Hexploration Sythian

Hexploration Activities (HA)

You get a number of HAs per day according to the speed of the slowest party member.

Speed	HA
< 15 ft	0
15+ ft	4
30+ ft	8
45+ ft	12
60+ ft	16

Mounts & Carts

• Horse & Cart: Travelling with a horse and cart sets your group's speed to 25 (providing 4 HA) and allows the party to carry plenty of gear and cargo.
  • Cart Terrain Restrictions: A cart cannot enter very difficult terrain (such as swamps or heavy forests).
  • Going off-road with a cart turns difficult terrain into very difficult terrain.
• On Horseback (Cavalry / Riders): Travelling mounted on horseback (requiring 1 horse per Medium creature or 2 Small creatures) allows the party to run with the horses, increasing your speed to 40 (providing 8 HA). Players must explicitly mention if they want to do this.

Pushing It (Forced March)

If all of your hexploration activities for the day are spent, you can still choose to "push it" to gain 1 extra HA:

• You must make a DC 11 flat check. On a failure, you become Fatigued.
• Pushing It While Already Fatigued: If you push it again while already fatigued, you must make another DC 11 flat check. On a failure, your body buckles under the physical strain and you become Encumbered:
  • This imparts the Clumsy 1 condition.
  • You take a -10-foot penalty to your Speeds (to a minimum of 5 feet), which can directly reduce the party's movement tier and reduce your daily Hexploration Activities (HA) on subsequent days until you can rest properly.
• Pushing It On Horseback: If the party is mounted on horseback (without a cart) and running (speed 30+), each horse must also make the "Pushing It" check:
  • If a horse fails a pushing it flat check while already fatigued, the animal pushes itself to death, collapsing permanently after completing the hexploration activity it was attempting.

Exploration Activities During Travel

Party members can perform an Exploration Activity while travelling. As a general rule:

• Halved Speed = Halved Daily HA: If an activity mentions your movement speed being halved, the character's effective speed tier is halved for that travel segment (doubling the HA cost of their travel or halving their available HA for that day).
• Passive DCs vs. Secret Checks: In general, passive exploration uses fixed DCs:
  • Avoid Notice uses the character's Stealth DC.
  • Default observation/keeping an eye out uses the character's Perception DC.
  • Secret checks may still be rolled by the GM in specific or unusual circumstances.
• Detect Magic: Perpetually casting Detect Magic while traveling is an exploration activity that does not halve your movement speed. However, casting most standard spells repeatedly (spells costing 2 actions or more) does halve your movement speed.
• Defend: You travel with your shield raised. If combat breaks out or you are ambushed, you enter combat with your shield already raised without having to spend an action.
• Avoid Notice: You can be the only party member avoiding notice. If you do, only you roll Stealth for initiative when combat begins; however, because the rest of the party is travelling normally in plain sight, you will not be able to completely negate the encounter for the group.
• Scout Ahead: One party member can scout ahead of the main body. Doing so grants party members a +2 circumstance bonus to initiative, but it physically separates the scout from the party (risking isolated ambushes) and cannot be performed while trying to stay concealed.
• Survey the Map (Survival, Society, or Lore): A character can survey terrain and study the horizon while travelling or reconnoitering.
  • Requirement: Requires a Cartographer's Kit (or all constituent items; bought freely in The Void despite being Uncommon).
  • Benefit: On a successful check (DC 15 or 20 based on obscurity), the party gains a +2 circumstance bonus to Reconnoiter checks that day, or a +2 circumstance bonus to Survival checks to find your way back if lost.
• Reminder — Follow the Expert: Party members can follow a more experienced companion to gain circumstance bonuses to their Stealth DC, Perception DC, or other exploration checks!

Common activities include:

• Avoid Notice
• Cover Tracks
• Defend
• Detect Magic
• Follow the Expert
• Repeat a Spell
• Scout
• Search
• Track

Spending HA

Most of Sythian's maps are hexes with 10 km diameters (1 myriameter or 6 miles).

Moving or reconnoitering 1 hex costs a base of 1 HA. Terrain, weather, and roads modify this cost:

Terrain / Condition	HA Cost Modifier	Total HA to Move / Recon
Normal Terrain	+0 HA	1 HA
Difficult Terrain	+1 HA	2 HA
Very Difficult Terrain	+2 HA	3 HA
Adverse Weather	+1 to +2 HA	Added to terrain difficulty
Road	-1 HA modifier*	Reduces terrain modifier (Minimum 1 HA)

*Roads apply a -1 HA modifier to terrain penalties, but a hex movement always costs a minimum of 1 HA (e.g., normal terrain on a road is still 1 HA; difficult terrain with a road costs 1 HA instead of 2 HA).

Weather & Environmental Hazards

Weather and severe climate conditions directly impact travel:

• Inclement Weather: Heavy rain, gale-force winds, deep mud, or dense fog add +1 HA to an activity (or +2 HA if conditions are particularly extreme, such as blizzards or severe sandstorms).
• Extreme Heat & Cold: High heat or severe freezing conditions require proper environmental gear and preparations (or endure regular environmental flat checks). Furthermore, severe weather conditions can increase the DC for the "Pushing It" flat check (e.g., DC 13 or DC 15).

Travel & Navigation

Travelling into a hex costs a base of 1 HA, modified by the Terrain Difficulty:

• Difficult terrain adds +1 HA (total 2 HA).
• Very difficult terrain adds +2 HA (total 3 HA).
• Following a road reduces these terrain penalties by -1 HA (always minimum 1 HA).
• Adverse weather may add +1 or +2 HA.

