploring an area, measured in feet per minute.
• Overland, for getting from place to place, measured in miles per hour or miles per day.

Modes of Movement

While moving at the different movement scales, creatures generally walk, hustle, or run.

A walk represents unhurried but purposeful movement at 3 miles per hour for an unencumbered human.

A hustle is a jog at about 6 miles per hour for an unencumbered human. A character moving his or her speed twice in a single round, or moving that speed in the same round that he or she performs a standard action or another move action is hustling when he or she moves.

Run (×3)

Moving three times speed is a running pace for a character in heavy armor. It represents about 7 miles per hour for a human in full plate.

Run (×4)

Moving four times speed is a running pace for a character in light, medium, or no armor. It represents about 14 miles per hour for an unencumbered human, or 10 miles per hour for a human in chainmail.

Tactical Movement

Use tactical movement for combat. Characters generally don’t walk during combat—they hustle or run. A character who moves his or her speed and takes some action is hustling for about half the round and doing something else the other half.

Hampered Movement

Difficult terrain, obstacles, or poor visibility can hamper movement. When movement is hampered, each square moved into usually counts as two squares, effectively reducing the distance that a character can cover in a move.

If more than one condition applies, multiply together all additional costs that apply. (This is a specific exception to the normal rule for doubling)

In some situations, your movement may be so hampered that you don’t have sufficient speed even to move 5 feet (1 square). In such a case, you may use a full-round action to move 5 feet (1 square) in any direction, even diagonally. Even though this looks like a 5-foot step, it’s not, and thus it provokes attacks of opportunity normally. (You can’t take advantage of this rule to move through impassable terrain or to move when all movement is prohibited to you.)

You can’t run or charge through any square that would hamper your movement.

Local Movement

Characters exploring an area use local movement, measured in feet per minute.

A character can walk without a problem on the local scale.

A character can hustle without a problem on the local scale. See Overland Movement, below, for movement measured in miles per hour.

A character with a Constitution score of 9 or higher can run for a minute without a problem. Generally, a character can run for a minute or two before having to rest for a minute.

Overland Movement

Characters covering long distances cross-country use overland movement. Overland movement is measured in miles per hour or miles per day. A day represents 8 hours of actual travel time. For rowed watercraft, a day represents 10 hours of rowing. For a sailing ship, it represents 24 hours.

A character can walk 8 hours in a day of travel without a problem. Walking for longer than that can wear him or her out (see Forced March , below).

A character can hustle for 1 hour without a problem. Hustling for a second hour in between sleep cycles deals 1 point of nonlethal damage , and each additional hour deals twice the damage taken during the previous hour of hustling. A character who takes any nonlethal damage from hustling becomes fatigued .

A fatigued character can’t run or charge and takes a penalty of -2 to Strength and Dexterity. Eliminating the nonlethal damage also eliminates the fatigue.

A character can’t run for an extended period of time.

Attempts to run and rest in cycles effectively work out to a hustle.

The terrain through which a character travels affects how much distance he or she can cover in an hour or a day (see Table: Terrain and Overland Movement ). A highway is a straight, major, paved road. A road is typically a dirt track. A trail is like a road, except that it allows only single-file travel and does not benefit a party traveling with vehicles. Trackless terrain is a wild area with no paths.

Forced March

In a day of normal walking, a character walks for 8 hours. The rest of the daylight time is spent making and breaking camp, resting, and eating.

A character can walk for more than 8 hours in a day by making a forced march. For each hour of marching beyond 8 hours, a Constitution check (DC 10, +2 per extra hour) is required. If the check fails, the character takes 1d6 points of nonlethal damage . A character who takes any nonlethal damage from a forced march becomes fatigued . Eliminating the nonlethal damage also eliminates the fatigue. It’s possible for a character to march into unconsciousness by pushing himself too hard.

Mounted Movement

A mount bearing a rider can move at a hustle. The damage it takes when doing so, however, is lethal damage, not nonlethal damage . The creature can also be ridden in a forced march , but its Constitution checks automatically fail, and, again, the damage it takes is lethal damage. Mounts also become fatigued when they take any damage from hustling or forced marches.

See Table: Mounts and Vehicles for mounted speeds and speeds for vehicles pulled by draft animals.

Waterborne Movement

See Table: Mounts and Vehicles for speeds for water vehicles.

Moving In Three Dimensions

Tactical aerial movement.

Once movement becomes three-dimensional and involves turning in midair and maintaining a minimum velocity to stay aloft, it gets more complicated. Most flying creatures have to slow down at least a little to make a turn, and many are limited to fairly wide turns and must maintain a minimum forward speed. Each flying creature has a maneuverability, as shown on Table: Maneuverability . The entries on the table are defined below.

Minimum Forward Speed

If a flying creature fails to maintain its minimum forward speed, it must land at the end of its movement. If it is too high above the ground to land, it falls straight down, descending 150 feet in the first round of falling. If this distance brings it to the ground, it takes falling damage. If the fall doesn’t bring the creature to the ground, it must spend its next turn recovering from the stall. It must succeed on a DC 20 Reflex save to recover. Otherwise it falls another 300 feet. If it hits the ground, it takes falling damage. Otherwise, it has another chance to recover on its next turn.

The ability to stay in one place while airborne.

Move Backward

The ability to move backward without turning around.

A creature with good maneuverability uses up 5 feet of its speed to start flying backward.

How much the creature can turn after covering the stated distance.

Turn in Place

A creature with good or average maneuverability can use some of its speed to turn in place.

Maximum Turn

How much the creature can turn in any one space.

The angle at which the creature can climb.

How fast the creature can climb.

The angle at which the creature can descend.

A flying creature can fly down at twice its normal flying speed.

Between Down and Up

An average, poor, or clumsy flier must fly level for a minimum distance after descending and before climbing. Any flier can begin descending after a climb without an intervening distance of level flight.

Evasion And Pursuit

In round-by-round movement, simply counting off squares, it’s impossible for a slow character to get away from a determined fast character without mitigating circumstances. Likewise, it’s no problem for a fast character to get away from a slower one.

When the speeds of the two concerned characters are equal, there’s a simple way to resolve a chase: If one creature is pursuing another, both are moving at the same speed, and the chase continues for at least a few rounds, have them make opposed Dexterity checks to see who is the faster over those rounds. If the creature being chased wins, it escapes. If the pursuer wins, it catches the fleeing creature.

Sometimes a chase occurs overland and could last all day, with the two sides only occasionally getting glimpses of each other at a distance. In the case of a long chase, an opposed Constitution check made by all parties determines which can keep pace the longest. If the creature being chased rolls the highest, it gets away. If not, the chaser runs down its prey, outlasting it with stamina.

Moving Around In Squares

In general, when the characters aren’t engaged in round-by-round combat, they should be able to move anywhere and in any manner that you can imagine real people could. A 5-foot square, for instance, can hold several characters; they just can’t all fight effectively in that small space. The rules for movement are important for combat, but outside combat they can impose unnecessary hindrances on character activities.

