Travel

by Adolf van der Venne, public domain

Characters will often be trekking across Ostelliach, in various levels of panic or rush. Below are some general guidelines for how quickly characters can travel, along with some things they can do along their journey (or not do, depending on their haste). Use these as inspiration for roleplay, reference for distance, and ideas of what your character does along the way.

Note: This list presented assuming characters will not sleep in an inn or tavern and instead will be camping (see section below).

Travel activities

There are many different activities characters may choose to do along their travel, for safety and necessity or just to make good use of their time. Some of these may be dangerous, exhausting, or distracting, but they yield nice benefits. The DM will work with the party to determine how these activities affect the trip (for better or for worse).

• Navigation: More often than not, navigation is a task that somebody has to dedicate time and focus to. This is enabled by a map or at least good directions, and the DM may make the navigator pass checks based on level of detail, the terrain, travel conditions etc.

• Tracking: Following a specific creature or group following tracks and hints along the way. The DM may make the character(s) tracking pass a skill check, where a failure can mean the party slows down or even loses the trail or heads in the wrong direction. Tracking can also be used to learn more about an area, such as understanding what wildlife is around (helpful for later hunting and foraging).
  
  Note: Rangers treat Tracking as a normal activity, meaning they get advantage when tracking at a slow pace and are still able to track (albeit at a disadvantage) at a fast pace.

• Scouting: A character scouting ahead can save the party time and trouble later by finding favorable paths, noting ambushes and traps, or seeing if there's anything interesting to check out. The DM will determine the DC of Investigation checks people want to make to scout, but note: you have to go ahead of your party to do so, which is always a risk.

• Hunting & Foraging: Good Survival checks can yield water, rations, and maybe even pelts for the party. Can be aided by good scouting or tracking prior.

• Trailblazing: Brave party members can choose to go ahead and clear a path for those following after, making difficult terrain easier to traverse. Athletics checks are the most likely ask from your DM here as you remove obstacles, increasing the party's speed depending how well you pass by. (A failed check can still increase speed, but the failed character may take a level of Exhaustion for their efforts.)

• Keep Watch: Vigilant eyes and ears can look out for any impending danger, keeping anything from getting the drop on the party. (This is safer than going ahead to Scout, but specifically focused only on dangers.) The DM may ask for Perception checks along the way, with penalties during fast paced travel.

• Sneaking: Going at a slow pace affords the party the chance to Sneak, going carefully or taking detours to throw off watchful eyes or tracking. The DM will have party members offer up Stealth rolls, with the mercy of letting players decide if they join the roll or not; the sneaky characters can help guide the others. Note that having mounts or vehicles may make sneaking trickier.

• Drawing a Map: Ostelliach is a constantly changing land and good maps go for good coin. A character can choose to play cartographer along the journey, making Intelligence checks with DCs based on the pace and terrain to come out with a map that is worth a certain amount at the end of the journey. (The map may be Detailed, Simple, Crude, or simply Wasted Effort when it's all said and done.)

Paces

Each pace has an associated set of benefits/downsides to it, including:

• Speed/distance traveled per day (assuming 8 hours of travel)

• Favored activities that can be done with advantage

• Hindered activities that must be made with disadvantage at a certain pace

• Forbidden activities that are simply impossible at a certain pace.

Fast

No time to waste, fast steps and short breaks only.

• Speed: 4 miles per hour (32 miles per day)

• Favored activities: None, you're too busy zoomin'!

• Common activities: Holding on to your butt!

• Hindered activities: Keeping watch, navigating, scouting, trailblazing

• Forbidden activities: Drawing a map, hunting & foraging, sneaking, tracking

Normal

No need to hurry, but let's keep it steady.

• Speed: 3 miles per hour (24 miles per day)

• Favored activities: None, you're just on the move

• Hindered activities: Drawing a map, hunting & foraging, sneaking, tracking

• Common activities: Keeping watch, navigating, scouting, trailblazing

• Forbidden activities: None, you're not in a rush

Slow

Take your time, rest often or longer.

• Speed: 2 miles per hour (16 miles per day)

• Favored activities: Keeping watch, navigating, scouting, trailblazing

• Hindered activities: None, you're super casual

• Common activities: Sneaking, tracking, drawing a map, hunting & foraging

• Forbidden activities: None, do what you want, you've got time!

• Note: This is the only pace at which a character/party can sneak.

Forced March

Travel is generally assumed to be 8 hours or less. A party can travel more than that, at the risk of accruing Exhaustion. For each additional hour of travel, each character makes a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 10 + 1 for each hour past 8 (so the risk increases the longer you push yourself).

If the party is moving at a slow pace, they can gain a +5 bonus to this check. If they are moving at a fast pace, they gain a -5 penalty to it.

Mounts and Vehicles

Mounts are able to move faster than characters walking, but only for short bursts: they can double the speed covered by galloping for about an hour, but then must rest. Usually this is not a sustainable way to travel unless there is great need and/or the ability to change mounts every 8-10 miles (2-3 hours), which is really only possible in cities.

Travel via waterborne vehicles does not suffer any penalties based on pace but cannot generally speed up or slow down the pace (with exceptions, like using oars for a time, risking incurring Exhaustion). Land vehicles travel at the same pace as characters would on foot but characters do not suffer tire as much from the travel and are able to move more.

Terrain

In a slight adjustment to the PHB rules, terrain will be evaluated in 3 different levels. Mounts and vehicles may also be impacted by this, such as carriages being unable to slog through deep muck or soft sand.

1. Easy terrain: Open plains, fields, well-established roads. Normal travel speed.
2. Moderate terrain: Hills, forests, rocky areas. -1 mile per hour traveling.
3. Hard terrain: Arctic frost, sandy desert, dense forest, swamplands, mountains. -2 miles per hour traveling. A trailblazer may be necessary, and fast pace is impossible.

Camping

Below are some ideas for what characters can do while resting at a camp. Depending on the activity and the situation, the DM may have you make a skill check to determine an outcome below. Other times, these are just flavor text ways to describe your trip.

Remember: a character must get at least 6 uninterrupted hours of rest, their Long Rest will not recover one level of Exhaustion. (That means if they have to take the middle watch, or they have to stay awake for more than 10 minutes--like the watch alerted them--or they must enter combat.) For more info, see Rests, Time Jumps, Exhaustion.

• Keep watch (staying safe!)

• Cook a hearty meal (regain extra hit dice)

• Tend to the wounded (remove wounds or exhaustion)

• Attune a magical item (hooray, new shiny thing!)

• Camoflauge the camp (being sneaky, being safe)

• Fortify camp (including building traps or barricades, making things defensible)

• Hunt & forage (gaining rations, supplies)

• Tending to the animals (ensuring the mounts and companions get their long rest)

• Resting and recuperating (rolling hit dice)