Movement

Characters spend a lot of time getting from one place to another. A
character who needs to reach the evil tower might choose to walk
along the road, hire a boat to row him along the river, or cut crosscountry
on horseback. In addition, a character can climb trees to get
a better look at his surroundings, scale mountains, or ford streams.
The DM moderates the pace of a game session, so he or she
determines when movement is so important that it’s worth measuring.
During casual scenes, you usually won’t have to worry about
movement rates. If your character has come to a new city and takes a
stroll to get a feel for the place, no one needs to know exactly how
many rounds or minutes the circuit takes.
There are three movement scales in the game, as follows.

Tactical, for combat, measured in feet (or squares) per round.
Table 9–3: Movement and Distance
——————— Speed ——–————
15 feet 20 feet 30 feet 40 feet
One Round (Tactical)1
Walk 15 ft. 20 ft. 30 ft. 40 ft.
Hustle 30 ft. 40 ft. 60 ft. 80 ft.
Run (×3) 45 ft. 60 ft. 90 ft. 120 ft.
Run (×4) 60 ft. 80 ft. 120 ft. 160 ft.
One Minute (Local)
Walk 150 ft. 200 ft. 300 ft. 400 ft.
Hustle 300 ft. 400 ft. 600 ft. 800 ft.
Run (×3) 450 ft. 600 ft. 900 ft. 1,200 ft.
Run (×4) 600 ft. 800 ft. 1,200 ft. 1,600 ft.
One Hour (Overland)
Walk 1-1/2 miles 2 miles 3 miles 4 miles
Hustle 3 miles 4 miles 6 miles 8 miles
Run — — — —
One Day (Overland)
Walk 12 miles 16 miles 24 miles 32 miles
Hustle — — — —
Run — — — —
1 Tactical movement is often measured in squares on the battle grid (1
square = 5 feet) rather than feet. See page 147 for more information
on tactical movement in combat.
Table 9–4: Hampered Movement
Additional
Condition Example Movement Cost
Difficult terrain Rubble, undergrowth, steep ×2
slope, ice, cracked and pitted surface,
uneven floor
Obstacle1 Low wall, deadfall, broken pillar ×2
Poor visibility Darkness or fog ×2
Impassable Floor-to-ceiling wall, closed door, —
blocked passage
1 May require a skill check

Local, for exploring an area, measured in feet per minute.

