Introduction

Welcome to Badooga's Exploration Guidelines! This document summarizes all of my thoughts on and homebrew for the exploration pillar of D&D 5e. Whether you are fine with the official exploration rules, are looking for your own replacement, or already have your own homebrew set up for it, this document is bound to have something beneficial for you to use or take inspiration from.

Traveling

The rules for exploration are mainly focused on traveling from one location to another.

Discoveries

Travel is the medium through which exploration can take place. After all, you can't explore anything if you just sit still and don't go anywhere. With that in mind, it's necessary to have rules for how travelers can actually discover things while exploring, as well as rules for what specific things they might discover.

System Interactions

So, with these tools to help them, it is possible for a DM to handcraft their own unique and exciting game world. But do the official rules for exploration allow the players to interact with it in meaningful ways?

The answer is: "not really". Other than drawing a map, following tracks, and looking out for creature encounters, the exploration pillar doesn't really interact with the setting the game is taking place in. It expects the DM to simply hand discoveries to them as they see fit (assuming that the party hasn't gotten lost on their way there), and to mainly use the exploration rules as a form of busywork.

Combat

At the end of the day, D&D is built around combat. However, the default length of an adventuring day causes issues with encounter balancing and pacing. The DMG expects most adventuring days to involve enough combat encounters to require the party to take two short rests. However, keeping up with a rate of about three encounters per day slows travel down to a crawl, turning most journeys into a bit of a slog. The alternative is to only run about one encounter per day, which doesn't properly challenge the party and should be avoided at all times.

Luckily, the Gritty Realism resting variant in the DMG can be used to stretch the length of an adventuring day across multiple in-game days, allowing the DM to run one encounter per in-game day with no issues. However, if the party happens to discover a dungeon while exploring, gritty realism will not be adequate. You could switch between the two rulesets as needed, but that isn't a good option for all games. The best solution is a new rest variant that is similar to gritty realism, but can accomodate for changes in encounter pacing without too many issues.

Survival

Most humanoids need food, water, and sleep to survive. In the wilderness, all three of these necessities can't be guaranteed - a desolate wasteland might lack any game or plants to eat, a hot desert might lack regular sources of water, and a lack of shelter from stormy weather might drive the party to perform a forced march in search of a safe place to sleep.

However, many character features allow the party to trivialize survival with ease. With just a single 1st-level spell slot, the goodberry spell can provide nourishment to the entire party for an entire day. By spending 11 minutes to cast the Leomund's tiny hut spell, the party bard or wizard can provide the entire party with a safe place to sleep for the night. The Natural Explorer class feature allows a ranger that is in their favored terrain to find twice as much food while foraging, and also invalidates many of the other aspects of exploration discussed earlier.

Wilderness Environs

Wilderness hazards, weather phenomena, and regional effects like harsh storms, slippery ice, and planar effects can all act as significant obstacles to the party's travels. They primarily contribute to creature encounters, but can also force the party's to make important decisions about where, when, and how to travel.

While these weather phenomena and wilderness hazards presented in the Dungeon Master's Guide are adequate enough in normal situations, they fail to acknowledge one simple fact: in a world of dragons, fiends, and magic, surviving in the wilderness requires adventurers to face off against fantastical effects and supernatural hazards. If this is the case, why are most of the natural hazards in the DMG mundane in nature? While some 5e books seek to address this (e.g. Tasha's Cauldron of Everything includes a selection of supernatural environments), it is still a shame that almost all of the natural hazards in the DMG are things that could easily be found in real life.

Conclusion

We can summarize the flaws discussed above in a list of points that are easy to digest.

Lack of Challenge

The obstacles provided by the official books are mostly mundane, and can easily be trivialized by spells, class features, and other character options. In addition, the default rules for resting are at odds with most reasonable encounter pacings while exploring.

Lack of Engagement

Many of the rules for exploration are focused on constantly keeping track of resources and such. Many DMs that run exploration by the books will quickly find themselves and their players to be tired of the monotony and tedious bookkeeping.

