Let's talk about movement. (new questions, post #12)

Below are 3 examples of places where it is hard to move.

1. A wet expanse of loose sand with rocks jutting out
2. Just rocks, with large gaps
3. 3 feet of rushing water

As a DM, what kinds of rules and hinderances would you place on a player for each surface? I am not looking for the Rules As Written. I would liek to know what you woudl rule if your players ported in and started running. What about their mounts? How much do oyu slow down players for environmental hazards?

The movement rules seem non-sacred cow-ish, and I think we all play with them a bit more than somethign like HP or AC, and I am not asking for the RAW. So, I thought this wasn't a Rules Forum question. Apologies ot the mods if I am mistaken.

1) Balance check each round DC maybe 15 or so

2) jump checks assuming the gaps are about 3 or 4 feet apart folloowed by balance checks

3) depending on the size of the person it might be swim checks or strength checks to stay standing. it would depend on the speed of the rushing water but more then likely everyone is swimming.

Sorry Corthian, I forgot the pics.

the first don't look as bas as I was thinking but that third one is going to be swim checks all around DC high

Keep in mind this is all off the top of my head. All these are only for in-combat movements:

1) For sand and rocks, I might hamper movement based off of armor. Light or no armor takes no penalty, medium armor would have a 30% chance of hampering movement (half speed), and heavy armor would have a 60% chance of hampering speed. This represents how difficult it is to navigate across sand and around hidden rocks and such in heavier, clunkier armor.

2) For just rocks, I would require rough jump checks depending on how far you want to go. Maybe DC 10 + number of feet (this is saying that each rock takes up roughly a 5 foot square). If you fail by 5 or less, you jump to the rock but forfit the rest of your turn (clumsy landing). Fail by more than 5, and you slip, taking 1d4 subdual and making a Balance check to avoid being prone or even falling down between the rocks.

3) For rushing water, characters taller than 4 feet would have -1d6+9 feet to their movement when going against the current, plus 1d6+9 feet when going with the current. When performing a full action, they would have to make a Swim check or Fortitude Save (whichever is higher) in order to stay standing. Character shorter than 4 feet would be forced to swim as in the Swim rules (or something like them).


Anyways, all that's just off the top of my head.

I play with a large dry-erase mat and have half a dozen dry-erase markers all different colors. So here is what I would do keeping that in mind:

1) On the combat board, I would draw different size sliver shapes and color them in half-arsed. I'd do it real quick like. These little color blobs are the rocks jutting from the sand. Normal sand is fine to walk on. Charging in the sand requires a balance check, I'd say DC 10. Tumble is fine. On the rocky parts, they would require 10 ft per square instead of the normal 5ft/square, balance to charge over them would be DC 18 and tumble DC would be +5 difficulty. Mounts would be under the same conditions, requiring a ride or balance check DC 10 (use whichever one is better, your characters ride skill or the mounts balance) on the sand, 5ft per square, etc. Over rock, DC 18 ride or balance, 10ft per square. I don't think mounts tumble often so that isn't a problem.

2) I would draw a section of where these rocks where and what was around them real quick. Probably just the borders and then crosshatch the inside to denote "big rocks in here". If the gaps are less than 5 feet, then I would make it 10 per sqaure, no charging allowed, tumble +5 DC. If the gaps are getting around 5 feet or higher, then jump checks. 1 foot = DC 1, so the starting DC would be around 5.

3) Same as Crothian. Small(er) characters would need swim checks. Taller characters would need Strength checks. DC scales with how fast the water was moving.

Do some more scenarios. That was fun.

I've been here too long. My first reaction when I saw the pics was '72 hours to write a story.'

I prefer quick, without a lot of extraneous die rolling.

1. -5' for everyone, running x 2 instead of x3
2. 5' per at no penalty, jump check at DC 15 per 10' otherwise
3. Small creatures swim, medium -10', large no penalty. Balance check if trying to do anything complicated.

1. Movement like having heavy encumbrance (20/15ft., run x3)
2. Movement by jumping, more than move action requires balance check (DC 10)
3. Movement at swim speed (1/4 normal), any action requires reflex save (DC 15) or be swept away. Balance can be substituted for the save.

1) no penalty to movement but running or balancing requires a balance check of, lets say DC 10. Running is limited to x3. Tumble checks get a -2 penalty. If I am feeling upity I might draw the rocks on the battlemat and declare those squares take double movement.

2) everyone is at half movement and must make a DC 15 balance check for each move they take. No running or charging. Tumble checks take a -5 penalty. If I am feeling upity I might draw a few contour lines on the map and declare these to be major changes in elevation; crossing a line requires a DC 10 jump check and an extra 5' of movement.

3) movement in the river in the picture? Medium characters can move 5' as a full round action and must make a DC 12 strength check each round or "fall down". Small and smaller characters or those who "fall down" must make swim checks DC 20 or be swept away. Medium creatures can "stand up" again with a DC 15 Str check.

Later.

3. It takes only two feet of water moving 8 miles an hour to sweep a person from their feet, no movement is possible, this is a flash flood. In game a player would be rolling saves.