Overland, for getting from place to place, measured in miles per
hour or miles per day.
Modes of Movement: While moving at the different movement
scales, creatures generally walk, hustle, or run.
Walk: A walk represents unhurried but purposeful movement
at 3 miles per hour for an unencumbered human.
Hustle: A hustle is a jog at about 6 miles per hour for an
unencumbered human. A character moving his or her
speed twice in a single round, or moving that speed in
the same round that he or she performs a standard
action or another move action is hustling when he or
she moves.
Run (×3): Moving three times speed is a running pace
for a character in heavy armor. It represents about 9
miles per hour for a human in full plate.
Run (×4): Moving four times speed is a running pace
for a character in light, medium, or no armor. It represents
about 12 miles per hour for an unencumbered
human, or 8 miles per hour for a human in chainmail.
TACTICAL MOVEMENT
Use tactical movement for combat, as detailed on
page 147. Characters generally don’t walk during
combat—they hustle or run. A character who
moves his or her speed and takes some action,
such as attacking or casting a spell, is hustling for
about half the round and doing something
else the other half.
Hampered Movement: Difficult terrain,
obstacles, or poor visibility can
hamper movement. When movement is
hampered, each square moved into usually
counts as two squares, effectively
reducing the distance that a character
can cover in a move. For example, a
character moving through difficult
terrain (such as undergrowth) pays 2
squares of movement per square
moved into (double the normal cost).
If more than one condition applies,
multiply together all additional costs
that apply. (This is a specific exception
to the normal rule for doubling;
see page 304.) For instance, a
character moving through difficult
terrain in darkness would
pay 4 squares of movement per
square moved into (double cost
times double cost is quadruple
cost).
In some situations, your movement may be so
hampered that you don’t have sufficient speed even to move 5
feet (1 square). In such a case, you may use a full-round action to
move 5 feet (1 square) in any direction, even diagonally. Even
though this looks like a 5-foot step, it’s not, and thus it provokes
attacks of opportunity normally. (You can’t take advantage of this
rule to move through impassable terrain or to move when all
movement is prohibited to you, such as while paralyzed.)
You can’t run or charge through any square that would hamper
your movement.
LOCAL MOVEMENT
Characters exploring an area use local movement, measured in feet
per minute.
Walk: A character can walk without a problem on the local scale.
Hustle: A character can hustle without a problem on the local
scale. See Overland Movement, below, for movement measured in
miles per hour.
Run: A character with a Constitution score of 9 or higher can run
for a minute without a problem. Generally, a character can run for a
minute or two before having to rest for a minute (see Run, page
144).
Table 9–5: Terrain and Overland Movement
Terrain Highway Road or Trail Trackless
Desert, sandy ×1 ×1/2 ×1/2
Forest ×1 ×1 ×1/2
Hills ×1 ×3/4 ×1/2
Jungle ×1 ×3/4 ×1/4
Moor ×1 ×1 ×3/4
Mountains ×3/4 ×3/4 ×1/2
Plains ×1 ×1 ×3/4
Swamp ×1 ×3/4 ×1/2
Tundra, frozen ×1 ×3/4 ×3/4
Table 9–6: Mounts and Vehicles
Mount/Vehicle Per Hour Per Day
Mount (carrying load)
Light horse or light warhorse 6 miles 48 miles
Light horse (151–450 lb.)1 4 miles 32 miles
Light warhorse (231–690 lb.)1 4 miles 32 miles
Heavy horse or heavy warhorse 5 miles 40 miles
Heavy horse (201–600 lb.)1 3-1/2 miles 28 miles
Heavy warhorse (301–900 lb.)1 3-1/2 miles 28 miles
Pony or warpony 4 miles 32 miles
Pony (76–225 lb.)1 3 miles 24 miles
Warpony (101–300 lb.)1 3 miles 24 miles
Donkey or mule 3 miles 24 miles
Donkey (51–150 lb.)1 2 miles 16 miles
Mule (231–690 lb.)1 2 miles 16 miles
Dog, riding 4 miles 32 miles
Dog, riding (101–300 lb.)1 3 miles 24 miles
Cart or wagon 2 miles 16 miles
Ship
Raft or barge (poled or towed)2 1/2 mile 5 miles
Keelboat (rowed)2 1 mile 10 miles
Rowboat (rowed)2 1-1/2 miles 15 miles
Sailing ship (sailed) 2 miles 48 miles
Warship (sailed and rowed) 2-1/2 miles 60 miles
Longship (sailed and rowed) 3 miles 72 miles
Galley (rowed and sailed) 4 miles 96 miles
1 Quadrupeds, such as horses, can carry heavier loads than characters
can. See Carrying Capacity, above, for more information.
2 Rafts, barges, keelboats, and rowboats are used on lakes and rivers.
If going downstream, add the speed of the current (typically 3 miles
per hour) to the speed of the vehicle. In addition to 10 hours of
being rowed, the vehicle can also float an additional 14 hours, if
someone can guide it, so add an additional 42 miles to the daily
distance traveled. These vehicles can’t be rowed against any
significant current, but they can be pulled upstream by draft animals
on the shores.
OVERLAND MOVEMENT
Characters covering long distances cross-country use overland
movement. Overland movement is measured in miles per hour or
miles per day. A day represents 8 hours of actual travel time. For
rowed watercraft, a day represents 10 hours of rowing. For a sailing
ship, it represents 24 hours.
Walk: A character can walk 8 hours in a day of travel without a
problem. Walking for longer than that can wear him or her out (see
Forced March, below).
Hustle: A character can hustle for 1 hour without a problem.
Hustling for a second hour in between sleep cycles deals 1 point of
nonlethal damage, and each additional hour deals twice the damage
taken during the previous hour of hustling. A character who takes
any nonlethal damage from hustling becomes fatigued. A fatigued
character can’t run or charge and takes a penalty of –2 to Strength
and Dexterity. Eliminating the nonlethal damage also eliminates the
fatigue.
Run: A character can’t run for an extended period of time.
Attempts to run and rest in cycles effectively work out to a hustle.
Terrain: The terrain through which a character travels affects
how much distance he or she can cover in an hour or a day (see
Table 9–5: Terrain and Overland Movement). Travel is quickest on a
highway, not quite as fast on a road or trail, and slowest through
trackless terrain. A highway is a straight, major, paved road. A road is
typically a dirt track. A trail is like a road, except that it allows only
single-file travel and does not benefit a party traveling with vehicles.
Trackless terrain is a wild area with no paths.
Forced March: In a day of normal walking, a character walks for
8 hours. The rest of the daylight time is spent making and breaking
camp, resting, and eating.
A character can walk for more than 8 hours in a day by making a
forced march. For each hour of marching beyond 8 hours, a Constitution
check (DC 10, +2 per extra hour) is required. If the check
fails, the character takes 1d6 points of nonlethal damage. A character
who takes any nonlethal damage from a forced march becomes
fatigued. Eliminating the nonlethal damage also eliminates the
fatigue. It’s possible for a character to march into unconsciousness
by pushing himself too hard.
Mounted Movement: A mount bearing a rider can move at a
hustle. The damage it takes when doing so, however, is lethal
damage, not nonlethal damage. The creature can also be ridden in a
forced march, but its Constitution checks automatically fail, and,
again, the damage it takes is lethal damage. Mounts also become
fatigued when they take any damage from hustling or forced
marches.
See Table 9–6: Mounts and Vehicles for mounted speeds and
speeds for vehicles pulled by draft animals.
Waterborne Movement: See Table 9–6: Mounts and Vehicles
for speeds for water vehicles.