Activity While Traveling

As adventurers travel through a dungeon or the wilderness, they need to remain alert for danger, and some characters might perform other tasks to help the group’s journey.

Marching Order

The adventurers should establish a marching order. A marching order makes it easier to determine which characters are affected by traps, which ones can spot hidden enemies, and which ones are the closest to those enemies when a fight breaks out.

A character might occupy the front rank, one or more middle ranks, or the back rank. Characters in the front and back ranks need enough room to travel side by side with others in their rank. When space is too tight, the marching order must change, usually by moving characters to a middle rank.

Fewer Than Three Ranks

If an adventuring party arranges its marching order with only two ranks, they are a front rank and a back rank. If there’s only one rank, it’s considered a front rank.

Noticing Threats

Use the passive Wisdom (Perception) scores of the characters to determine whether anyone in the group notices a hidden threat. The GM might decide that a threat can be noticed only by characters in a particular rank. For example, as the characters are exploring a maze of tunnels, the GM might decide that only those characters in the back rank have a chance to hear or spot a stealthy creature following the group, while characters in the front and middle ranks cannot.

While traveling at a fast pace, characters incur an instance of disadvantage on their passive Wisdom (Perception) scores to notice hidden threats. Characters also suffer disadvantage to their Wisdom (Perception) score to notice hidden threats if they perform any travel leg activity other than the Keep Watch activity.

Encountering Creatures

If the GM determines that the adventurers encounter other creatures while they’re traveling, it’s up to both groups to decide what happens next. Either group might decide to attack, initiate a conversation, run away, or wait to see what the other group does.

Surprising Foes

If the adventurers encounter a hostile creature or group, the GM determines whether the adventurers or their foes might be surprised when combat erupts.

Travel Leg Activities

In each travel leg, a character may carry out one activity of their choice. Some activities allow several players to work as a group. Your chosen pace of travel affects how easy it is to do things during your daily travel legs.

Favoured Activities: Favored activities benefit from advantage when traveling at this pace.

Associated Activities: Associated activities are typical activities for the corresponding pace.

Hindered Activities: Hindered activities suffer from disadvantage when traveling at this pace.

Forbidden Activities: These activities cannot be taken when traveling at this pace.

Travel Paces and Activities
Pace Travel Speed Favoured Associated Hindered Forbidden
Fast 4 mph ——— ——— Keep Watch, Navigate, Scout, Track, Trailblaze Draw Map, Hunt/Forage, Sneak
Normal 3 mph ——— Keep Watch, Navigate, Scout, Track, Trailblaze Draw Map, Hunt/Forage, Sneak ———
Slow 2 mph Keep Watch, Navigate, Scout, Track, Trailblaze Draw Map, Hunt/Forage, Sneak ——— ———

Dangerous Activities. Several activities are noted as Dangerous. Performing one of these activities usually means having to separate from the group with a risk of being attacked or trapped without help.

Distracting Activities . Some activities are so demanding that you can’t pay much attention to your surroundings. While you perform a Distracting activity, you suffer disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks.

Exhausting Activities. Some activities are much more tiresome that simple travel. If you perform two Exhausting activities on one day, you suffer one level of exhaustion after finishing the second one, but before looking for and setting up camp.

Focused Activities. Most activities can be performed by several players. However, some activities can only be performed by one or two simultaneously. These Focused activities can only be performed by a maximum of 2 players, and you only use the higher of the two check results to determine their effect.

Each activity has an associated ability check you will make to determine your success or failure during the travel leg. If a player fails their check, they still suffer the consequences.

Draw a Map

Skill: Intelligence (Cartographer’s tools)

While your companions keep watch, hunt for food and guide the party, you focus on documenting your journey. Drawing a map won’t help you on your journey forward, but might prove useful once you try to find your way back. Good maps are also a highly sought-after commodity.

Make an Intelligence (Cartographer’s tools) check against the Navigation DC.

  • If your guide succeeded on their navigation check, you advantage on your check.
  • If they failed by less than 5, you suffer disadvantage.
  • If you got lost, your check automatically fails.
  • For each travel leg, note if you succeeded or failed your cartography check.