Lack of Interaction

While the official books do provide resources on how to make interesting game worlds, the rules for exploration do not interact with such worlds in an interesting and satisfying way.

Lack of Rewards

In this case, "rewards" refers to tangible results caused by the players' successes. Instead of rolling to achieve something, the official rules have the players roll to not fail at something (e.g. to not get lost).

Challenge

In Skyrim, the game is leveled to you, and is honestly a bit too easy without mods aimed to fix that. Most of the challenge comes from difficult encounters such as dragons and other bosses.

Additionally, vanilla Skyrim completely ignores the basic necessities of food, water, sleep, and so on. There are mods that add these to the game, such as the popular Frostfall mod that adds hypothermia and other temperature-based gameplay. These mods aren't for everyone, but can be very fun if configured correctly.

For D&D, this shows that while optional rules for survival aspects of the game can and should be provided, the main way to make exploration more challenging is to address combat. To do this, we can make a resting variant that extends the length of the adventuring day to not require an unreasonable number of encounters per in-game day. Such a resting variant would also make spells and other features (e.g. goodberry) less spammable and overbearing.

Engagement

Skyrim gives you an empty map of the setting and allows you to fill it up with markers as you discover them. And while fast travel might be a horrible feature, the other conveniences of being able to ignore food, water, sleep, and so on allow you to focus on what's truly important: gameplay.

For D&D, the main way to address this is to rewrite the rules for becoming lost. Having to constantly roll to not be lost sucks. Instead, maybe we can allow the navigator to find shortcuts that get the party past obstacles and cut down on total travel time. To keep things realistic and fair, we can lower the party's normal travel pace while in the wilderness to offset that. With this, the players are rewarded for succeeding at navigating, rather than being punished for failing at it.

Interaction

In Skyrim, the compass will reveal markers for locations that are nearby, even if you haven't discovered them yet. One of the best mods I've ever installed for Skyrim is iCompass, which is a mod that removes these compass map markers, forcing you to find new and undiscovered locations for yourself... or to receive their location from NPCs that tell you about them.

For D&D, we can emulate this by not simply allowing players to discover all locations automatically. Instead, there should be a scouting activity that allows a character to scout for nearby locations of interest. We can also add one that allows a character to gather information on the region that, in addition to being a worldbuilding tool, can help in finding nearby locations of interest. Such rules would give the players a real, tangible way to interact with the world around them.

Rewards

Skyrim's loot system involves a vertical progression of gear that you are expected to follow as you level. Additionally, compared to D&D 5e, magic items in Skyrim are fairly commonplace and can be rewarded depending on the player's level.

When it comes to rewards that aren't physical in nature, exploration in Skyrim can also yield opportunities for questing and unique NPC interactions, and it also provides opportunities for fun combat encounters, which are quicker and easier to experience in the medium of a video game compared to that of a TTRPG.

For D&D, the navigation changes discussed in the Engagement section can help with this. In addition, it would make sense to go over all the possible rewards for exploration that already exist in 5e, which includes consumable and common magic items, as well as supernatural gifts like charms and blessings.

Rewards for Exploration

One reason why exploration is so fun (as a general concept) is that we are rewarded for doing it. What kinds of rewards can be given out for exploration in 5e?

Blessing of the Forager

When you forage, you find twice as much food as you normally would on a success.

Blessing of the Resilient Body

You no longer require air, food, drink, or sleep. You also have advantage on saving throws against exhaustion.

Blessing of the Seeker

You automatically notice secret doors, cooridors, paths, and other passages within 120 feet of you that are hidden by magic.

Blessing of the Swift Traveler

Your base walking speed increases by 10 feet. In addition, spells and other magical effects can neither reduce your speed nor cause you to be restrained.

Blessing of the Wanderer

While traveling, you and your party are twice as likely to encounter or find unique locations of interest, such as lost shrines, ancient ruins, or abandoned settlements.

Weather

The entries below list examples of new weather phenomena, and may also provide variants for existing ones.

Abnormal Gravity

Graviturgy magic and other powerful forces can cause the local gravitational field to change significantly. The options below detail some of the possible changes that could occur.

