d20 SRD Wilderness entry

[cr0m]

On d20srd.org, in the section on getting lost does anyone know what the tables with the terrain types and percentages are for?

At first I thought it was percent of the given area (eg Forest) that was of a certain type (eg sparse, medium and dense), but then I noticed that the percentages don't add up to 100%, whether you read across or down. I've scanned the text (I'm at work) but can't find any information about how to use the tables.

Help, please.

 

[Jhaelen]

At first I thought it was percent of the given area (eg Forest) that was of a certain type (eg sparse, medium and dense), but then I noticed that the percentages don't add up to 100%, whether you read across or down.

You can have several terrain features in the same square, i.e. a forest square can have both trees (either typical or massive) and undergrowth (either light or heavy).

 

[cr0m]

So are we expected to roll for each terrain feature for each square? I'm not sure how we're supposed to use the information.

 

[EricNoah]

It's just a general guideline -- if you're setting up a battlemat, for example, you want to roughly have the listed percentage of squares with the named feature.

 

[Nellisir]

To bring the earlier posts together: THe squares on a battlemat can have both undergrowth and trees. In a sparse forest, roughly 50% of the squares have typical trees; the rest have undergrowth or nothing. In a medium forest, 70% of the squares have typical trees and 10% have massive trees; 20% have no trees. In a dense forest every ssquare has a tree; 80% are typical; 20% are massive.

Massive trees are pretty easy to mark out; I don't place typical trees until it comes up in the game, then a quick percentile roll or player's preference works fine (if a player wanted to shelter behind a tree, the square they move to must have a tree).