Alternate Travel Rules Test

When a new adventure begins, a new season starts, or a region is entered, the party designates one character to lead them in the upcoming portion of the journey-the Pathfinder.

First, the Pathfinder makes a Survival roll to determine how difficult travel will be while in that region (see Survival table below). Rangers with the appropriate Favored Terrain feature may make this roll with advantage.

Once the Pathfinder has resolved the Survival result, the DM will roll on the Weather table and resolve any effects.

NOTE: If the group decides, they may wait ONE WEEK of time and reroll both the survival check and the weather effect. If the 4- effect is rolled, this is not an option, and happens in addition to the lost week for weather.

Pathfinder's Roll:

Roll	Effect
4-	You've wasted everyone's time. Everyone loses 3d4 rations and 3d8 days & the Pathfinder rolls again.
5-9	Everyone must make a DC 10 CON Save every night for Exhaustion, due to the difficulty of the journey.
10-14	Normal Travel
15-19	Pick one boon from below.
20-24	Pick two boons from below.
25-29	Pick three boons from below.
30+	Within reason (and at the DM's discretion), you can Fast Travel at will in this region, avoiding all intervening encounters, but not time travelled.

Boons:

Boon:	Description:
Bountiful	In addtion to any party actions, the Pathfinder forages 1d6 rations while travelling in this region (1 time)
Paranoia	It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you! Perception checks by all party members are made with advantage for overland travel.
Lurker	You're taking extra care in this region. Stealth checks by all party members are made with advantage during overland travel.
Swift	Travel in this region is faster than normal (+1 hex for all travel watches)
Weird	You don't know what this does or will do. Has a small chance to make your lives very surreal.

Weather:

While weather tables are separately recorded, weather tags are detailed here:

Temperature Tags:

Tag	Description	Effect
Sweltering	Intolerable hot days and warm nights	DC 20 Survival Check per travel watch, or suffer one level of exhaustion. Additionally: Raation requirements double for the duration of the journey.
Hot	Very warm days, pleasant nights	DC 15 Survival Check ONCE on each travel day, or Ration requirements double for the day.
Warm	Uncomfortably warm days, pleasant nights.	None/Story only
Mild	Agreeable temperatures all day, chilly nights	None/Story only
Chilly	Cool days and freezing nights.	None/Story only
Cold	Freezing days and murderously cold nights.	DC 15 Survival Check ONCE on each travel day, or Ration requirements double for the day.
Frigid	Deathly cold and icy at all hours, arctic.	DC 20 Survival Check per travel watch, or suffer one level of exhaustion. Additionally: Raation requirements double for the duration of the journey.

Wind Speed Tags

Tag	Description	Effect
Still	Imperceptable or nonexistent winds	None/story
Breezy	Light winds	Potential by-scent tracking advantages, None/story
Windy	Strong, steady winds ideal for sailing	Sailing advantages, None/story
Stormy	Driving, unpredictable winds	DC 15 Survival check on each travel watch, or Travel is slowed (-1). Additionally, missile fire beyond normal range is impossible.

Precipitation Tags

Tag	Description	Effect
None	None	None
Drizzle	Fine, misting rain with poor visibility	Overland visibility reduced by 1 hex; ranged weapons ineffective at long range.
Showers	Occasional sprinkles, ligth showers, and brief downpours.	Overland visibility reduced by 1 hex randomly; potential survival issues - taxing in Chilly or colder temperatures.
Downpour	Heavy, steady rain, minimal visibility	Overland visibility limited to current hex; DC20 Survival Check for each Travel Watch or travel is slowed. (-1 hex) Travel has a 50% chance of a Mishap.
Hail	Snow and small chunks of ice or freezing rain.	[DC 15 Survival Check or travel is slowed for each travel watch.]
Snowflakes	Light snow, reduced visibility	[Overland visibility reduced by 1 hex; ranged weapons ineffective at long range.]
Snowy	Heavy, steady snowfall, minimal visibility	Overland visibility limited to current hex; DC20 Survival Check for each Travel Watch or travel is slowed. Travel has a 50% chance of a Mishap.

Other/Additional Tags

Tag	Description	Effect
Sunny	Cloudless Skies, excellent visibility	None
Clear	Very few clouds in the sky, excellent visibility	None
Overcast	Morning and evening clouds, clear afternoons	None
Cloudy	Heavy cloud cover, darkened skies	None
Thunderheads	Dense, dark clouds - often lightning	Potential environmental dangers (lightning)
Humid	Air laden with moisture, stifling	Nullifies the Swift boon
Foggy	Low level clouds create blinding conditions.	Nullifies the Paranoia boon; grants the Lurker boon.

Trying Conditions:

When conditions are difficult and make survivial difficult due to circumstances - e.g. being wet in the cold, or trying to survive a night without shelter or warmth - the GM may indicate that conditions are 'trying'. This results in appropriate skill checks and/or saving throws (e.g. Con Save to avoid ill effects from the wet and cold) if actions aren't taken to address the condition directly. Failure results in, at minimum, one level of Exhaustion, and may have additional effects based on the circumstances, including:

• Illness
• Damage
• (others as decided).

Survival and Certain Spells:

Many spells offer survival benefits and can be used to address survival issues. Of particular interest is Prestidigitation, which has a surprising number of useful survival effects. It is important to note that Pretidigitation effects, of and in themselves, cannot wholly rectify a Trying situation - it can dry your clothing, for example, but can't change the cold that sunk into your bones. At most, Prestidigitation used well offers Advantage on the appropriate checks, and cannot, in itself, ever prevent the checks from occurring.