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Wilderness Adventuring

• 1 Sequence of Play Per Day
• 2 Distance and Measurement
• 3.1 Flying Mounts
• 6 Losing Direction
• 7.1 Terrain Modifiers
• 7.2 Forced March
• 10 Visibility
• 11.1 Chance by Terrain

Sequence of Play Per Day

• Decide course: The players decide on their course of travel for the day.
• Losing direction: The referee determines whether the party gets lost.
• Wandering monsters: The referee makes checks as applicable.
• Description: The referee describes the terrain passed through and any sites of interest that the party comes across, asking players for their actions, as required. If monsters are encountered, follow the procedure described in Encounters .
• End of day: The referee updates time records, with special attention to rations, spell durations, and the party’s need to rest.

Distance and Measurement

The open spaces of the wilderness mean that characters and monsters can move more freely than in a dungeon.

Ranges and movement rates: Are measured in yards, instead of feet. This means that ranges and movement rates are tripled.

Areas: Of spell effects, breath weapons, etc. are still measured in feet.

Miles per day: The distance a creature can fly in a day is double the distance it can travel overland (see #Overland Travel ). For example, a creature with a movement rate of 120’ could travel 24 miles in a day overland, but could fly 48 miles in a day.

Terrain: Does not affect air travel.

Flying Mounts

In general, a winged beast may carry riders or other burdens based on its HD:

• 3 HD creatures: May carry a being about half the size of an adult human.
• 6 HD creatures: May carry an adult human.
• 12 HD creatures: May carry a large animal like a horse.
• 24 HD creatures: May carry a very large animal like an elephant.

Foraging for herbs, fruits, nuts, etc. can be performed alongside normal movement (see #Overland Travel ). The party has a 1-in-6 chance per day of finding enough food for 1d6 human-sized beings.

Hunting animals takes up a complete day, with no travelling or resting possible. When hunting, there is a 1-in-6 chance of encountering animals which may be suitable for eating (if they can be caught!). This is in addition to the normal chance of random encounters (see #Wandering Monsters ).

Losing Direction

At the start of each day of travel, the referee should roll to determine if the group loses direction. The probability depends on the terrain being traversed:

• Clear, grasslands: 1-in-6.
• Barren lands, hills, mountains, woods: 2-in-6.
• Desert, jungle, swamp: 3-in-6.

Effects: See Losing Direction .

Overland Travel

Miles per day: The number of miles a character can travel in a day is determined by dividing their base movement rate by five . For example, a character whose base movement rate is 120’ could travel up to 24 miles in a day.

Terrain Modifiers

Some types of terrain modify the speed at which characters can travel:

• Broken lands, desert, forest, hills: 33% slower.
• Jungle, mountains, swamp: 50% slower.
• Maintained roads: 50% faster.

Forced March

If characters need to travel further in a day, they may engage in a forced march.

Speed increase: The distance travelled is increased by 50%. For example, a character that can normally travel 24 miles in a day could travel 36 miles.

Rest: After a forced march, characters must rest for a full day.

Frequency of rest: Characters must rest for one day per six days of travel.

Penalty for not resting: If characters press on without resting, they suffer a penalty of -1 to hit and damage rolls until they have rested for one full day.

Surrounded: If a party is surprised by three or more monsters, the monsters may have moved to encircle the party.

Characters can usually see for three miles around them, in open terrain. This range may sometimes be reduced (e.g. in overgrown terrain such as a forest) or increased (e.g. looking out from the top of a mountain).

Wandering Monsters

Frequency: A check is typically rolled once per day, but the referee may choose to make more checks: up to three or four per day.

Chance: The chance of encountering a wandering monster depends on the terrain being explored (see below).

Distance: Wandering monsters are encountered 4d6 × 10 yards away. If either side is surprised (see Encounters ), this is reduced to 1d4 × 10 yards.

Chance by Terrain

• City, clear, grasslands, settled lands: 1-in-6.
• Aerial, barren, desert, forest, hills: 2-in-6.
• Jungle, mountains, swamp: 3-in-6.
• Adventuring

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Exploration & movement, the exploration process, character actions, additional factors, exploration rewards, creating a territory, example territory: gnoll canyon, armor and encumbrance for other base speeds, modes of movement, tactical movement, local movement, overland movement, evasion and pursuit, exploration, bright light, normal light, smashing an object, breaking items.

Unspoiled wilderness and uncharted lands represent an opportunity for exploration and the discovery of ancient secrets, lost treasures, natural wonders, and the remote lairs of terrible beasts. As exciting as exploring wilderness can be, the fact that there are no city streets or dungeon walls to guide choices can make running exploration in uncharted wilds a challenge. The rules presented in this section can be used when a group enters such uncharted lands to discover what lies within, and at your discretion can serve as an expansion on the rules for exploration. Brief definitions of terms used in this section are listed below.

Discovery Points : As the PCs explore a territory, they’ll accumulate Discovery Points—an abstract measure of how thoroughly they have explored the region. Note that while gazetteers, maps, research, and rumors can grant bonus Discovery Points for a region even before the PCs set foot within the wild, inaccurate information gleaned from such sources can penalize the accumulation of Discovery Points.

Exploration Check : As the PCs search a territory, they’ll attempt exploration checks to determine how many Discovery Points they accumulate. Exploration checks are typically Survival checks, though unusual territories may require other specialized skills. A character can attempt an exploration check using Perception in place of the required skill with a –5 penalty.

Location : A location is an adventure site or other point of interest within a territory—it could be an ancient ruin, a dragon’s cave, a druidic monument, a hidden treasure, a portal to the Fey World, or anything else of note. Each location has a discovery score equal to the number of Discovery Points required to find the location.

Territory : Territories are discrete geographic areas with defined boundaries. These can be political borders or geographical transitions. If you’re using the exploration rules from Ultimate Campaign, a single hex constitutes a territory. Alternately, a territory can be a much larger region; in this case, the PCs’ exploration of the territory is a much more abstract concept and doesn’t involve tracking exact locations on a map. In either case, each territory has its own Challenge Rating, which determines the danger of wandering monsters in the territory as well as the DC for exploration checks to earn Discovery Points.

Way Sign : Way signs are events, objects, or terrain features that give a hint to find a location. Discovering a way sign, either by stumbling across one in the wild (such as by reaching a vantage point that gives an excellent view of the lay of the land, or by stumbling across an old road sign) or by researching a region beforehand (such as by consulting gazetteers, maps, or the rumor mill), can grant bonus Discovery Points or reveal the existence of previously unknown locations—but some way signs may be inaccurate or misleading.

Typically, explorers come to a territory to seek out a specific location within its reaches. Sometimes they know of multiple locations reputed to lie within the region and needs only find them. Other times, some or all the locations remain unknown until the explorers stumble across them or find clues as a result of their investigations in the territory. In either case, before explorers can discover a location, they must first accumulate enough Discovery Points (either by succeeding at exploration checks or by correctly interpreting way signs).

Once the explorers reach the territory in question, they can begin exploration and discovery. Their efforts result in the accumulation of Discovery Points, which they can spend to discover locations, and in finding way signs, which provide additional Discovery Points and sometimes also reveal the existence of further locations to be discovered. Discovery Points earned in a given territory are tied to that territory; the PCs cannot apply points earned in one territory to a new territory. The party’s accumulated Discovery Points remain indefinitely, even if the PCs leave the territory and return later.