Once you have reached your destination, divide the number of successful cartography checks by the total number of legs travelled, and compare the result to the following table:

Success per Travel Leg Result
>0.67 Detailed Map
0.33-0.67 Simple Map
<0.33 Wasted Effort

Drive Wagon

Skill: Intelligence (Vehicle proficiency) or Dexterity (Animal Handling)

You stay at the front of the wagon, maintaining a steady pace for the animals and avoiding road obstacles that slow down or damage the carriage. Make a Dexterity (Animal Handling) check against the Navigation DC. If you are traveling off-road, without a clear trail or road, then you suffer disadvantage.

If your check succeeds by 5 or more, you may increase the travel pace by 1 mile per hour for the rest of the travel leg.

If your check fails by 10 or more or is a critical failure, a cart wheel breaks. Repairing a cart is a Focused activity requiring a successful DC 15 Intelligence check and takes a full travel leg. Players with proficiency in Smith’s, Carpenter’s, Woodcarver’s, or Tinker’s tools apply their proficiency die.

Hunt/Forage

Skill: Wisdom (Survival)

During your travels, you keep an eye out for nearby sources of food and water, such as roots, fruits, small game, and hidden springs. You must pick one: either plants, game or water.

Make a Wisdom (Survival) check and compare the result with the region’s abundance level on the following table to determine the number of fresh rations (for 1 day) you can manage to provide, or gallons of water (8 pints) you gather.

Pounds of Rations or Gallons of Water found by DC
Abundance 1 2 3 4
Plenty 10 15 20 25
Average 15 20 25
Scarce 20 25
Barren 25

Keep Watch

Skill: Wisdom (Perception)

You keep your eyes peeled and your ears open for any sign of approaching danger, as well as signs of close by pursuers.

The GM will use your character’s passive Wisdom (Perception) score to determine whether your character notices a hidden threat. The GM determines the DC for any threat or other suspicious activity along your path and compares it to the result of all watching players.

If you travel at a Fast Pace, you have disadvantage on your Wisdom (Perception) score to notice hidden threats. If you perform any travel leg activity other than Keep Watch, then you have disadvantage on your Wisdom (Perception) score to notice hidden threats.

Skill: Intelligence (Navigator’s tools) or Wisdom (Survival)

More often than not, a location of interest for a group of adventurers is not situated along a well trodden path, but hidden in the wilds behind obscure hints and directions.

If you wish to find your way through the wilds towards a specific location, you need to make a Navigation check at the Navigation DC. The Navigation DC is additionally modified by the information you possess to reach your destination:

Conditions Modifier
Detailed map with travel hints Advantage
Slow pace Advantage
Simple map or general directions (e.g. 40 miles north-west, near a small lake)
Fast pace Disadvantage
Obscure information (e.g. follow the rising sun for 2 moons as the owl flies) Disadvantage

If the Navigation check succeeds, the party travels in the desired direction without becoming lost.

If the Navigation check fails by less than 5, the party travels roughly towards its target, but not in the most direct way. The party’s travel speed is halved (rounded down) for this travel leg.

If the Navigation check fails by 5 or more, the party inadvertently travels in the wrong direction and becomes lost. Depending on the nature of your surroundings, getting lost might entail additional complications and dangers.

Scout

Skill: Intelligence (Investigation)

If your travel information is rather vague, or you are simply curious to see what else there is to see, you can scout ahead of the group. Make an Intelligence (Investigation) check. The GM determines the DC for any noticeable things in the vicinity.

You might find such things as creatures waiting in ambush, favorable paths, or hidden locations.

Sneak

Skill: Dexterity (Stealth)

Sometimes you need to move quietly for a while to avert the eyes and ears of nearby enemies or to cover your tracks and take detours to shake off possible pursuers. As long as the party is not in the open, they can try to surprise or sneak by other creatures they encounter. See the rules for hiding.

Doing so does not require the whole party to perform the Sneak activity, as the party members that do so can try to keep everyone else as stealthy as possible. Add the Dexterity (Stealth) check results of all sneaking party members together and divide the sum by the number of players in the group (rounding down). This is the final and effective result for the group’s efforts.