Directional Gravity. The strength of gravity in the area is normal, but the direction it pulls in is not. In the area, gravity pulls creatures and objects upwards, to the side, or in some other direction that isn't traditionally "down".

Strong Gravity. The strength of gravity in the area is doubled. In the area, each creature's jump distance and carrying capacity is halved, their walking speed decreases by 10 feet, and the fall damage they take is doubled.

Subjective Gravity. The area has no normal gravity, so creatures and objects within it float in place. Instead, a creature can move up to its walking speed in any direction by merely thinking of the desired direction of travel, and can choose the effective direction of gravity for the purpose of walking on and interacting with objects.

Weak Gravity. The strength of gravity in the area is halved. In the area, each creature's jump distance and carrying capacity is doubled, their walking speed increases by 10 feet, and the fall damage they take is halved.

Abnormal Sizes

Some regions have oversized plants and creatures compared to normal. Others cause humanoids, and perhaps other intelligent creatures, to shrink down to a fraction of their normal size. Relative to the party, the effects of both of these are the same.

In a region with abnormal sizes, all creatures and objects that are oversized (from the party's perspective) are tripled in size. All distances are tripled, all oversized objects have double their normal hit points, and all oversized creatures receive the following statistical changes:

• The creature's size increases by two categories (e.g. from Medium to Huge).
• The creature's speed and melee reach are tripled.
• The size and range of the creature's spells are tripled in all dimensions.
• The creature deals two extra dice of damage whenever it hits with an attack.
• The creature's Strength score is increased by 8, to a maximum of 30.

Dark Ice

Similar to sapping snow, dark ice is ice that has been imbued with negative energy and drains the life force of creatures that touch it.

Whenever a creature starts its turn touching dark ice, that creature must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or take 10 (3d6) necrotic damage. The creature's hit point maximum decreases by an amount equal to the necrotic damage taken. This reduction lasts until the creature finishes a long rest. If this effect reduces the creature's hit point maximum to 0, the creature dies, and its body freezes into dark ice.

Healing Water

Healing water is a stronger version of holy water that rejuvenates living creatures that submerge themselves in it. It is most often found in sacred groves protected by druids, natural springs infused with primal energies, and magical fountains blessed by divine powers.

By default, healing water loses its magic if removed from the area of its original source. However, feel free to ignore this rule as you see fit for your campaign.

A creature that isn't a fiend or undead that submerges itself in healing water regains 1 hit point every minute. Additionally, some instances of healing water have the properties detailed below.

Enthrall. A creature must make a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw after 1 hour. On a failed save, the creature is unwilling to leave the general vicinity of the healing water before taking a long rest. After three failed saving throws, the creature never willingly leaves the area the healing water is in and, if forcibly removed, does everything in its power to return to the water. A dispel evil and good spell removes this effect from the creature.

Obliviate. A creature that leaves the healing water after at least 1 hour must make a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw. Fey creatures automatically succeed on the saving throw, as do any creatures, like elves, that have the Fey Ancestry trait. A creature that fails the saving throw remembers nothing from its time spent in the healing water, nor does it remember the healing water's location. On a successful save, the creature's memories remain intact but are a little hazy. Any spell that can end a curse can restore the creature's lost memories.

Purify. A creature gains the benefits of a lesser restoration after 4 hours, and of a greater restoration spell after 24 hours.

Regenerate. A creature's severed body members (fingers, legs, tails, and so on), if any, are restored after 1 hour.

Revitalize. A creature's exhaustion level, if any, is reduced by 1 every hour.

Existing Content

The official options below all interact with the exploration pillar in some way.

Abstracted Wilderness Travel

In games where exploration isn't the main focus, you may wish to abstract wilderness travel in some way that makes it faster to resolve while still retaining its more engaging elements. In such games, you can run wilderness travel as a series of ability checks using skills of the party's choosing.

At the start of each day while traveling, have each party member choose the activity they will be focusing on for the day. The chosen activity will determine the skill they will be using for the day. The activity chosen must somehow aid in the party's travels. Below is a list of example activities and skills that could be associated with them.