At the start of each day, each character must decide if she will spend the day documenting the territory, exploring, seeking a location, or taking another action (such as crafting magic items, guarding a campsite, resting, or the like). Only the first three options—documenting, exploring, and seeking a location—directly contribute to the exploration process. Uncovering way signs can also contribute to the process, but the actions required to earn Discovery Points via way signs vary widely and depend on the way signs in question.

Documenting : The character spends the day mapping the territory or recording its features in a gazetteer and can attempt one skill check for each day spent documenting. Creating a map requires one or more successful Profession (cartographer) checks, while creating a gazetteer requires one or more successful Linguistics checks (at the GM’s discretion, other skill checks can be used in place of these). The number of checks needed equals the territory’s CR, and the DC equals the territory’s exploration check DC. Once the character has succeeded at the required checks, she has created a detailed map or gazetteer of the region, which grants a +5 circumstance bonus on future exploration checks in that territory (bonuses from multiple maps or gazetteers don’t stack).

Exploring : The character spends the day exploring the territory. At the end of the day, the character attempts an exploration check against the territory’s DC. An exploration check is usually a Survival check, but in some unusual regions or circumstances, it could require another skill check. A character can always attempt an exploration check using the Perception skill, but doing so is more difficult since this represents a more generalized method of exploration, and the player attempting a Perception -based exploration check takes a –5 penalty on the roll as a result.

If the character succeeds at the exploration check, she earns 1 Discovery Point for the group, plus 1 additional point for every 5 points by which the result of the check exceeds the DC. Failing the check by 5 or more reduces the group’s Discovery Point total by 1, plus 1 additional point for every additional 5 points by which she failed the check. Unless every character in the group is skilled at the territory’s exploration skill, it’s often prudent for one character to attempt the primary exploration check and for others to engage in other tasks or use the aid another action to improve the primary check’s result.

Seeking a Location : If the PCs wish to seek out a location, they can do so by spending Discovery Points at the start of the day. If they are seeking a specific location that they know exists in the territory (typically having found clues to it in the form of way signs), they must spend a number of Discovery Points equal to the location’s discovery score—a number that determines how difficult that location is to find (with higher values representing locations that are more difficult to discover). If the PCs want to attempt to uncover an unknown location at random, they choose how many Discovery Points from their total that they want to spend. Once the points are spent, divide the total spent in half, then compare that result to the discovery scores of all the locations in the territory. If any of those locations have a discovery score lower than that total, the PCs discover one of those locations (chosen at random if more than one location is a potential discovery). If none of the locations have a discovery score lower than that total, the group recovers half the Discovery Points they spent, but the other half is lost. Once the party discovers a location, travel time to the site varies according to the GM’s discretion and the overall size of the territory.

Uncovering Way Signs : Every way sign the characters uncover has an associated skill check with a DC determined by the complexity of the way sign. The amount of time necessary to interpret a given way sign varies; some checks can be attempted with an insignificant time expenditure (such as recalling information about a territory using a Knowledge skill), while some require significant time to complete (like translating ancient texts or visiting a nearby settlement to gather information), which takes away from time spent documenting, exploring, or seeking a location. On a successful skill check, the PCs earn Discovery Points for the territory to which the way sign is linked. A simple way sign grants 1 Discovery Point, a moderately complex way sign grants 3 Discovery Points, and a complex way sign grants 5 Discovery Points. However, misinterpreting a way sign can complicate exploration—if a PC fails a check to interpret a way sign by 5 or more, the misinformation he obtains reduces the PCs’ current Discovery Point total for that territory by 1d4 points. This can result in negative values. The PCs can attempt to interpret a way sign multiple times, but once they have successfully interpreted it, further attempts do not grant additional Discovery Points.

Some factors can affect both the rate and effectiveness of exploration, as detailed below.

Careful Exploration : Some groups might choose to explore more slowly and methodically in order to make a more careful search. This allows the group to attempt one extra exploration check for each day spent in careful exploration, but it limits the total number of Discovery Points that can be gained to 1 (a character using careful exploration cannot earn additional Discovery Points by exceeding the DC by 5 or more). Typically, careful exploration can be performed only if the terrain is relatively clear and free of obstructions. The GM is free to limit this option if she believes that a slow search would not garner much benefit due to the terrain.

Darkness : Unless the explorer has darkvision or another ability to see in darkness , he takes a –4 penalty on exploration checks he attempts when some but at most half of the hours spent exploring that day occur after nightfall. Explorers take a –8 penalty on checks attempted when more than half of the hours spent exploring occur after nightfall.

Extending the Day : A day of exploration typically takes 8 hours; the rest of each day is assumed to be split between 8 hours of rest and 8 hours spent eating, making and breaking camp, relaxing, and the like. It’s possible to increase the amount of time in a day used for exploring by spending an additional 8-hour session exploring, but for every additional stretch of time up to 8 hours by which the PCs extend their time spent exploring, they take a cumulative –4 penalty on exploration checks to earn Discovery Points until they next rest for 8 hours. At the GM’s discretion, fatigue and exhaustion can also set in if the PCs don’t rest enough.

Weather : Inclement weather hampers exploration checks if it is the predominant weather of a given exploration period. For example, the PCs would take a –1 penalty in the case of light fog or light rain, but a –10 penalty in the case of a blizzard or hurricane.

Finding a location is often its own reward, but given the time, energy, and sometimes the resources needed to successfully conduct an exploration, you should consider the following additional rewards for parties that successfully discover all of the locations hidden in a territory.

Experience Points : The PCs should earn experience points equal to what they would have normally earned for defeating a monster of a CR equal to the territory’s CR once all locations within the territory are discovered. (If you’re using this system with the exploration rules in Ultimate Campaign, you should decide if you want to use this method of XP reward, the one detailed in Ultimate Campaign, or both, as appropriate for your game table.)

Maps and Gazetteers : The successful completion of a map or gazetteer can generate a monetary reward if the PCs sell their hard work back in civilization. A complete map or gazetteer of a region that has never before been explored can be sold for a number of gold pieces equal to 100 × the territory’s CR; once a map or gazetteer of a region has been sold, further copies of a map or gazetteer of that region (regardless of whether the first item sold was a map or gazetteer) are generally worth only 10% of that value or less, depending on GM’s discretion and supply and demand.

The steps listed below present all the information you need to generate territories for your PCs to explore. If you’re using the hex-based exploration rules from Ultimate Campaign, follow these steps for every hex in your map, though you can reuse information for similar hexes.

Step 1: Define the Territory

The first step is to determine your territory’s Challenge Rating. Typically, this should be the same value as the PCs’ Average Party Level, but you might want to make it easier or harder for the sake of the story. The territory’s CR helps guide the creation of random encounters, but it also determines the base DC of exploration checks, which can be found on Table 4–1. Though most exploration checks use the Survival skill, you can assign a different skill for particularly unusual or magical territories (for example, exploring a complex extraplanar library might require a Knowledge check, while exploring the mindscape of a slumbering god in which the PCs are trapped could require a Sense Motive check).

