Traveling the Underdark

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Traveling through the Underdark is a dangerous proposition, not undertaken lightly. Trade is rarer than in the lands of light, and usually facilitated by imposing guardians who travel with caravans.

Travel Pace

The pace that a group travels at largely determines what they are capable of doing as they travel. Only smaller, mobile groups are able to travel at Fast. Any more than twenty individuals or groups with wheeled vehicles are limited to Normal and Slow pace.

Pace Miles/Hour Effects
Fast 1 Navigation, Perception, and Tracking at disadvantage; Foraging, Mapping, and Stealth impossible
Normal .75
Slow .5 Foraging, Navigation, Perception, and Tracking at advantage; may use group Stealth

Traveling Tasks

  • Forager: The forager hunts for the signs of food and water while traveling through the Underdark. Foragers are also usually involved in hunting for a good spot to make camp in towards the end of a day's march.
  • Mapper: With the right tools, a mapper can produce a map of the route the group travels. While this doesn't aid their current travel, it provides them with a useful resource for retracing the route. Good maps can even be sold in Underdark settlements by enterprising cartographers. This is a daily DC 12 Intelligence check to do successfully, though proficiency in cartographer's tools obviates the need for a check. A failed check renders the map useless.
  • Navigator: The navigator handles the route through the Underdark, making sure they stay on course. A navigator generally needs at least one of three things to successfully navigate the Underdark: familiarity with the route, maps or charts, and a set of navigator's tools.
  • Tracker: A tracker is used when the party is following a trail or set of tracks. This is generally a daily DC, with an additional check necessary after encounters.
    • A group may also employ a "counter-tracker" while they travel, having someone take the task of covering and concealing their tracks. This person must be in the back ranks of the marching order, and must make a Wisdom (Survival) test. This result becomes the DC for anyone attempting to track them. Performing this task while moving Fast is at disadvantage; moving at Slow pace grants advantage instead.
  • Others: Anyone not performing one of the above tasks is assumed to be keeping an eye out for trouble, applying their passive Perception to their surroundings. Some threats may only be spotted by those in specific parts of the marching order, generally the Front or Rear.

Foraging

  • For each day of foraging, a character may make a Wisdom (Survival) check, with a DC based on the environs.
  • Success on the check uncovers a combination of food and water.
    • On a success, roll 1d6 + Wisdom modifier. This is how many pounds of food or gallons of potable water the forager discovers.
    • The forager may decide what amounts of each, dividing the result of their check up among the two.
    • If a forager's test result is 5+ above the DC, the roll is 1d10 + Wisdom modifier.



Finding Camp

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