Foraging. The Survival skill can be used to forage for food, water, or other natural supplies that are essential for survival.

Gathering Information. The History and Nature skills can be used to gather any information about the surrounding environment that is directly useful (e.g. knowledge of a nearby unholy site to avoided).

Keeping Watch. The Perception skill can be used to watch for any incoming threats.

Navigation. The Survival skill can be used to avoid becoming lost.

Raising Morale. The Performance skill can be used to raise morale among the party.

Scouting. The Investigation and Stealth skills can be used to scout for locations of interest or upcoming hazards.

To avoid travel being tedious or repetitive, encourage the party to be creative, and possibly to partake in a different activity on some days as a way to spice things up. With some out of the box thinking, almost any skill can used to aid in the party's travels.

Once everyone has chosen their activities for the day, have them make ability checks using the associated skills. For some checks, consider resolving it as a skill contest. For example, if one party member decides to keep watch, they might make a Wisdom (Perception) check contested by the Dexterity (Stealth) check of the predator that has been stalking them. For other checks, you can set the DC according to how difficult the task is. For example, if a second party member decides to forage for food and water, you can set the DC according to how abundant food and water are in the region. Feel free to take inspiration from other rules, such as the Foraging DCs table in the Dungeon Master's Guide, to determine the DC for a given task.

If at least half the party succeeds on their checks, the whole party succeeds in their travels for the day, and their exhaustion level (if any) is reduced by one. Otherwise, the party fails for the day. On a failure, the party suffers from a penalty chosen by the DM: either one or more days are added to their total travel time, or the entire party suffers one level of exhaustion that only goes away after the exploration is completed or when an effect that removes exhaustion is applied. The former penalty can represent mishaps like getting lost or failing to notice a natural barrier that cannot be passed, and the latter penalty can represent events like participating in combat, suffering from a lack of food and water, or participating in a forced march in order to make up for lost time.

Remember that extreme weather phenomena and other natural hazards can either increase the DCs of various tasks or impose disadvantage on certain checks the party makes. For effects such as Extreme Heat and Extreme Cold that impose saving throws, have the party make one saving throw against them each day, rather than each hour. Levels of exhaustion imposed by these effects can only go away after the wilderness travel is completed or when an effect that removes one is applied.

If the party has gathered enough successes to make it to their destination, they have completed their travels. If they gather too many levels of exhaustion, they might succumb to the wilderness and die, or they can suffer some other fate that requires a new, separate adventure to overcome.

While this variant may seem cumbersome to use due to the length of its description, it can actually make traveling through the wilderness engaging and fun while also cutting down on time that would be spent towards tracking specific resources and participating in random combat encounters.

Exhaustion Revisited

While exhaustion is meant to be a severe condition for a given party, there are some noticeable flaws with the way it works in play.

First, the third level is a huge jump compared to the first and second levels, which may feel a bit too sudden for some players. To alleviate this, perhaps some changes could be made to make exhaustion more linear in its severity.

Second, the condition should be used as a way to create more engaging gameplay, but actually does the opposite. For example, suppose the party suffers one level of exhaustion due to a lack of food while exploring. This encourages them to forage for more food, but the very first level of exhaustion already imposes disadvantage on ability checks, making it much harder to succeed at foraging. In other words, the condition encourages a certain action to be taken against it, but simultaneously discourages that action via disadvantage on the check for it.

As another example, consider the trope of a weary traveler suffering from exhaustion while trekking through the snowy mountains, pushing on in hopes of finding some place warm to take shelter in. This trope is a fun one to emulate in D&D, and yet the second level of exhaustion halves your speed, making it much harder to travel at all. The option that should be available—the risky decision of continuing onwards in hopes of succeeding despite the exhaustion—is removed by this effect.

Exploration-Related Spells

Below is a list of spells that are oriented towards or have interactions with exploration and survival based games, which you should keep in mind when designing a campaign and during character creation. You may also wish to restrict, nerf, or outright ban some of these spells in your game, although this is not a requirement by any means.

