Wilderness Exploration¶

Wilderness is an open landscape of scattered encounters and dungeons, where distances are measured in miles and turns are measured in hours or days. Wilderness Exploration is one of the two exploration modes in the game (see World Exploration). It moves an Expedition across the map a day at a time and requires a hex map and a planned route.

Used by: the Basic Game Loop, when players (or the DM) declare travel between locations.
Uses: Wilderness Encounters (when an encounter check is positive in Step 3).
Goes back to: the Basic Game Loop at the destination, or wherever the expedition halts.
Records to update: Activity Log (each day's progress, encounters, and incidents); expedition info sheet (forthcoming) for muster data; character sheets (provisions spent, exhaustion from failed checks).

5e's travel rules are spread across sections of the PHB and DMG (PHB p181, p185; DMG p106, DMG p111) and the Wilderness Kit. The Expedition procedure here is an alternative.

Setting up an Expedition¶

Before the first travel day, gather the following information about the expedition.

Units¶

Record every creature in the expedition.

For PCs: name and level.
For NPC creatures and beasts traveling with the expedition: stat block, counts, and CR.

Total the CR of all creatures, which will be needed later for provisioning costs.

Mounts and vehicles¶

Record the means of transport.

For vehicles (ships, airships): stat block (HP, AC, speed, cargo capacity).
For mounts (horses, griffons, etc.): stat block, count, and CR.

Expected travel day and daily pace¶

How far the expedition moves per day depends on the method. Vehicles travel 24 hours if crews can rotate. Creatures travel for 8 hours and rest at night.

Travel Method	Travel day	Daily pace
Land, by creature or wagon	8 hours	2 hexes (3 if mounted)
Land, with a road	8 hours	double the above
Land, with stealth (small teams only)	8 hours	subtract 1 hex
Sea or air, by creature	8 hours	6 hexes
Land, sea, or air by vehicle	24 hours	based on the vehicle's speed

Route¶

Trace the planned route on the hex map. Mark where the expedition expects to stop at the end of each day, based on the expected travel day and pace.

The route may be revised in play or if the expedition gets lost.

Leader's passive Survival¶

Note the group leader's passive Wisdom (Survival) score. This is the default value used for navigation and foraging.

Flying creatures and vehicles gain advantage on navigation checks, which adds +5 to passive Survival for navigation purposes.

Provisions¶

Provisions cover food, water, animal feed, and basic supplies.

Standard expedition: provisions are paid in gold before departure.

Troop cost = 5 gp x (total CR of all units) x (weeks of operation)
Vehicle/Ship cost = 1 gp x (each vehicle's hull HP) x (weeks of operation)
Total provision cost = Troop cost + Ship cost

Small team expedition (10 or fewer units): small expeditions may optionally attempt to live off the land instead of using provisions. Compare the leader's passive Wisdom (Survival) to the Forage DC of every hex on the route. If the passive meets or exceeds every DC, no provisions are required for the trip. If any hex has a higher DC, the expedition either makes daily Forage checks in those hexes (Step 1 of the daily procedure) or must use provisions like a standard expedition.

Carrying provisions:

One person-week of provisions costs 1 gp and weighs 70 pounds.
A pack animal carries 3 person-weeks.
A wagon carries 15 person-weeks.
A ship carries 30 person-weeks per ton of cargo capacity.

If mounts or pack animals are used, increase total provisions by one half (round up) to account for animal feed.

Mustering time¶

A standard expedition requires 1 week of preparation before departure. This week is included in the troop and ship costs above. A small team expedition requires no mustering time.

The daily procedure¶

Once the expedition is underway, the following steps are performed for each travel day.

If the expedition's goal is scouting or infiltration, see Information Gathering.

Step 1: Marching order¶

Determine the order and positioning of expedition members.

Step 2: Forage check¶

Skip this step if either of these is true:

The expedition is a standard expedition (provisions were brought), or
The team leader's passive Wisdom (Survival) is at least the Forage DC of the first hex traveled that day.

Otherwise, the leader rolls a Wisdom (Survival) check against the day's Forage DC. On a success, the expedition forages enough to feed itself that day. On a failure, the expedition does not eat. Every creature without provisions gains 1 level of exhaustion.

Skip this step if either of these is true:

The leader's passive Wisdom (Survival) is at least the terrain's Navigation DC, or
The expedition is traveling on a road.

Otherwise, the leader makes a Wisdom (Survival) navigation check:

At the beginning of each day.
When the expedition enters a hex with a different terrain type from the previous hex.

On a success, the expedition travels its full daily pace. On a failure, the expedition becomes lost and makes no forward progress that day. The DM may secretly choose to move the expedition off course rather than simply halting it.

Step 4: Encounter checks¶

Make 6 encounter checks during the day, one every 4 hours, whether the expedition is traveling or resting. If the check is positive, use Wilderness Encounters.

If the expedition is on a road or sailing tradewinds, the first positive check of the day is ignored.

If a positive check occurs for the last two checks of the day while traveling over land, the encounter occurs at night at camp.

Terrain reference¶

Each terrain has a Forage DC and a Navigation DC. The Forage DC governs Step 1; the Navigation DC governs Step 2 above.

Terrain	Forage DC	Navigation DC
Arctic	19	15
Coastal	12	9
Desert	19	13
Forest	13	11
Grassland	12	10
Hills	13	12
Mountains	16	15
Swamp	15	13
Underdark	19	17
Urban	14	10
Ocean	16	14
Sky	20	16