Exploration check DCs are intended to be moderately difficult. Characters who are heavily invested in the relevant skill for a given check should have a reasonable chance of success, while those who are not adept with the necessary skills are in danger of leading the PCs off track by providing erroneous information or misinterpreting way signs. Often, characters who lack the relevant skills for a particular exploration are better off using their abilities for other tasks or helping more skillful PCs via the aid another action.

Step 2: Design Locations

As a general rule, each territory should contain at least one location to discover; otherwise, there’s little point to exploring a territory. In some cases, you need to design only a single location—the focus and eventual goal of the exploration. Other times, such as if the PCs are surveying a lost world or another terra incognita, you’ll want to design multiple locations, each competing with the others for the PCs’ attention.

Each location should be something memorable and significant. Finding a location should grant a reward (such as a supernatural enhancement, valuable treasure, or a way sign), or that location should be an adventure site. Locations can be as simple as a stash of ancient pirate treasure or as complex as a lost city harboring ancient magic and technological mysteries.

Each location in a territory needs its own discovery score. An obvious location (such as a large castle or a humanoid army camp) should have an initial discovery score of 3, while a more obscure location (such as a single house or a cave entrance) should have an initial discovery score of 6. You can modify this initial discovery score total using the values given on Table 4–2, but feel free to come up with your own values based on the exploration’s narrative.

Adjustments are cumulative, but the minimum discovery score = 1.

Step 3: Create Way Signs

Way signs provide information about the territory and, if correctly interpreted, can provide bonus Discovery Points. A way sign could be as simple as a vantage point that offers a glimpse of a location from a distance or a hidden path toward a sought-after goal, or it might itself be a reward for finding a location. Way signs can even be earned or uncovered in advance of exploring a region—if a PC researches the territory the party intends to explore in a library, she might uncover a set of old maps or a traveler’s journal that provides clues to navigating the territory and thus serves as a way sign.

When designing a territory, you’ll usually want to include at least one or two-way signs or as many as 10 in cases of large territories. If you’re using hex-based exploration, treat each significant terrain feature as a territory for the purpose of deciding how many way signs to include, rather than treating each hex as its own territory. Each way sign should have a trigger that results in its discovery by the party, be it attempting to recall lore about a region, gathering information in a nearby settlement, using flight to scout the lay of the land, or uncovering an old map or journal discussing the region. Each way sign should also have an associated skill check and DC to successfully gain information or interpret the clue.

For a simple way sign, this DC should equal the territory’s CR + 10. For a moderately complex way sign, the DC should be equal to the territory’s CR + 15. For complex way signs, the DC should be equal to the territory’s CR + 20.

Step 4: Create Random Encounter Tables

A territory’s CR sets the average CR of random encounters occurring within that territory. A short table of a half-dozen or so potential encounters is enough. It’s generally best to check for encounters four times per day—once at dawn, once at noon, once at dusk, and once at midnight, with a 20% chance of an encounter each time. You can even tie encounters to exploration checks, with a result of a natural 1 on such a check indicating a random encounter. Feel free to adjust the frequency of these checks and the chance of a random encounter occurring as best suits your game. Keep in mind that too many random encounters and wandering monsters can slow down the progression of your plot and can frustrate players. It’s often best to limit random encounters to one per day of in-game time.

Suppose the PCs have learned of a great evil rising in a hidden temple in the arid hills surrounding gnoll -held territories. Rather than generate a map of the region, you instead use the rules in this section to guide the PCs’ exploration of White Canyon and their search for the hidden temple. You might also include a few other adventure sites in the region for the PCs to seek out and way signs to help them get a jump on locating these sites. Your notes on White Canyon might end up looking like the following.

Gnoll Canyon Territory CR 5

Arid hills ruled by bickering gnoll tribes and stalked by desert beasts and ghuls

Exploration Check Survival DC 23

Location Discovery Scores

Hidden Temple 12 (base score of 6, hills terrain +2, location is deliberately hidden +4)

Red Sultan’s Camp 1 (base score of 3, hills terrain +2, location is traveled to or from often –4)

Wyvern Lair 8 (base score of 6, hills terrain +2)

Simple Way Signs (1 Discovery Point)

Rumors A successful DC 15 Diplomacy check to gather information in a nearby settlement can reveal information about the region.

Moderate Way Signs (3 Discovery Points)

Recall Lore A successful DC 20 Knowledge (geography) check reveals information about the region.

Reconnaissance via Flight A character who spends at least 30 minutes flying above the region and then succeeds at a DC 20 Perception check spots landmarks and gets the lay of the land.

Complex Way Signs (5 Discovery Points)

Deciphering a Journal If the PCs find an ill-fated explorer’s journal in the wyvern’s lair, a PC who can read Aklo and succeeds at a DC 25 Linguistics check correctly interprets her coded notes.

Random Encounters

Frequency 4 times per day (morning, noon, dusk, midnight)

Chance of Encounter 20%

Carrying Capacity

These carrying capacity rules determine how much a character’s equipment slows him down. Encumbrance comes in two parts: encumbrance by armor and encumbrance by total weight.

Encumbrance by Armor : A character’s armor determines his maximum Dexterity bonus to AC , armor check penalty, speed, and running speed. Unless your character is weak or carrying a lot of gear, that’s all you need to know; the extra gear your character carries won’t slow him down any more than the armor already does.

If your character is weak or carrying a lot of gear, however, then you’ll need to calculate encumbrance by weight. Doing so is most important when your character is trying to carry some heavy object.

Encumbrance by Weight : If you want to determine whether your character’s gear is heavy enough to slow him down more than his armor already does, total the weight of all the character’s items, including armor , weapons, and gear. Compare this total to the character’s Strength on Table: Carrying Capacity . Depending on the character’s carrying capacity, he or she may be carrying a light, medium, or heavy load. Like armor , a character’s load affects his maximum Dexterity bonus to AC , carries a check penalty (which works like an armor check penalty), reduces the character’s speed, and affects how fast the character can run, as shown on Table: Encumbrance Effects . A medium or heavy load counts as medium or heavy armor for the purpose of abilities or skills that are restricted by armor. Carrying a light load does not encumber a character.

If your character is wearing armor , use the worse figure (from armor or from load) for each category. Do not stack the penalties.

Lifting and Dragging : A character can lift as much as his maximum load over his head. A character’s maximum load is the highest amount of weight listed for a character’s Strength in the heavy load column of Table: Carrying Capacity .

A character can lift as much as double his maximum load off the ground, but he or she can only stagger around with it. While overloaded in this way, the character loses any Dexterity bonus to AC and can move only 5 feet per round (as a full-round action).

A character can generally push or drag along the ground as much as five times his maximum load. Favorable conditions can double these numbers, and bad circumstances can reduce them by half or more.

Bigger and Smaller Creatures : The figures on Table: Carrying Capacity are for Medium bipedal creatures. A larger bipedal creature can carry more weight depending on its size category, as follows: Large ×2, Huge ×4, Gargantuan ×8, Colossal ×16. A smaller creature can carry less weight depending on its size category, as follows: Small ×3/4, Tiny ×1/2, Diminutive ×1/4, Fine ×1/8.

