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Scouting or Searching a Hex

What this is

Scouting reveals information about an unexplored hex, or locates a specific hidden site within a known hex. It is a one-week activity that runs alongside travel.

Invoked by: Travel, when the expedition declares a scouting goal; DM judgment.
Invokes: Wilderness Encounters, on a failed scouting check.
Returns to: Travel.
Bookkeeping: Activity Log (scouting attempt and outcome); hex / region notes (features revealed); RRS (forthcoming) once the region is reified.

When to invoke

  • The expedition wants to learn an unexplored hex's features: terrain detail, inhabitants, resources, lairs, dungeons.
  • The expedition wants to locate a specific hidden site within a known hex: a buried temple, a smuggler's cove, an old battlefield, a hidden trail.

Step 1: Declare the goal

For general scouting: name the hex.
For specific-site search: state the site explicitly.

Step 2: Run the week

The expedition stays within the target hex for one week, moving carefully and observing. The expedition continues to make daily Forage and Navigation checks per Travel but does not advance to a new hex.

Step 3: Resolve

General scouting

At the end of the week, the expedition leader makes a DC 15 Wisdom (Survival) check.

  • Success. The scouting finishes without confrontation. The DM reveals the hex's features.
  • Failure by 1–5. The scout triggers an encounter with a random creature from the hex. The DM reveals what was learned before the encounter interrupts. Stage and play it via Wilderness Encounters (skip Step 1 — the creature is already chosen).
  • Failure by 6 or more. The scout triggers an encounter with the most dangerous creature in the hex (highest CR).

If the expedition stated a specific-site target, make a separate Wisdom (Survival) check at the end of the week. The DC is set by the DM based on how hidden the site is — typically 15 to 30.

  • Success. The site is located.
  • Failure. The site is not found this week. The expedition may try again next week.

Both checks apply if the expedition is doing general scouting and specific-site search the same week. The two checks are independent.