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• 1st level: comprehend languages, create or destroy water, detect poison and disease, goodberry, purify food or drink
• 3rd level: create food and water, sending, tongues
• 5th level: teleportation circle
• 6th level: find the path, heroes' feast, transport via plants, wind walk, word of recall
• 7th level: dream of the blue veil, etherealness, Mordenkainen's magnificent mansion, plane shift, teleport
• 8th level: demiplane, telepathy
• 9th level: astral projection, gate, wish

Setting the Stage

Before we dive into the mechanics, let's take a moment to review the context and goals of this exploration system.

Becoming Lost

The party only gets lost while traveling with this system when the DM says so. This usually happens when the party enters a new, unfamiliar region without a map or some other guide, but it can also happen if the party escapes into the wilderness after being captured or otherwise finds themself in a new area without having willingly traveled there. Otherwise, it shouldn't happen too regularly.

While the party is lost, they are unaware of their current location on any map of the region they have. After a day of travel, a lost party might find themselves up to 2d6 miles away in a random direction from their intended path or destination. To stop being lost, a navigating character can spend a day of travel attempting to regaining their bearings.

Random Encounters

While traveling using these rules, use the normal guidelines for random encounters found in the Dungeon Master's Guide. As an optional rule for when the characters are lost, roll twice for each random encounter check to reflect that the characters might blunder into a monster lair or other unusual threat.

Additonally, consider rolling for random encounters ahead of time, rather than mid-session. You can also forgo random rolls and encounter tables altogether in favor of custom encounters that you create by hand.

Movement on the Map

This exploration system is built to support hexcrawl games, as detailed in the Dungeon Master's Guide.

Wilderness Travel Phases

• Establish Goals
• Choose activities
• Resolve activities and travel
• Camp

Establish Goals

Before the party begins traveling for the day, the players must choose where they want to go. They might have a specific location in mind, or they could just be wandering in a particular direction. Either way, they should decide which direction they want to travel in before the day starts.

During this phase, you should also take the time to establish what general goals the party might have for the day. They might lean towards being very cautious, or perhaps they are rushing for time. They might be in a mood for some combat, or maybe they are instead looking to find some cool treasure. By establishing these general goals, you can ensure that the players remain engaged and focused, and you can also adjust your plans accordingly.

Bolstering the Party

• Example Skills: Medicine, Performance
• Example Tools: Herbalism Kit, Musical Instruments

This activity covers improving the party's morale, organizing the party's equipment and other items, tending to each party member's wounds, or otherwise bolstering its existing efforts.

Whenever the party makes a saving throw against disease or exhaustion, the bolstering character can make an appropriate check against the same DC as the effect. On a success, the party gains advantage on the saving throw.

Foraging

• Example Skills: Nature, Survival
• Example Tools: Brewer's Supplies, Cook's Utensils

This activity covers gathering food and water from the surrounding wilderness. It uses the same foraging rules as those described in the Dungeon Master's Guide, but expands it to allow for more than just Wisdom (Survival) checks.

A foraging character makes an appropriate check as the party travels at a normal or slow pace, with the DC determined by the abundance of food and water in the region.

Gathering Information

• Example Skills: History, Nature
• Example Tools: Cartographer's Tools, Herbalism Kit

This activity covers research and examination of the region the party is traveling in as a way to acquire detailed information about its inhabitants, its historical or religious importance, or any notable locations of interest within it.

A character that is gathering information makes an appropriate check twice per day: once after four hours of travel, and again after eight hours of travel. You may gate certain information behind a set DC, or you can simply scale the amount of information gathered according to the result of the check.

Information gathered from this activity might aid in the other characters' activities, perhaps even decreasing the DC of the ability checks made for them. For example, if a character that gathers information learns of a nearby religious monument, the scout of the party might have an easier time locating it. More information on the order activities are resolved in is provided in the next section.

