Exploration (Arden-Vul)

Arden-Vul > Rules > Exploration

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Light & Vision

Light Level

• Brilliance
  • So bright you must squint to see.
  • -2 to attack, defense, and saving throws.
  • Search checks take twice as long, or increase difficulty a level (1 die size) if conducted at the normal rate.
• Bright Light
  • Comparable to daylight.
• Dim Light
  • Shadowy and indistinct. Too dark to read, make out most fine detail / color, and identify unfamiliar individuals.
  • -2 to ranged attacks or saves against ranged effects.
  • Search checks take twice as long, or increase difficulty a level (1 die size) if conducted at the normal rate
    • Some things may be impossible to perceive, e.g. you might notice writing but be unable to read it.
• Darkness
  • Full darkness.
  • Blinded (-4 to attack, defense, and saving throws).

Obscuration

• Light
  • Thin mist / rain / snow / smoke, sparse vegetation or a light crowd. Can remain concealed only with Hide in Shadows.
  • -2 to ranged attacks or saves against ranged effects.
  • Search as Dim Light.
• Heavy
  • Thick mist or smoke, driving snow or rain, dense vegetation, or a heavy crowd. Adequate for anyone to hide in.
  • Blinded (-4 to attack, defense, and saving throws). Might be able to see things within a foot or two.

Sources of Illumination

• Candle
  • Burns for 3 Turns. 5' Bright Light, 10' Dim Light.
  • Thicker, heavier, longer-lasting candles can be purchased at great cost.
• Torch
  • Burns for 6 Turns. 20' Bright Light, 20' Dim Light.
• Lantern
  • Burns 1 pint of oil every 4 hours (24 Turns). 20' Bright Light, 20' Dim Light.
  • Hooded: can be shielded, reducing light to as little as 5' of Dim Light.
  • Bullseye: illuminates double its normal ranges, in a 60 degree arc.
• Darkvision
  • Dim Light is treated as Bright Light, and Darkness up to the vision's range is treated as Dim Light.
  • Disrupted if in Bright Light, permitting only normal sight.

Exploration Movement

• Choose a pace, and use the speed of the slowest party member.
  • Cautious: (10 x Speed) feet / Turn
    • Normal surprise chances, mapping, checking for traps and details.
  • Walking: (50 x Speed) feet / Turn
    • Can't surprise, +1 to be surprised, won't notice details, can't map.
  • Running: (100 x Speed) feet / Turn
    • Can't surprise, +2 to be surprised, won't notice details, can't map, may lose track of where you are if not careful.

Perception

Levels of Search

• Glance (what you get from walking by; doesn't require touching, quick, silent)
• Inspect (examining in detail from up close; doesn't require touching, silent)
• Rifle (move / open things, pull out chairs, look under tables; requires touching)
• Toss (open everything, sort through everything, turn things over; requires touching, time-consuming, moderately noisy)
• Ransack (break furniture and wall panels looking for secrets, rip open cushions, etc; requires touching, quite noisy and time-consuming)

Search

• Basic examination of a room of moderate size usually takes 1 Turn (at the level of Inspecting). Bigger or more cluttered ones may take more.
• Carefully searching a 10' x 10' x 10' area (or three 10x panels of wall) takes 1 Turn and assumes at least Rifling.
  • Up to 2 people can search the same space at the same time.
  • Each interval spent searching the GM rolls a Search check for you (separate rolls, if there are multiple things to find).
  • Targeted diegetic searching can take place much more quickly and may avoid stumbling into dangers that would be touched in a generic search roll.
• Difficulties & Modifiers
  • Easy (d4): crude secret doors or concealed but non-secret doors
  • Average (d6): "ordinary" secret doors and compartments
  • Hard (d8): cunningly made secrets
  • -1 Search: just Glancing from within 10' (impossible for unskilled humans)

Listen

• Listening at a door or passage for faint noises takes 1 Turn and requires the party to be still and quiet.
• Up to 2 people can listen at a door or passageway at the same time.

Resting

Brief Rest

• 1 Turn / 10 minutes of no more than light activity (resting, talking, reading, easy searching, routine gear maintenance). Interruption restarts the count.

Short Rest

• 1 hour of no more than light activity in a situation of at least moderate safety (e.g. not in a thoroughfare, or with enemies known lurking around). Interruption restarts the count.
  • Adverse conditions may prevent adequate rest.
    • Members need food and drink, but not enough is consumed to decrement the supply.

Spell Recovery

• 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep (may be part of a Long Rest) or focused meditation. Interruption restarts the count.
  • Any adverse conditions prevent meditation.
• Casters refresh any expended spell slots (spell preparation is done separately).

Long Rest

• 8 hours of sleep in a situation of at least moderate safety. Can be taken no more than once per 24 hours.
  • Adverse conditions may prevent adequate rest.
• Gain 1d3+CON hp from natural healing.
  • Spending an entire day in a settlement in easy and leisure doubles natural healing.
• Casters refresh any expended spell slots (spell preparation is done separately).

Adverse Conditions

• Getting adequate rest is automatic unless there are adverse conditions.
• With conditions, each character must make a Con check vs (2 + 2 per condition).
• Conditions
  • Lack of food, lack of water (2x), no bedding (e.g. bedroll), very hot/cold, stench/filth/vermin, excessive noise, accursed ambience, etc
  • Conditions can be negate through suitable action (making a fire for warmth, using magic to drive off vermin, etc).

Hazards

Falling

• 1d6 damage per 10' fallen.
• If falling beside a wall or down a steep slope that could be used to slow one's fall (grabbing at ledges, vegetation, sliding, etc), roll DEX vs 5 to halve damage taken.
• Half damage or less if landing on a sufficiently soft surface.

Suffocation

• A Medium-sized creature consumes the air in a 10' cube per Turn. Double or halve the amount needed for each size larger or smaller.
• You can hold your breath for (Constitution) rounds of activity, if given a chance to prepare, or 1/3rd of that if suddenly unable to breath (e.g. suddenly choked or pulled underwater).
  • Remaining still and calm halves the rate of air consumption.
  • Once out of air, gain 2 Fatigue per round.
• Once able to breath again, recover 2 fatigue per Brief Rest.