Track

Skill: Wisdom (Survival)

Adventurers sometimes choose their path by following the tracks of other creatures — or other creatures might track the adventurers! To track, one or more creatures must succeed on a Wisdom (Survival) check. You might require trackers to make a new check in any of the following circumstances:

  • They stop tracking and resume after finishing a short or long rest.
  • The trail crosses an obstacle, such as a river, that shows no tracks.
  • The weather conditions or terrain changes in a way that makes tracking harder.

The DC for the check depends on how well the ground shows signs of a creature’s passage. No roll is necessary in situations where the tracks are obvious. For example, no check is needed to track an army advancing along a muddy road. Spotting tracks on a bare stone floor is more challenging, unless the creature being tracked leaves a distinct trail. Additionally, the passage of time often makes tracks harder to follow. In a situation where there is no trail to follow, you can rule that tracking is impossible.

The survival skill offers guidelines for setting the DC or, if you prefer, you can choose a DC based on your assessment of the difficulty. You can also grant advantage on the check if there’s more than one set of tracks to follow, or disadvantage if the trail being followed passes through a well-trafficked area.

If your check fails by less than 5, you are having trouble following your quarry. Your travel speed is halved (rounded down) for this travel leg.

If your check fails by 5 or more, then you have lost the trail, but can attempt to find it again by making a careful search of the area. It takes 10 minutes to find a trail in a confined area such as a dungeon, or 1 hour outdoors.

A different use for the Track activity is to read the tracks your group crosses during their travel, in order to glean what kind of creatures are roaming nearby. Make a Wisdom (Survival) check. The GM determines the DC for any possible tracks you might find and to which creatures they might belong.

Trailblaze

Skill: Strength (Athletics)

Traveling through difficult terrain slows you significantly. You can help your companions by clearing a clear path for them to follow. Make a Strength (Athletics) check against the terrain DC. If you succeed, the terrain’s travel speed penalty is reduced by 1 mile per hour (to a minimum of 0).

If you succeed by 5 or more, the terrain’s travel speed penalty is reduced by 2 miles per hour instead.

If you fail the check by less than 5, you still reduce the terrain’s travel speed penalty by 1 mile per hour (to a minimum of 0), but you automatically suffer one level of exhaustion at the end of the activity.

Making Camp

The players must search the environment and find a proper location for setting up camp. Depending on the location, the camp can have different properties. If a character performed the Scout activity on the last leg, they may make an Intelligence (Investigation) check, while characters that Kept Watch may make a Wisdom (Perception) check with disadvantage. For each 5 points of the best result among all rolls, the campsite has one or more properties, some even improved.

If none of the party took either activity, they need to spend an additional hour to find a suitable campsite.

Campsite properties Search Result
0 1–5
+1st Property 6–10
+2nd Property 11–15
+3rd Property 16–20
Improve any 1 21–25
Improve any 2 26–30

The GM rolls a d6 on the table below to decide what campsite properties are found first, second and third.

d6 1st Property 2nd Property 3rd Property
1 Comfortable Defendable Hidden
2 Comfortable Hidden Defendable
3 Defendable Comfortable Hidden
4 Defendable Hidden Comfortable
5 Hidden Comfortable Defendable
6 Hidden Defendable Comfortable

If you are not content with the campsites you found, you must travel on for another hour (risking a forced march), in order to search again. Once night sets in, you can search by Scouting using Intelligence (Investigation) with disadvantage.

Comfortable

The campsite is reasonably protected against all but the harshest weather. You regain half your maximum hit dice (rounded down, minimum 1) and reduce your exhaustion level by one after completing a long rest (as usual).

In an Uncomfortable location you only regain one quarter of your maximum hit dice (rounded down, minimum 0) and don’t reduce your exhaustion level.

Defencible

The campsite has a natural barrier or is otherwise difficult to reach (e.g. inside the canopy of a large tree or up on a rock ledge). The party entering the camp for the first time and other approaching creatures need to succeed on a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check to enter the camp.

This property can be improved on a Search Result of 20 and more, increasing the DC to enter the campsite to 20.