Navigation

• Example Skills: Nature, Survival
• Example Tools: Cartographer's Tools, Navigator's Tools

This activity covers various courses of action involving the party's travel time and the path they take to get to their destination. The navigator can choose from one of the sub-activities detailed below.

If the party is moving at a slow pace, the navigator gains a +5 bonus to the check, and a fast pace imposes a -5 penalty. If the party has an accurate map of the region or can see the sun or stars, the navigator has advantage on the check.

Finding Shortcuts. In the wilderness, travel is rarely direct. Even when there isn't difficult terrain, travelers are bound to encounter natural barriers, winding and inefficient paths, and other obstacles that prevent them from getting to their destination as quickly as they'd like. To compensate, the navigator of the party can attempt to find shortcuts that cut down on their travel time. The navigator makes an appropriate check against a DC determined by the nature of the shortcut, as shown on the Shortcut DCs table below. On a success, the party party finds one or more shortcuts that allow them to traverse an additional 6 miles over the course of the day. In environments where travel paces are even slower than that of difficult terrain, shortcuts instead amount to two hours worth of extra traveling.

Activities

Activities are resolved in chronological order as the day goes on. If an activity lets a character make multiple checks depending on the circumstances, they will generally be resolved over the course of the day as they come up. If an activity only has a character make one check, have them roll it earlier in the day, but try to have the results of that activity play out over the entire day.

At your discretion, you can allow the results of an activity to influence the check DCs of any of the others. For example, if a character that Gathers Information learns about a historical monument in the region, it might be easier for another character that is Scouting to discover it. When adjusting the DC of a check in this manner, you should do so in increments of 2 in minor cases, and in increments of 5 in major ones.

Changing Activities

As circumstances change, a character may wish to swap from one activity to another. For instance, a character that is foraging may wish to start tracking instead once they discover abnormally large footprints that could lead to a monster lair. How to handle this shift depends on what activities are being switched between and how often checks for them are called for.

Activities like Noticing Threats and Tracking can be switched between seemlessly without any additional rulings, as checks for them are made throughout the day whenever the DM calls for them. However, switching to activities like Foraging and Gathering Information that only have checks once or twice requires more care, and should generally only be allowed halfway through the day.

Events and Activities

Whenever an event occurs while traveling, consider tying that event to one of the characters' activities. For example, if a scouting character rolls high on their check, allow them to be the one to discover the monster lair or dungeon you already had planned. By delivering events through the characters' activities, you are rewarding them for using their agency to make certain choices and putting effort into succeeding at them.

Describing the Wilds

In the same way that a map and an encounter key describe a dungeon, the wilderness can be summarized with a hex map and a collection of interesting features.

Wilderness Features Expanded

This section elaborates on the official guidelines for what can be found on a typical wilderness map (DMG 108).

Normal Biomes

Supernatural Biomes

Finally, an evil lich might have an army of zombies spread across an entire 200 mile region, directing its forces according to the council of its undead generals (who are effectively apex predators within their own 50-mile sub-regions).

Types

The following entries describe the different types of strongholds listed in the DMG in greater detail.

Abbey. An abbey is a monastery ran by religious monks or priests. Unlike a smaller church, an abbey is often a self enclosed living community, complete with spaces for housing, dining, and worship. While a single church may be dedicated to a single deity for townsfolk to pay their respects to, the members of an abbey might worship an entire pantheon or way of life for them to adhere to the teachings of. Adventurers may go to an abbey in search of divine spellcasting services or for specialized guidance relating to the abbey's religious focus. In times of need, civilians may gather at an abbey to be healed from a plague or for divine protection from external threats.

Castle. A castle is a fortified structure typically used as a residence for important nobles or political leaders. In contrast, palaces are not fortified against external attack, and fortresses do not always house nobility or royalty within their walls. Castles are often protected with thick stone walls, moats of water, siege weaponry, and other defenses to ensure the safety of the inhabitants inside. Adventurers may go to a castle to speak to the head noble or monarch of the surrounding region for one reason or another. In times of need, castles serve their purpose by protecting its leader and as many of their loyal subjects as possible, and typically have enough food and fortifications to survive a blockade or siege for weeks at a time.