Quadrupeds can carry heavier loads than bipeds can. Multiply the values corresponding to the creature’s Strength score from Table: Carrying Capacity by the appropriate modifier, as follows: Fine ×1/4, Diminutive ×1/2, Tiny ×3/4, Small ×1, Medium ×1-1/2, Large ×3, Huge ×6, Gargantuan ×12, Colossal ×24.

Tremendous Strength : For Strength scores not shown on Table: Carrying Capacity , find the Strength score between 20 and 29 that has the same number in the “ones” digit as the creature’s Strength score does and multiply the numbers in that row by 4 for every 10 points the creature’s Strength is above the score for that row.

Table: Armor and Encumbrance for Other Base Speeds provides reduced speed figures for all base speeds from 5 feet to 120 feet (in 5-foot increments).

There are three movement scales, as follows:

• Tactical , for combat, measured in feet (or 5-foot squares) per round.
• Local , for exploring an area, measured in feet per minute.
• Overland , for getting from place to place, measured in miles per hour or miles per day.

While moving at the different movement scales, creatures generally walk, hustle, or run.

• Walk : A walk represents unhurried but purposeful movement (3 miles per hour for an unencumbered adult human).
• Hustle : A hustle is a jog (about 6 miles per hour for an unencumbered human). A character moving his speed twice in a single round, or moving that speed in the same round that he or she performs a standard action or another move action, is hustling when he or she moves.
• Run (x3) – Moving three times speed is a running pace for a character in heavy armor (about 7 miles per hour for a human in full plate).
• Run (x4) – Moving four times speed is a running pace for a character in light, medium, or no armor ( about 12 miles per hour for an unencumbered human, or 9 miles per hour for a human in chainmail) See Table: Movement and Distance for details.

* Tactical movement is often measured in squares on the battle grid (1 square = 5 feet) rather than feet.

* May require a skill check

Tactical movement is used for combat. Characters generally don’t walk during combat, for obvious reasons—they hustle or run instead. A character who moves his speed and takes some action is hustling for about half the round and doing something else the other half.

Hampered Movement : Difficult terrain, obstacles, and poor visibility can hamper movement (see Table: Hampered Movement for details). When movement is hampered, each square moved into usually counts as two squares, effectively reducing the distance that a character can cover in a move.

If more than one hampering condition applies, multiply all additional costs that apply. This is a specific exception to the normal rule for doubling.

In some situations, your movement may be so hampered that you don’t have sufficient speed even to move 5 feet (1 square). In such a case, you may use a full-round action to move 5 feet (1 square) in any direction, even diagonally. Even though this looks like a 5-foot step, it’s not, and thus it provokes attacks of opportunity normally. (You can’t take advantage of this rule to move through impassable terrain or to move when all movement is prohibited to you.)

You can’t run or charge through any square that would hamper your movement.

Characters exploring an area use local movement, measured in feet per minute.

Walk : A character can walk without a problem on the local scale.

Hustle : A character can hustle without a problem on the local scale. See Overland Movement, below, for movement measured in miles per hour.

Run : A character can run for a number of rounds equal to his Constitution score on the local scale without needing to rest. See Combat for rules covering extended periods of running.

Characters covering long distances cross-country use overland movement. Overland movement is measured in miles per hour or miles per day. A day represents 8 hours of actual travel time. For rowed watercraft, a day represents 10 hours of rowing. For a sailing ship, it represents 24 hours.

Walk : A character can walk 8 hours in a day of travel without a problem. Walking for longer than that can wear him out (see Forced March , below).

Hustle : A character can hustle for 1 hour without a problem. Hustling for a second hour in between sleep cycles deals 1 point of nonlethal damage, and each additional hour deals twice the damage taken during the previous hour of hustling. A character who takes any nonlethal damage from hustling becomes fatigued.

A fatigued character can’t run or charge and takes a penalty of –2 to Strength and Dexterity . Eliminating the nonlethal damage also eliminates the fatigue.

Run : A character can’t run for an extended period of time. Attempts to run and rest in cycles effectively work out to a hustle.

Terrain : The terrain through which a character travels affects the distance he can cover in an hour or a day (see Table: Terrain and Overland Movement ). A highway is a straight, major, paved road. A road is typically a dirt track. A trail is like a road, except that it allows only single-file travel and does not benefit a party traveling with vehicles. Trackless terrain is a wild area with no paths.

Forced March : In a day of normal walking, a character walks for 8 hours. The rest of the daylight time is spent making and breaking camp, resting, and eating.

A character can walk for more than 8 hours in a day by making a forced march. For each hour of marching beyond 8 hours, a Constitution check (DC 10, +2 per extra hour) is required. If the check fails, the character takes 1d6 points of nonlethal damage. A character who takes any nonlethal damage from a forced march becomes fatigued. Eliminating the nonlethal damage also eliminates the fatigue. It’s possible for a character to march into unconsciousness by pushing himself too hard.

Mounted Movement : A mount bearing a rider can move at a hustle. The damage it takes when doing so, however, is lethal damage, not nonlethal damage. The creature can also be ridden in a forced march, but its Constitution checks automatically fail, and the damage it takes is lethal damage. Mounts also become fatigued when they take any damage from hustling or forced marches.

See Table: Mounts and Vehicles for mounted speeds and speeds for vehicles pulled by draft animals.

Waterborne Movement: See Table: Mounts and Vehicles : Mounts and Vehicles for speeds for water vehicles.

1 Quadrupeds, such as horses, can carry heavier loads than characters can. See Carrying Capacity for more information. 2 Rafts, barges, keelboats, and rowboats are most often used on lakes and rivers. If going downstream, add the speed of the current (typically 3 miles per hour) to the speed of the vehicle. In addition to 10 hours of being rowed, the vehicle can also float an additional 14 hours, if someone can guide it, adding an additional 42 miles to the daily distance traveled. These vehicles can’t be rowed against any significant current, but they can be pulled upstream by draft animals on the shores.

In round-by-round movement, when simply counting off squares, it’s impossible for a slow character to get away from a determined fast character without mitigating circumstances. Likewise, it’s no problem for a fast character to get away from a slower one.

When the speeds of the two concerned characters are equal, there’s a simple way to resolve a chase: If one creature is pursuing another, both are moving at the same speed, and the chase continues for at least a few rounds, have them make opposed Dexterity checks to see who is the faster over those rounds. If the creature being chased wins, it escapes. If the pursuer wins, it catches the fleeing creature.

Sometimes a chase occurs overland and could last all day, with the two sides only occasionally getting glimpses of each other at a distance. In the case of a long chase, an opposed Constitution check made by all parties determines which can keep pace the longest. If the creature being chased rolls the highest, it gets away. If not, the chaser runs down its prey, outlasting it with stamina.

Few rules are as vital to the success of adventurers than those pertaining to vision, lighting, and how to break things. Rules for each of these are explained below.

Vision and Light

Dwarves and half-orcs have darkvision, but the other races presented in Races need light to see by. See Table: Light Sources and Illumination for the radius that a light source illuminates and how long it lasts. The increased entry indicates an area outside the lit radius in which the light level is increased by one step (from darkness to dim light, for example).

Additional illumination level info from PZO9466 .

