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 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 the distance he can cover in an hour or a day (see Table: Terrain and Overland Movement). 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 the damage it takes is lethal damage. Mounts also become fatigued when they take any damage from hustling or forced marches.

See Table: Mounts and Vehicles for mounted speeds and speeds for vehicles pulled by draft animals.

Table: Mounts and Vehicles

Mount/Vehicle	Per Hour	Per Day
Light horse	6 miles	48 miles
Light horse (175–525 lbs.)1	4 miles	32 miles
Heavy horse	5 miles	40 miles
Heavy horse (229–690 lbs.)1	3-1/2 miles	28 miles
Pony	4 miles	32 miles
Pony (151–450 lbs.)1	3 miles	24 miles
Dog, riding	4 miles	32 miles
Dog, riding (101–300 lbs.)1	3 miles	24 miles
Cart or wagon	2 miles	16 miles
1 Quadrupeds, such as horses, can carry heavier loads than characters can. See Carrying Capacity for more information.

Underwater Movement and Combat

 Land-based creatures can have considerable difficulty when fighting in water. Water affects a creature's Armor Class, attack rolls, damage, and movement. In some cases, a creature's opponents may get a bonus to attack the creature. The effects are summarized below.

Fire: 
Nonmagical fire (including alchemist's fire) does not burn underwater. Spells or spell-like effects with the Fire descriptor are ineffective underwater unless the caster makes a successful Spellcraft check (DC 15 + spell level). If the check succeeds, the spell creates a bubble of steam instead of its usual fiery effect, but otherwise the spell works as described. Supernatural fire effects are ineffective underwater unless their descriptions state otherwise.

The surface of a body of water blocks line of effect for any fire spell. If the caster has made a Spellcraft check to make the fire spell useful underwater, the surface still blocks the spell's line of effect. For example, a fireball cast underwater cannot be targeted at creatures above the surface.

Attacks from Land:
Characters swimming, floating, or treading water on the surface, or wading in water at least chest deep have one-quarter cover against melee or ranged attacks from opponents on land. Land-bound opponents who have freedom of movement effects ignore this cover when making melee attacks against targets in the water.  A completely submerged creature has one-half cover against opponents on land unless those opponents have freedom of movement effects. Magical effects are unaffected, except for those that require attack rolls (which are treated like any other effects) and fire effects.

Ranged Attacks Underwater:
Thrown weapons are ineffective underwater, even when launched from land. Other ranged weapons take a -2 penalty on attack rolls for every 5 feet of water they pass through, in addition to the normal penalties for range. Any sort of ranged weapon that is specifically made for use underwater ignores these restrictions.

Underwater Visibility: 
Submerged or swimming creatures may also gain concealment from the water, depending on how clear it is. Even perfectly clear water obscures vision (including darkvision) beyond 200 feet. A creature in perfectly clear water has one-quarter concealment at 50 feet (10% miss chance), one-half concealment at 100 feet (20% miss chance), three-quarters concealment at 150 feet (30% miss chance), and nine-tenths concealment at 200 feet (50% miss chance and opponents cannot use sight to locate it.)

Combat Adjustments for Water:

Condition: (1.)	Slash or Bludgeon Attack/Damage	Claw or Tail Attack/Damage	Movement	Off-Balance
Freedom of Movement	Normal/Normal	Normal/Normal	Normal	No
Has a swim speed	-2/Half	Normal	Normal	No
Successful Swim check	-2/Half (3.)	-2/Half	Quarter or half (2.)	No
Firm footing (4.)	-2/Half	-2/Half	Half	No
None of the above	-2/Half	-2/Half	Normal	Yes (5.)

1. Water modifiers apply when swimming, wading in water at least waist deep, or walking along the bottom.
2. The speeds given are standard for the Swim skill (you can move one-quarter your speed as a move action or one-half your speed as a full-round action). To avoid the off-balance penalty (see note 5.), you must attempt a Swim check (DC 5 + the DC for the water) as a move-equivalent action. If you succeed, the off-balance penalty is negated until your next turn.
3. A creature without freedom of movement effect or a swim speed makes grapple checks underwater at a -2 penalty, but it deals damage normally when grappling.
4. Creatures have firm footing when walking along the bottom, braced against a wall, or the like. You can walk along the bottom only if you carry something to weigh you down. The amount of weight required depends on your size, as follows: Fine, 1 lb.; Diminutive, 2 lbs.; Tiny, 4 lbs.; Small, 8 lbs.; Medium-size, 16 lbs.; Large, 32 lbs.; etc. The items you carry to weigh yourself down cannot be bulky or buoyant.
5. An off-balance creature loses its Dexterity bonus to Armor Class, and any opponent gains a +2 bonus to attack rolls against it.
   

Buoyancy and Holding Your Breath
Characters may hold their breath while underwater for a maximum of 2 rounds per point of constitution. Once that time has expired, the character must make a Constitution check (DC 10) or begin to drown. The DC increases by 1 for every round afterwards.

Characters holding their breath are either swimming (moving) or holding their position in the water. Unless the character is able to hold on to something to keep in place, the character will begin to float to the surface at a rate of 5 feet per round. This also holds true for characters who have died in the water. The character's body will float to the surface for 1 minute and then they will sink to the bottom.

Naval Combat Rules

For rules on Naval Combat and purchasing/building a ship, see Broadsides! Naval Adventuring. We will not be using flying ships, but the naval movement, combat and most of the ships included in the guide will be fair game. I'm still trying to decide if I want to make piloting and navigating as complicated as their rules are.