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. 20' Light
  • Thicker, heavier, longer-lasting candles can be purchased at great cost.
• Torch
  • Burns for 6 Turns. 40' Bright Light
• Lantern
  • Burns 1 pint of oil every 4 hours (24 Turns). 30' Light
  • Hooded: can be shielded, reducing light to as little as 5' of Dim Light.
  • Bullseye: 80' Light in a 10' beam (15 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 spaces may take longer.
• A 10' x 10' x 10' area can be carefully searched (assumes at least Rifling) for secrets (doors, compartments, etc).
  • It takes (Dificulty / Search) Turns to complete (e.g. 6 Turns for most characters w/ Search 1 to find a "normal" secret door, 3 Turns for elves or goblins with Search 2, etc).
  • Two people can search the same space at the same time (more would get in each other's way). To find the reduced time, determine how long each would take alone, sum, and divide by 4.
  • Targeted diegetic searching can take place much more quickly (immediate success or an effective Search skill bonus) and/or may avoid stumbling into dangers that would be touched in a generic search.
• Difficuly
  • Easy (4): crude secret doors or concealed but non-secret doors
  • Average (6): "ordinary" secret doors and compartments
  • Hard (8): cunningly made secrets

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. While meditating, you have a +1 chance to be surprised.
• 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 ease 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.