Hidden

The campsite is removed or obscured from prying eyes (e.g. a cave behind a waterfall or under the leaves of a huge willow tree). Approaching creatures need to succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) or Wisdom (Perception) check to find your camp.

This property can be improved on a Search Result of 20 or more, increasing the DC to find the campsite to 20.

Camp Activities

Once a party sets down to rest, players can choose one or more of the following activities. Each activity takes roughly 1 hour, i.e. each player can perform one of these activities during a short rest, or two activities during a typical long rest of 8 hours (6 hours of sleep and 2 hours of light activity).

You may always expend hit dice to regain lost hit points, but you can take a special camp activity to accelerate your recovery (Tend to the Wounded).

Attune Magic Item

Skill: none

Attuning to one magical item takes time and concentration. You must have identified the item’s magical properties before you can attune to it.

Camouflage Camp

Skill: Dexterity (Stealth)

You can gather and use natural materials like rocks or foliage to hide your campsite. A successful DC 15 Dexterity (Stealth) check adds the Hidden property to your campsite if it doesn’t have it.

Cook Hearty Meal

Skill: Wisdom (Cook’s utensils)

A good night’s rest is not guaranteed when camping in the wilds and a fine cooked meal can go a long way to remedy this fact. Make a DC 15 Wisdom (Cook’s utensils) check.
You need one fresh ration of food for every person that will partake of the meal, as well as a reasonable amount of seasoning. If you provide at least 50% more fresh rations than necessary, you gain advantage on this check. If you can only provide half the required amount of rations (but not less), you gain disadvantage.

If you succeed, each person partaking of your meal regains a quarter of their maximum hit dice (rounded down, min 1). If you fail, the meal is edible, but not refreshing. If you rolled a total of 5 or lower, the whole meal is spoiled and its rations are wasted.

You can only benefit from one hearty meal per long rest.

Fortify Camp

Skill: Strength (Athletics)

You can use wooden spikes or large boulders to barricade your campsite or dig a ditch and build ramparts. A successful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check adds the Defendable property to your campsite if it doesn’t already have it.

Hunt/Forage

Skill: Wisdom (Survival)

Gather food and water or hunt local game. This is the same action as the Hunt & Forage travel activity. However, since you are not traveling at this point, you may make the corresponding Wisdom (Survival) check with advantage.

Keep Watch

Skill: Wisdom (Perception)

A long rest requires at least 6 hours of sleep and 2 hours of light activity. Depending on the size of the traveling party, you are advised to take shifts keeping watch whilst the others try to gain some sleep.

The GM determines the DC for any threat or approaching danger (hostile creatures or natural phenomena) and compares it to all Wisdom (Perception) results. On a success, the watchers are able to wake and warn the rest of the party, and prevent being surprised.

Set up Traps

Skill: Wisdom (Survival)

You can set a number of small traps like caltrops, slings, and small pits around your camp. Make a Wisdom (Survival) check. The DC to find these traps with an Intelligence (Investigation) or Wisdom (Perception) check is equal to the result of your Wisdom (Survival) check. The attack bonus of their effects is equal to the result of your Wisdom (Survival) check minus 10.

Rest and Recuperate

Skill: Wisdom (Medicine)

You take your time to catch your breath properly, eat and drink, and dress your wounds. Make a DC 15 Wisdom (Medicine) check. If you succeed, treat any hit dice rolled to determine the hit points you regain as having rolled their maximum value during this rest. If you suffer from a sickness or disease, it has disadvantage to attack you during your long rest.

Tend to the Wounded

Skill: Wisdom (Medicine)

You go around camp, making sure that the wounds of up to six creatures other than yourself are properly cleaned and dressed. Make a DC 15 Wisdom (Medicine) check for each patient, in order to assess the wounds and properly dress them. This consumes one use of a healer’s kit per creature tended to.

If you succeed, your patient can treat any hit dice rolled to determine the hit points that they regain as having rolled their maximum value, during this rest. If your patient suffers from a sickness or disease, it has disadvantage to attack them during their long rest.