In an area of bright light, all characters can see clearly. Some creatures, such as those with light sensitivity and light blindness, take penalties while in areas of bright light. A creature can’t use Stealth in an area of bright light unless it is invisible or has cover. Areas of bright light include outside in direct sunshine and inside the area of a daylight spell.

Bright light is created by direct sunlight, as well as by spells such as daylight.

Color and detail are easily determined by most creatures in bright light, though shiny or reflective surfaces can be difficult to look at.

Creatures with light blindness are blinded when exposed to bright light, and those with light sensitivity are dazzled. It is impossible for characters in bright light to attempt Stealth checks without cover or invisibility.

Normal light functions just like bright light, but characters with light sensitivity and light blindness do not take penalties. Areas of normal light include underneath a forest canopy during the day, within 20 feet of a torch, and inside the area of a light spell.

Areas of normal light might include a glade under a forest canopy during midday, the interior of a room illuminated by indirect sunlight, and the space within 20 feet of a torch or an object affected by the light spell. While colors and fine details may not be as vivid in normal light, characters can still see easily without special forms of vision.

Normal light does not impact characters with light blindness or light sensitivity.

In an area of dim light, a character can see somewhat. Creatures within this area have concealment (20% miss chance in combat) from those without darkvision or the ability to see in darkness. A creature within an area of dim light can make a Stealth check to conceal itself. Areas of dim light include outside at night with a moon in the sky, bright starlight, and the area between 20 and 40 feet from a torch.

Areas of dim light include the outdoors on a moonlit night or the light of a candle in the absence of any other light source. Most sources of normal light cast a radius of dim light out to double the radius of the normal light. In dim light, creatures have concealment from those without some ability to see in darkness and can attempt Stealth checks in order to hide themselves.

In the absence of light, darkness reigns supreme.

Some areas of darkness include unlit chambers of a dungeon, most caverns, and the outdoors on a cloudy, moonless night. Without darkvision or other ability to see in the dark, creatures in darkness are effectively blind. It is impossible to determine the color of an object in total darkness, even with darkvision. Creatures with darkvision see the unlit world only in shades of gray.

In areas of darkness, creatures without darkvision are effectively blinded. In addition to the obvious effects, a blinded creature has a 50% miss chance in combat (all opponents have total concealment), loses any Dexterity bonus to AC , takes a –2 penalty to AC , and takes a –4 penalty on Perception checks that rely on sight and most Strength- and Dexterity -based skill checks. Areas of darkness include an unlit dungeon chamber, most caverns, and outside on a cloudy, moonless night.

Characters with low-light vision (elves, gnomes, and half-elves) can see objects twice as far away as the given radius. Double the effective radius of bright light, normal light, and dim light for such characters.

Characters with darkvision (dwarves and half-orcs) can see lit areas normally as well as dark areas within 60 feet. A creature can’t hide within 60 feet of a character with darkvision unless it is invisible or has cover.

1 A candle does not provide normal illumination, only dim illumination. 2 The light for a daylight spell is bright light.

Breaking and Entering

When attempting to break an object, you have two choices:

• Smash it with a weapon.
• Break it with sheer strength.

Smashing a weapon or shield with a slashing or bludgeoning weapon is accomplished with the sunder combat maneuver (see Combat ). Smashing an object is like sundering a weapon or shield, except that your combat maneuver check is opposed by the object’s AC . Generally, you can smash an object only with a bludgeoning or slashing weapon.

Armor Class : Objects are easier to hit than creatures because they don’t usually move, but many are tough enough to shrug off some damage from each blow. An object’s Armor Class is equal to 10 + its size modifier (see Table: Size and Armor Class of Objects ) + its Dexterity modifier. An inanimate object has not only a Dexterity of 0 (–5 penalty to AC ), but also an additional –2 penalty to its AC . Furthermore, if you take a full-round action to line up a shot, you get an automatic hit with a melee weapon and a +5 bonus on attack rolls with a ranged weapon.

Hardness : Each object has hardness—a number that represents how well it resists damage. When an object is damaged, subtract its hardness from the damage. Only damage in excess of its hardness is deducted from the object’s hit points (see Table: Common Armor, Weapon, and Shield Hardness and Hit Points , Table: Substance Hardness and Hit Points , and Table: Object Hardness and Hit Points ).

Hit Points : An object’s hit point total depends on what it is made of and how big it is (see Table: Common Armor, Weapon, and Shield Hardness and Hit Points , Table: Substance Hardness and Hit Points , and Table: Object Hardness and Hit Points ). Objects that take damage equal to or greater than half their total hit points gain the broken condition. When an object’s hit points reach 0, it’s ruined.

Very large objects have separate hit point totals for different sections.

Energy Attacks : Energy attacks deal half damage to most objects. Divide the damage by 2 before applying the object’s hardness. Some energy types might be particularly effective against certain objects, subject to GM discretion. For example, fire might do full damage against parchment, cloth, and other objects that burn easily. Sonic might do full damage against glass and crystal objects.

Ranged Weapon Damage : Objects take half damage from ranged weapons (unless the weapon is a siege engine or something similar). Divide the damage dealt by 2 before applying the object’s hardness.

Ineffective Weapons : Certain weapons just can’t effectively deal damage to certain objects. For example, a bludgeoning weapon cannot be used to damage a rope. Likewise, most melee weapons have little effect on stone walls and doors, unless they are designed for breaking up stone, such as a pick or hammer.

Immunities : Objects are immune to nonlethal damage and to critical hits. Even animated objects, which are otherwise considered creatures, have these immunities.

Magic Armor, Shields, and Weapons : Each +1 of enhancement bonus adds 2 to the hardness of armor , a weapon, or a shield, and +10 to the item’s hit points.

Vulnerability to Certain Attacks : Certain attacks are especially successful against some objects. In such cases, attacks deal double their normal damage and may ignore the object’s hardness.

Damaged Objects : A damaged object remains functional with the broken condition until the item’s hit points are reduced to 0, at which point it is destroyed. Damaged (but not destroyed) objects can be repaired with the Craft skill and a number of spells.

Saving Throws : Non-magical, unattended items never make saving throws. They are considered to have failed their saving throws, so they are always fully affected by spells and other attacks that allow saving throws to resist or negate. An item attended by a character (being grasped, touched, or worn) makes saving throws as the character (that is, using the character’s saving throw bonus).

Magic items always get saving throws. A magic item’s Fortitude , Reflex , and Will save bonuses are equal to 2 + half its caster level. An attended magic item either makes saving throws as its owner or uses its own saving throw bonus, whichever is better.

Animated Objects : Animated objects count as creatures for purposes of determining their Armor Class (do not treat them as inanimate objects).

When a character tries to break or burst something with sudden force rather than by dealing damage, use a Strength check (rather than an attack roll and damage roll, as with the sunder special attack) to determine whether he succeeds. Since hardness doesn’t affect an object’s Break DC, this value depends more on the construction of the item than on the material the item is made of. Consult Table: DCs to Break or Burst Items for a list of common Break DCs.

If an item has lost half or more of its hit points, the item gains the broken condition and the DC to break it drops by 2.

Larger and smaller creatures get size bonuses and size penalties on Strength checks to break open doors as follows: Fine –16, Diminutive –12, Tiny –8, Small –4, Large +4, Huge +8, Gargantuan +12, Colossal +16.