Navigating

When not following an established road, one designated party member must navigate:

• Reference Points & Compass: If the navigator has no compass (a way to reliably point north) or lacks a clear visual reference point (a major prominent landmark), they take a -2 penalty to the Survival check to navigate.
• Getting Lost: Failing the navigation DC means the party becomes lost. Being lost does not necessarily mean you wander into an unintended adjacent hex (though it can); more commonly, it represents a significant delay or complication—such as losing precious time, hitting an impasse, or wandering into an aggressive wandering monster or ambush.

Reconnoiter

Reconnoitering a hex reveals details on the hex-map^[1]Footnote [1]The DC of any check to navigate that hex is reduced by 2. (effectively mapping it, which earns you 10 sp/p with Prof. Eratosthenes?). Reconnoitering costs a base of 1 HA, plus the same Terrain Difficulty and weather modifiers as Travel (+1 HA for difficult, +2 HA for very difficult, -1 HA on roads, min 1 HA).

Fortify Camp

One character can spend 1 HA during exploration or while making camp to fortify the perimeter for defense with a successful Crafting check (typically trained DC 15 or expert DC 20).

• Anyone keeping watch or defending the camp gains a +2 circumstance bonus to initiative rolls and Perception checks to Seek creatures attempting to sneak up on the camp.
• Bonus Stacking: Multiple fortifications or scouting bonuses do not stack, as circumstance bonuses do not stack (only the highest applies).
• Concurrent Activities: While one character spends their HA fortifying camp, other companions can simultaneously spend their HA on other individual tasks, such as Subsisting or Cooking.

Cooking

One character can spend 1 HA to prepare a hot, fortifying meal using the party's standard rations and cookware rather than eating cold dry provisions.

• Check: Survival or Crafting check (typically trained DC 15, or expert DC 20 in harsher environments).
• Benefit: On a success, the hearty meal invigorates the party against travel exhaustion: every party member who partakes gains a +1 circumstance bonus to the next day's "Pushing It" flat check (and to saving throws against environmental heat or cold).

Subsist

You try to provide food and shelter for yourself, and possibly others as well, with a standard of living described on page 295 (Player Core). The GM determines the DC based on the nature of the place where you're trying to Subsist. You might need a minimum proficiency rank to Subsist in particularly strange environments. Unlike most downtime activities, you can Subsist after 8 hours or less of exploration, but if you do, you take a –5 penalty.

Untrained lush forest with calm weather or large city with plentiful resources
Trained typical hillside or village
Expert typical mountains or insular hamlet
Master typical desert or city under siege
Legendary barren wasteland or city of undead

Food, Shelter, & Encounters

Rations

You start each session from The Void, they provide with a weeks rations to survive from. Each day you do not subsist or foresee provisions, a day of these rations is subtracted. Allowing you to travel for a maximum of 7 days.

Every time a settlement where food can be bought is visited this supply can be replenished for 4 sp/p. Effectively resetting the timer to 7 days.

Shelter & Resting

The campsite must be made in a favourable location.

• Camping vs. Full Night's Rest: In order to gain a "full night's rest" (as required to recover from the Fatigued condition), characters must rest in an Inn or other place of comfort—or establish a Proper Campsite (see below).
• Camping in the Wild (Roughing It): Basic camping in the wild without a proper campsite does not provide a full night's rest. Furthermore, camping only restores half the normal amount of Hit Points (Constitution modifier [min 1] * level, halved, rounded up).
• As per usual, sleeping in armor or going without adequate rest for 16 hours causes a character to become fatigued.

Setting Up a Proper Campsite

Parties travelling with a horse & cart can choose to establish a Proper Campsite in the wild instead of roughing it:

• HA & Party Requirement: Setting up a proper campsite costs 1 HA, which must be performed by at least half of the party (rounded down).
• Benefits:
  • Resting in a proper campsite counts as a place of comfort, granting a full night's rest (allowing characters to clear the Fatigued condition).
  • Restores the full normal amount of Hit Points during the night rather than the halved camping amount.
• Minimum Total Cost: 173 sp, 3 cp (17 gp, 3 sp, 3 cp)
• Minimum Equipment List (Carried in the Cart):
  • Chest — 6 sp
  • 2× Tent (Four-Person) — 100 sp (50 sp each)
  • Tack — 40 sp
  • Cookware — 10 sp
  • Net — 10 sp
  • Shovel (Tool (Long)) — 10 sp
  • Rope (50 ft.) — 5 sp
  • Hammer — 1 sp
  • 10× Candles — 1 sp
  • Ladder (10 ft.) — 3 cp
  • (Each adventurer is naturally assumed to carry their own Bedroll)

Substitutions & Additions:

• The candles may be replaced with a Lantern and Oil.
• Any item on this list can be substituted by an item of equivalent or higher value fulfilling the same purpose (e.g. pavilions, magical tents, higher-grade tools). Additional comforts can be freely added.

Watches and Surprise Attacks

Sleeping in the wild means watches need to be taken and ambushes in the night can happen. Below is a table for how many and how long each watch is based on party size.

If you are scared of being ambushed, be sure to Fortify your camp.

Group Size	Total Time	Duration of Each Watch
2	16 hours	8 hours
3	12 hours	4 hours
4	10 hours, 40 minutes	2 hours, 40 minutes
5	10 hours	2 hours
6	9 hours, 36 minutes	1 hour, 36 minutes

Footnotes

1. The DC of any check to navigate that hex is reduced by 2. ↩