Train

Skill: Varies

You dedicate time to training and self-improvement. This might be spell research, practicing a skill, subskill or language, or any other training activity that can normally be performed during downtime. If you succeed at the appropriate check, you gain two hours of progress towards your goal.

Hunting and Gathering

These tables help the GM to come up with quick results to player actions based on terrain and circumstances.

Foraging - Water

When making a Hunt & Forage travel activity for water, you may apply the following modifiers:

Terrain DC
Tundra, Snowfall/Winter No check needed
Mountain Peak, Sub-Arctic No check needed
Swamp No check. Dirty Water.
Light Forest, Jungle 10
Dense Forest 12
Plains, Hills 15
Mountain Base 20
Major River within 10 miles -5 DC
Recent Rainfall -5 DC

Foraging - Plants

When making a Hunt & Forage travel activity for plants, if your result beats the DC you find a specific type of plant food.

Plains
Type Summer/Spring Autumn Winter
Fruit/Berries 12 15 N/A
Mushrooms/Edible Plants 10 12 N/A
Nuts/Roots 10 11 15
Forest
Type Summer/Spring Autumn Winter
Fruit/Berries 10 15 N/A
Mushrooms/Edible Plants 5 10 N/A
Nuts/Roots 10 12 15
Jungle/Swamp
Type Summer/Spring Autumn Winter
Fruit/Berries 12 15 N/A
Mushrooms/Edible Plants 10 12 N/A
Nuts/Roots 11 11 15
Hills/Mountain Base
Type Summer/Spring Autumn Winter
Fruit/Berries 13 16 N/A
Mushrooms/Edible Plants 10 12 N/A
Nuts/Roots 11 11 15
Tundra/Sub-Arctic/Mountain Peak
Type Summer/Spring Autumn Winter
Fruit/Berries N/A N/A N/A
Mushrooms/Edible Moss 15 20 N/A
Roots 15 17 20

Hunting

When making a Hunt & Forage travel activity for a game, the GM may let the players roleplay actual hunting. If they choose to, use the following tables to identify, track and kill the prey. Make a Wisdom (Perception) check against the Track DC, and then an Attack Roll against the Kill DC to take down each individual prey with the appropriate weapon (usually, a ranged weapon). You have advantage on one of the Attack rolls if you beat the Track DC by 5 or more prior making the killing shot.

Each terrain table has 17 safe encounters and 3 combat encounters. In combat encounters, players can withdraw or must fight the creature. Depending on how dangerous your environment is, you may change safe encounters into appropriate combat encounters.