Note : Oil provides a +2 circumstance bonus on checks to open stuck doors and locks ( Source Dungeoneer’s Handbook .)

A crowbar or portable ram improves a character’s chance of breaking open a door (see Equipment ).

* If both apply, use the larger number.

1 Add +2 for each +1 enhancement bonus of magic items. 2 The hp value given is for Medium armor , weapons, and shields. Divide by 2 for each size category of the item smaller than Medium, or multiply it by 2 for each size category larger than Medium. 3 Add 10 hp for each +1 enhancement bonus of magic items. 4 Varies by material; see Table: Substance Hardness and Hit Points .

Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook . Copyright 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.

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Overland Travel

Moderators: DJ LaBoss , finarvyn , michaelcurtis , Harley Stroh

Post by Rostranor » Thu Mar 21, 2013 2:19 am

Re: Overland Travel

Post by finarvyn » Thu Mar 21, 2013 10:46 am

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Icewind Dale: Travel Times

Travel times in Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden are somewhat confusing and difficult to reference. Due to the harsh winter conditions of the Dale, the normal rules for overland travel in 5 th Edition don’t apply. Instead:

The speed that characters can travel across Icewind Dale’s rough, snowy terrain is given in the Overland Travel table. Travel is less time-consuming on the snowy roads and trails that connect the settlements of Ten-Towns, as discussed in Chapter 1.

If you look up the equipment entry for dogsleds, there’s also this rule:

Sled dogs must take a short rest after pulling a sled for 1 hour; otherwise, they gain one level of exhaustion.

It’s unclear whether this rule is already calculated into the distance per hour for dogsleds given on the Method of Travel table.

The guidelines for road/trail travel in Chapter 1 are not generalized, but are instead presented in sections like this one (for the town of Bremen):

Heavy snow has obliterated the trail that once guided travelers to Targos. Adventurers determined to make the journey on foot can reach Targos in 2 hours. Using mounts or dogsleds can reduce this travel time by as much as 50 percent.

No specific speed for road travel is given, but if you run the numbers they tend to land somewhere between 1.25 and 2.25 miles per hour.

The book also includes incredibly awesome axe beak mounts… but neglects to give a speed for them.

RECOMMENDED TRAVEL RULES

Dogsleds : These rules assume that dogsleds increase their speed in the same ratio as humans do on the roads. These travel times include 1 hour of rest for every hour of travel. Double the speed if the dogs are not being given rest, but they suffer 1 level of exhaustion per hour (which means after the second hour of being pushed their speed will be halved).

Axe Beaks : I’ve arbitrarily decided they move very well through snow or across trackless tundra, but perform like a normal mount on roads (traveling at the same speed as a humanoid). On roads, this means axe beak mounts can gallop at 6 miles per hour, but at the cost of suffering 2 levels of exhaustion per hour. (This means that after the first hour of a gallop, their speed will be halved.)

On Foot : Snowshoes don’t help on roads.

OPTIONAL: TRAVEL PACE

In modifying the rules for overland travel, Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden doesn’t specify how travel pace should be handled. If you assume the table above lists a Normal pace of travel, you can use the table below to calculate Fast and Slow paces.

Fast Pace : -5 penalty to passive Wisdom (Perception) scores

Slow Pace : Able to use Stealth

Design Note: The comparison between dogsleds under snowy conditions and horses under normal conditions gets wonky. This is because Icewind Dale reduces human speed by two-thirds, but then has dogsleds moving at twice that speed. The net result is that you end up with dogs in snow being faster than horses on open ground. However, my research indicates these values are broadly accurate for how dogsleds perform in the real world, so I’m going to let the book values stand.

OPTIONAL RULE: DETERIORATING ROADS

Although the roads between the settlements of Ten-Towns are still kept open and trade is mostly uninterrupted, the Frostmaiden’s eternal winter has pushed the region’s infrastructure to the breaking point. Drifting snow and frequent blizzards can effectively obliterate the road between two towns.

There is a 1 in 6 chance of encountering an obliterated road (check for each section of the road).

It is still possible to follow the track of an obliterated road (due to tall waymarker posts that still manage to rise above the ever-growing snowpack), but characters on an obliterated road cannot travel faster than Slow Pace. Furthermore, the group’s navigator must make a DC 12 Wisdom (Survival) check each hour or veer off the road.

If the check fails, the party wanders off course and gets no closer to their destination in that hour. It takes an additional check to find the road again, with each failure costing the group an additional hour.

REFERENCE TOOLS

I also thought it would be useful to compile the travel data into some easy-to-use references, which you’ll find below.

MAP: TRAVEL TIME

( click for large map )

This map compiles the travel times given in each town’s entry in the Rime of the Frostmaiden . It turns out, however, that these values are inconsistent with each other along the Eastway. They’ve been adjusted for consistency here (which, of course, means that some of these values will be slightly out of sync with the book).

Note: The path between Bremen and Targos has been “obliterated,” which appears to roughly double what would otherwise be the travel time between these towns. If you’re using the optional rules for deteriorating roads, you’ll want to take this into account.

MAP: TRAVEL DISTANCE

This map lists the distance in miles between each settlement. These distances are calculated directly from the poster map that comes with the book, using the included scale and following the precise path of the trail/road indicated.

(Technically I used the D&D Beyond version of the map, and then used Adobe Illustrator to trace each path and then precisely calculate its length.)

If you calculate the travel times from the distances given here, you will not end up with the travel times given Travel Time Map . This is because the travel times given in the book are all radically inconsistent: Routes are referred to indiscriminately as roads, trails, or paths. Some routes are referred to as being blocked or obliterated. But none of these descriptions have any relation, as far as I can tell, to the variances in travel time given.

ICEWIND DALE TRAVEL SPREADSHEET

You can download an Excel spreadsheet with Icewind Dale travel information here . It contains the following sheets:

• Rounded Distance : As noted above, I calculated precise distances from the original map. This sheet rounds those distances to the nearest half mile.
• Travel Time (Foot) : This sheet has the travel time in hours between all ten towns. These values are calculated using the values on the Rounded Distance sheet and the recommended travel rules above (not the time values given in the book).
• Travel Time (Dogsled) : Same thing, but for dogsleds.
• Travel Time (Dogsled – No Rest ): Same thing, but this assumes the party is pushing their mush team to the limits without any rest. These values have been manually adjusted where necessary to reflect that the speed of the dogs’ becomes halved after two hours due to exhaustion. Some journeys will kill the dogs if they are not allowed to rest, and this is also indicated.
• Raw Distance Data : This is the original, raw distance data as directly measured from the original map. It’s included mainly as a curiosity here.

All of these tables include an entry for “Intersection,” which is the intersection between the Eastway and the north-south road running from Dougan’s Hole to Caer-Konig.

Icons by Delapouite. Used under CC BY 3.0 license.

Go to Icewind Dale Index

16 Responses to “Icewind Dale: Travel Times”

Per the book, mounts (axebeaks) and dogsleds move at roughly the same speed between towns. If you look at the entries describing how fast travel is between towns it states that mounts are roughly twice as fast on foot travel.

