Pathfinder 1E Favorite Method of Overland Travel

[Fauchard1520]

The time has come. You've finally unlocked the overworld map, and you can go literally anywhere. What is your preferred means of travel?

Are you all about teleportation? Do you shell out for an airship? Or do you just save money and walk everywhere like a peasant? And perhaps most troubling, how do you deal with logistics issues like large animal companions, followers, and other heavy baggage?

Comic for illustrative purposes.

 

[Tonguez]

Orbril the gnome was the worlds foremost breeder of giant carnivorous hamsters, two of which pulled his circus wagon. By his habit of leaving hamster pups at each gnome burrow he visited he was singlehandedly responsible for spreading hamsters across the world.

I also like using ships and riverboats

 

[zztong]

As a GM, I run in a region where civilization clings to a number of islands. Boats and shipping is pretty prominent and the PCs own several.

As a Player, one game just glosses over overworld travel. The other, it depends on the situation. At some point, teleport and shadow-walk are able to facilitate long distance travel. Sometimes we purchase travel on boats.

I don't really have a preference, as I think it depends on the setting and the goals. Sometimes foot travel is just fine, specially for a mountaineering setting.

I also fondly recall a game where we retained an entourage including a cook, healer, masseuse, blacksmith, guards, teamsters, and a groom for the horses. They would set up camp, take care of the nightly watch, transport camp goods, and so forth all so the PCs could just focus on the adventure.

 

[Kaodi]

I suppose walking and horses are cheapest. But this question makes me think I really need a character someday who only travels by palanquin.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Walk or ride, the latter being rare (horses require care, don't have that many hit points and I do not want to waste an action dismounting if a fight starts, assuming I'm not a horseman).

I don't like carts. They don't do off-road well at all.

 

[Fauchard1520]

Walk or ride, the latter being rare (horses require care, don't have that many hit points and I do not want to waste an action dismounting if a fight starts, assuming I'm not a horseman).

I don't like carts. They don't do off-road well at all.

For me, the problem is always parking. How do you keep your draft horses from getting eaten after the party has gone down into the dungeon? You could hire guards of course, but they cut into the overhead and are just as likely to get eaten by wolves anyway.

 

[wagonicfolding]

Note that this is basically just "Volume 3: The Underworld & Wilderness Adventures" explained in a clearer way. Take or leave the food/water requirements as you will. I run these rules tracking party needs, but ignore pack animals since it complicates things quite a bit when planning a trek.

It is easiest to just play a hexcrawl as a boardgame at first, and then add referee description once you get the hang of it. The process for running a hexcrawl is very simple.

At start of travel, have player put a marker on the hex they want to travel to. Don't move the party's actual marker yet. (2 markers; 1 for beginning location, 1 for destination)

Check to see if party is lost. If lost, move party 1 hex in a random direction. If party can still move, either let them or make another "lost" check (DM preference).

Move the party marker, ensuring compliance with movement rules.

Check for monster encounters (once per day). Historically (and for ease of play) this is always the hex indicated by the destination marker. If you want to mix it up, you can as a referee. Note that doing it this way, most encounters will occur as the players near their destination, are setting up camp, or during the night.

Have players mark off food and water for the day.

Repeat until 7th day of travel, which requires a full day's rest and no movement.

Once you master the art of the procedural, you can begin expanding and complicating the encounter charts to incorporate more variety in play.

Edit: Rivers can be accounted for in one of two ways. Do not mix or you will confuse players.

[Ease of play] It costs 3 movement points to enter a river hex, regardless of whether it is actually crossed. The cost is the same even if the river is in a swamp hex.

[Crossing Cost Only] It costs whatever movement points of the underlying terrain to move into a river hex. It then costs 3 movement points to cross the river.

 

[Alzrius]

These boots are made for walking.

 

[aco175]

Most of my groups are fond of hiring themselves out as caravan guards, they are always getting attacked and tend to be a good place to pick up another PC if needed.

 

[Taavon Farsight]

In my campaign, the orcish tribes live primarily in the great grass sea and use Axe Beaks as mounts. Sometimes, PCs have also managed to capture some or raise them from captured eggs. They make pretty reliable mounts and unlike horses, are not nearly as vulnerable to attacks from normal predators. Of course, when they're not being ridden, the PCs usually hobble them but once they're trained, they stick around since they know who their masters are. Axe Beaks