5.6 Basic Movement
This section describes how creatures move and position themselves in combat.
5.6.1 Movement Speed
Your speed is how far you can normally move during your turn. Your speed is normally equal to your base speed, which is derived from your size (see ??). Some abilities can modify your speed. At the start of your turn, your available movement becomes equal to your speed. Any movement you make subtracts from your available movement until it reaches 0, which prevents you from moving farther. Some abilities can increase your available movement, including above your speed.
Almost all creatures have a walking movement mode, which represents their ability to move across mostly flat terrain. For details about other forms of movement, such as flying and swimming, see Movement Modes.
Shared Movement Limits
Any non-forced movement that moves you subtracts from your available movement, even if you aren’t the one causing the movement. If your available movement reaches zero, you can’t be moved any farther by non-forced movement, even if you’re being carried by an ally. For example, you can’t move your full speed onto a mount and then have that mount move with you in the same turn. You can still be moved by push, fling, and teleportation effects.
5.6.2 Move Action Abilities
Each of these abilities requires a move action to use. The most common movement ability is hustle, which simply moves you to a location. You could think of characters as using the hustle ability whenever they move while not actively engaged in combat, but it’s not generally useful to think about narrative movements in terms of combat abilities.
| Block |
Move action |
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When you use this ability, choose a creature you can see. Until your next turn, the next time the target attempts to move out of a space adjacent to you, you attempt to block its movement. When you do, make an opposed initiative check against it. If you beat it on the initiative check, it must spend additional movement equal to your available movement in order to move from its space. This consumes all of your available movement. If it cannot, it stops moving. This represents you automatically repositioning yourself to block its movement.
If a creature has the ability to move through your space, or if you stop being able to see it and react to its movements, it is unaffected by this additional movement cost. If multiple creatures are able to block the same creature from moving, it must pay all additional movement costs, which generally keeps it stuck in place.
| Climb Forward | Move action |
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This ability requires touching a solid vertical surface with two free hands, or with one free hand if you take a -5 penalty to your Climb check. Make a Climb check to move along the surface. The difficulty value is based on the surface (see Climb). Success means that you move along the surface to a location.
If you have a climb speed, you use that to determine the maximum distance you can move with this ability. Otherwise, you move a maximum distance equal to the vertical size of your space (see Size Categories). Critical success means you can use twice the vertical size of your space instead.
| Hustle |
Move action |
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Choose a path that you want to travel. You travel that path, up to the limit of your available movement.
| Swim Forward | Move action |
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This ability requires being immersed in a liquid like water and using two free hands, or using one free hand if you take a -5 penalty to your Swim check. Make a Swim check to move through the liquid. The difficulty value is based on the turbulence of the liquid (see Swim).
If you have a swim speed, you use that to determine the maximum distance you can move with this ability. Otherwise, you move a maximum distance equal to a quarter of your base speed. Critical success means the maximum distance increases to half of your base speed.
5.6.3 Measuring Movement
For simplicity, all movement in combat is measured in five-foot increments. While it is possible to be more precise than that, it’s generally not worth the complexity.
Squares: Area is commonly measured in 5-ft. by 5-ft. spaces called squares. A single square represents the area occupied by a single humanoid creature in combat. Sometimes, movement and distance are represented by the number of squares travelled. A 30-ft. movement is the same thing as moving six squares.
Diagonals: When measuring distance, the first diagonal counts as five feet of movement, and the second counts as ten feet of movement. The third costs five feet, the fourth costs ten feet, and so on. You can move diagonally past corners and enemies.
5.6.4 Movement Impediments
Difficult Terrain: Some terrain is hard to move through, like thick bushes or a swamp. If a square is difficult terrain, it increases the movement cost required to move out of the square by 5 feet.
If a square is considered difficult terrain for multiple reasons, the cost increases stack. For example, a square in a swamp that also has thick bushes blocking your passage would cost 10 extra feet of movement to leave.
Exceptionally large creatures can ignore ordinary difficult terrain. In general, a Huge or larger creature does not treat heavy undergrowth or shallow water as difficult terrain. However, at the GM’s discretion, they may still treat small trees or deeper water as difficult terrain.
Obstacles: An obstacle is anything that gets in your way. Enemies and large solid objects like walls completely block your movement, preventing you from entering the space they occupy. Some abilities can allow you to move through spaces occupied by enemies, which means you do not treat them as obstacles.
Undergrowth: Vines, roots, bushes, and similar plants can obstruct sight and impede movement. There are two kinds of undergrowth: light undergrowth and heavy undergrowth.
Light Undergrowth: Light undergrowth provides concealment.
Heavy Undergrowth: Heavy undergrowth provides concealment and is difficult terrain.