Also, traveling at a fast pace in the DMG is only 1.33 times the speed of a normal pace. The multiplier for a slow pace is 0.66.

I would assume that the overland travel times already factor in the rest for sled dogs, otherwise dogsleds would be no faster than trudging through the snow in snowshoes.

My understanding from interviews and the book is that the axebeaks are intended to move at roughly the same rate as dogsleds, just with reduced carrying capacity.

Jacob wrote: Per the book, mounts (axebeaks) and dogsleds move at roughly the same speed between towns. If you look at the entries describing how fast travel is between towns it states that mounts are roughly twice as fast on foot travel.

So the problem here is that there’s a more-or-less throw-away line repeated in most city entries that appears to assert mounts move faster than humans on roads; e.g. “Using mounts and dogsleds can reduce this travel time by as much as 50 percent.”

The problem is that this isn’t how mounts work in 5th Edition: Mounts have the same overland travel speeds as humanoids, but can “gallop for about an hour, covering twice the usual distance for a fast pace.”

Technically, however, these statements are not in conflict: Using mounts CAN reduce travel time because the distance between most towns in Ten-Towns is small enough that moving at twice the speed of Fast Pace for an hour can substantially reduce your travel time.

This is represented in the rules for axe beak mounts given in the post.

Now, what about dogsleds? Should they just be treated like mounts? That would be consistent with how mounts are handled in 5th Edition. But Rime of the Frostmaiden explicitly makes them special snowflakes. I decided to maintain that decision (and, as I noted, this is also more consistent with real world speeds for dogsleds).

Jacob wrote: Also, traveling at a fast pace in the DMG is only 1.33 times the speed of a normal pace. The multiplier for a slow pace is 0.66.

Anyone interested in calculating travel distances in 33/200ths of a mile instead of 25/200ths (1/8th) of a mile is welcome to do so. 😉

Representing the lakes on this map would be useful for representing why you can’t cut from Caer-Dineval to Termaline, as an example.

Frankly, the rules for long distance travel times in the PHB/DMG for faster-than-human creatures are nonsense. Galloping at 6 mph!? Flying at 12 mph!?

Horses trot at about 8 mph. Birds general fly around 40-100 mph and can fly several hundred miles in just one day.

As you point out, the travel speeds for dogsleds in RotF are more realistic. RotF also states that mounts and sleds move at about the same speed. Why would anyone want to re-engineer the lousy rules from the PHB/DMG to apply to our beautiful axebeaks?

Why would I even want to calculate distances in 25/200ths of a mile? That seems like overkill. Just calculate how long it will take you at a normal pace, then add half that for a slow pace or subtract a quarter for a fast pace.

e.g. RotF says it takes 2 hours to hike from Targos to Bremen (even with half of the road obliterated by snow, I’d probably rule it takes 3 hours without snowshoes). That’s 1.5 hours at a fast pace, and 3 hours at a slow pace. With mounts or sleds we halve that, 1 hour at a normal pace, 45 min at a fast pace, and 1.5 hours at a slow pace. Easy-peasey.

With you previously discussing how important the Survival skill is, does the module utilize the harsh snowy environment and travel times as more than set dressing? If not, I’d be interested in how you’d translate this into creating or enhancing scenarios.

I’m thinking of drawing out a nice hand-drawn map of the area with your distances and times on to provide to my players as a handout. I want to ask before I do that though – have you considered these travel times against how they relate to the events of chapter 4?

There’s an extent to which none of this matters *too* much – until chapter 4 where suddenly the PCs care an awful lot about every single number on this map.

Basically, with V. showing up with dogsleds, you need to make some survival mountaineering checks. If your character’s pass it’s going to take at 12 hours to make it back to Easthaven. You have no chance of making it in time to save Dougan’s Hole or Good Mead.

That’s assuming V.’s dogs are all rested and she preplanned eveything expecting the attack.

I hadn’t thought to figure that the resting mechanic was figured into the dogsled travel numbers that makes more sense.

It’s great that they actually thought about travel times in this book, but they missed so many things. Like what happens when the party Druid decides to become a caribou and pull a cart? I feel like they could have defined the terrain and let us figured out the numbers specific to the party, instead of give us numbers that seems to not reflect a party at all…

Thanks for the hour travel map. I opened in a paint editor and added the overland and mountain travel times. This will be a hand out to my group.

Nice optional choices for traveling. I’ll just remark that axe beaks do have a speed of 50 feet, as outlined in the Monster Manual. Cheers!

@Erik: Sadly, 5th Edition contains no rules or guidelines for calculating overland travel speeds from tactical speeds.

I question whether factoring rest periods into the rate of travel for dogsleds was the best idea. It simplifies calculations if you’re making a journey of several days, but for shorter trips I fear it could be misleading.

For instance, the 4.5 mile trip from Dougan’s Hole to Good Mead should take just over half an hour, with no need for a rest, but it’s listed as 1.1 hours in your spreadsheet. Likewise, traveling from Good Mead to Targos — a total distance of 16 miles by the road — could be managed in three hours rather than the four listed (one hour to travel 8 miles, an hour of rest, and another hour to complete the journey).

(Btw, there’s a typo in your maps: “Gold Mead” instead of “Good Mead”. Also, there’s an error in the spreadsheet calculations for the Good Mead row of the dogsled travel times — the distances are divided by 2 instead of 4.)

Great post (: The book makes travel times really confusing to calculate. A pointcrawl map for the entire Icewind Dale should’ve helped.

“No specific speed for road travel is given” It’s implied in the Overland Travel section in Dougan’s Hole, Lonelywood and Caer Konig that it’s 1,5 miles/hour.

“It turns out, however, that these values are inconsistent with each other along the Eastway.” Seems like Bremen-Targos too. For the Eastway… If you call the distances from the intersection to the adjacents towns A, B, C, D. it’s possible to write, with the info the book provides, a system with 6 equations and 4 variables, with no possible solution. There are though, two solutions that solve 5 of the 6 equations. A=4,5 B=6 C=3 D=1,5 (the one you used on the map) and A=4.25 B=6.25 C=2.75 D=1.75 I take the first.

This is brilliant, thank you for putting this together!! I really appreciate your efforts here:)

[…] can use to establish goals. These changes here are slightly different than the ones presented on The Alexandrian website, but I wanted to link their article as it’s of tremendous use. Of note, this remix […]

That first table is really useful. I personally just use the distinction ‘on foot/dogsled’ and ‘road/tundra’. Anything more than that I find cumbersome. I’m already juggling so many things in my head as a DM, rolling for destroyed roads etc is too much.

The goal of establishing travel times for me was twofold:

1. Create a psychological barrier for fast traveling between the towns. It saves me a whole lot of preparation if I only need to prepare adjacent towns or have a rough idea of where the players are going.

2. Ensure the players can design a realistic plan for intercepting the dragon. A big change I made is that I gave the players 3 real life minutes to change the dragon’s flight path. It’s the ultimate trolley problem and test of their feelings towards the towns! Save as many people as possible? Save their friends? Kill their enemies? It also gives a chance to save more towns, as by the book only Targos and Bryn stood a chance. A nearly destroyed setting is not interesting, a partially destroyed setting determined by player choice is.

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