Hexcrawl Movement Rules, Pt. 3

Finding Locations

Prominent or visible locations are automatically found, as are locations positioned along a road/river/trail the party are using. Familiar locations can be found with a DC 12 Survival check if the party is in the same hex.

Unfamiliar locations can be found with a DC 25 Navigation check (History, Investigation, or Perception) if the party have access to very good directions or a quality map. Otherwise they can only be found with the help of divination spells or as the result of encounter checks.

Getting Lost

Whenever the party are traveling off of a road, track, or trail then one member must make a DC 12 Survival check each watch to see if they head in the right direction. Access to a map or directions grants advantage, while inclement weather imposes disadvantage. Access to a lodestone compass or direction-finding magic doubles proficiency bonus but travelling at night halves it.  

If the party fail this check they begin to veer away from their intended direction of travel as determined by a 1d10 roll (1-4 veer to the left; 5-6 no veer; 7-10 veer to the right). When the party exit the hex, they exit through the face indicated by their new direction of travel. Should a lost party fail another navigation check their veer can increase but not decrease.

Lost Parties

Each watch, one member of a lost party can attempt a DC 12 Survival check to recognize that they are no longer certain of their direction of travel. Due to the close attention to their surroundings that this demands, they suffer disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks and all other Wisdom (Survival) checks during the watch. Should they spot a known landmark or clear change in terrain they can make an additional check to realize that they’ve become lost.

A lost party has several options for re-orienting themselves:

• They can follow their own tracks, making a DC 15 Survival check each watch to stay on the trail and successfully identify the point where they went astray.
• They can use natural signs to determine true north with a DC 20 Nature check and re-establish their position from there.
• They can work out their new position and then chart a new course that will take them to their original destination with a DC 25 Investigation or Perception check.