Plains
1d20 Creature Track Kill Meat (lbs)
1-3 1d2 Rabbits 12 14 1d2
4-5 1d4 Deer 12 13 20+1d8
6-7 1d2 Elk 12 10 30+1d10
8-9 1d4 Wolves 15 13 1d12
10-11 1d4 Foxes 15 13 1d8
12-13 1d4 Squirrels 10 13 1d2
14-15 1d20 Flock of birds 10 8 1d2
16-17 1 Eagle 12 12 1d12
18 1 Giant Lizard 12 Combat 1d12
19 1 Wild Cat 15 Combat 20+1d20
20 1 Male Lion 15 Combat 30+1d10
Hills/Mountain Base
1d20 Creature Track Kill Meat (lbs)
1-3 1d2 Rabbits 12 14 1d2
4-5 1d4 Goats 11 13 10+1d8
6-7 1d2 Wild cats 14 10 10+1d8
8-9 1d4 Wolves 15 13 1d12
10-11 1d4 Foxes 15 13 1d8
12-13 1d20 Birds 10 8 1d2
14-15 1d5 Vultures 12 10 1d12
16-17 1 Black Bear 11 11 40+1d10
18 1 Boar 9 Combat 30+1d8
19 1 Brown Bear 12 Combat 80+2d10
20 1 Cave Bear 13 Combat 100+2d10
Swamp
1d20 Creature Track Kill Meat (lbs)
1-3 1d6 Frogs 10 11 1d2
4-5 1d6 Lizards 8 10 1d4
6-7 1d4 Turtles 8 12 1d6
8-9 1d20 Birds 10 8 1d2
10-11 1d4 Poisonous Snakes 10 13 1d2
12-13 1d2 Constrictor Snakes 10 12 1+1d4
14-15 1 Crocodile 10 12 20+1d8
16-17 1d4 Snails 8 10 1d2
18 1 Giant poisonous snake 10 Combat 5+1d12
19 1 Giant Lizard 12 Combat 1d12
20 1 Giant Crocodile 10 Combat 30+1d10
Forest
1d20 Creature Track Kill Meat (lbs)
1-3 1d4 Squirrels 10 13 1d2
4-6 1d2 Rabbits 12 14 1d2
7-9 1d4 Wolves 15 13 1d12
10-11 1d2 Foxes 12 13 1+1d6
12-13 1d2 Racoons 10 10 1+1d6
14-15 1d2 Wild cats 14 10 10+1d8
16-17 1d20 Flock of birds 10 8 1d2
18 1 Boar 9 Combat 30+1d8
19 1 Brown Bear 12 Combat 80+2d10
20 1 Owlbear 13 Combat 90+2d6
Tundra/Sub-Arctic
1d20 Creature Track Kill Meat (lbs)
1-3 1d2 Arctic hares 12 14 1d2
4-6 1d8 Musk ox 10 12 40+1d20
7-8 1d4 Wolves 15 13 1d12
9-10 1d2 Arctic foxes 12 13 1+1d6
10-11 1d4 Goats 11 13 10+1d8
12-13 1d2 Caribou 12 10 30+1d10
14-15 1d6 Penguins 8 12 2+1d6
16-17 1d20 Flock of birds 10 8 1d2
18 1 Saber-Toothed Tiger 15 Combat 40+1d10
19 1 Polar Bear 12 Combat 90+2d20
20 1 Yeti 14 Combat 90+1d20
Jungle
1d20 Creature Track Kill Meat (lbs)
1-3 1d20 Flock of birds 10 8 1d2
4-5 1d4 Poisonous Snakes 10 13 1d2
6-7 1d2 Constrictor Snakes 10 12 1+1d4
8-9 1d6 Lizards 8 10 1d4
10-11 1 Crocodile 10 12 20+1d8
12-13 1d6 Frogs 10 11 1d2
14-15 1d4 Panthers 12 15 15+1d10
16-17 1+1d6 troop of apes 11 15 10+1d6
18 1 Giant Lizard 12 Combat 1d12
19 1 Saber-Toothed Tiger 15 Combat 40+1d10
20 1 Giant ape 11 Combat 50+1d10

Fishing

Fishing is a time-consuming activity that requires a whole travel leg (3-5 hours) to be spent near the bank of a river or a lake. For every travel leg spent fishing, the player rolls a DC 12 Survival check. If successful, the GM rolls on the following table.

Subtract 5 from the result (minimum 1) if fishing in a River, or subtract 10 from the result (minimum 1) if fishing in a Pool or a Small Lake.

Freshwater
1d20 Fish Type Meat (lbs)
1 Bass 2d4
2 Perch 1d6
3 Catfish 2d6
4 Walleye 2d6
5 Crappie 1d4
6 Bluegill 1d2
7 Rudd 1d4
8 Bream 2d4
9 Chub 2d4
10 Pike 3d6
11 Snook 2d6
12 Salmon 2d6
13 Grayling 2d4
14 Trout 2d4
15 Flounder 2d6
16 Grouper 2d6
17 Tarpon 20+2d10
18 Sole 2d4
19 Tuna 10+2d8
20 Swordfish 30+3d10
Saltwater
1d12 Seafood Number Appearing Meat (lbs)
1 Crab 1d8 1d4
2 Crayfish 1d12 1d2
3 Lobster 1d12 1d2
4 Prawn 2d20 1/4
5 Molluscs 1d12 1/4
6 Cockle 1d12 1/4
7 Cuttlefish 1d2 1d2
8 Mussel 1d12 1/4
9 Octopus 1d2 1d4
10 Oyster 1d6 1/4
11 Scallops 1d12 1/4
12 Squid 1d4 1d4