Guildhall. A guildhall is used as a public facing base for any sort of guild or organization, such as a craftsman guild, a trade union, a circle of mages, or a political faction. Larger guildhalls found in towns and cities may provide free lodging for guild members, and often are a focal point of commerce or travel within a given region. Adventurers may go to a guildhall in search of quests or jobs to take or for assistance or resources from the upper levels of the guild as appropriate. In times of need, combat-capable guilds might take in and protect a limited population of civilians from external threats.

Manor. A manor is a feudal unit of land where a noble and peasants live and work. To simplify, the lord of the manor is supported economically by serfs and peasants who work the land in exchange for housing and protection. While not fortified like a castle or keep are, a manor is typically defended by knights and other warriors hired by the noble to protect their land and the peasants within it. While typically untouched by traffic moving in and out of the area, a manor is often the site of political or economic dealings between nobles. Adventurers may go to a manor to speak to the head noble for one reason or another. In times of need, knights will defend the land and any civilians within it from outside attackers, but the needs of the head noble always come first.

Outpost. An outpost or fort is a military detachment of soldiers stationed some distance away from the main civilization or military force. They are often used to protect remote towns and other areas of civilization, but they can also be used as footholds for invasion into or as a deterrent against hostile or untamed territorities and factions. Adventurers may go to an outpost or fort to ally with its members against some threat, or they may attack it due to some conflict they have with the faction it represents. In times of need, an outpost or fort can protect nearby civilians from military invasion from a hostile faction, but such civilians are typically housed in a different stronghold nearby, and not the military encampment itself.

Palace. A palace is a grand residence for some form of royalty or aristocracy. Unlike a castle, a palace is not typically fortified against external threats, although it may still be stationed with soldiers to protect the valued residents within it. A palace is typically the focal point of a kingdom, often with a large city surrounding it, and is a popular site for travelers and traders to visit. Adventurers may go to a palace to speak to the head of the palace or its cabinet for one reason or another. In times of need, the soldiers within a palace will defend its leader to the best of its ability, although again note that a palace is not physically fortified against external attack.

Destroying a Stronghold

Note that many strongholds are made using stone walls and structures. Each 10-foot-by-10-foot section of stone has AC 15 and 300 hit points per foot of thickness, and can be upwards of 12 feet thick for the most secure strongholds. It is immune to poison and psychic damage. Reducing a section of stone to 0 hit points destroys it and might cause connected sections to buckle and collapse at the DM's discretion.

Clear Goals

The party should have some sort of clear goal in mind - both in the game and outside of it. That is, the players should establish their expectations and desires for the specific gameplay mechanics they like or dislike, the tone of the story and how involved that story is, and the overall type of game they want to play in. Once this is established during Session Zero, it becomes possible to weave an exciting game of exploration that the players will enjoy, even when the characters in-game might not know what they are in for.

Informed Choices

Simply put, the game is more fun for the players when they have some information to work with. For example, presenting the party with the choice of "do you take the left or right path" is meaningless if they have no idea what either path leads to. However, if the party knows that one path leads through the snowy mountains and the other through the dark forest, this same choice becomes much more important for the party to make.

In general, having proper information gives the party at least some control over the consequences of their choices, making it more satisfying when such choices lead to success. When exploring, the activities that the party can do while traveling can and should grant them some sort of information about the area surrounding them, which in turn allows them to decide which activities they should do next. This gameplay loop defines the core of the exploration pillar, which is defined by discovery and finding new things.

Failing Forward

Suppose the party attempts to do something but fails. You could rule that nothing happens and require the party to do it again. But what's the point in that? Doesn't this just serve to waste the party's time? Failure shouldn't interrupt progression, and instead should be a catalyst for it. This is the essence of failing forward.

For example, suppose the party is lost in a forest, and keeps failing their rolls to regain their bearings. Instead of having them wander endlessly until they get back on track, allow them to stumble upon a hidden location or path that they otherwise would not have found. This hidden location or path can then lead to plenty of fun adventures, without the immersion of being lost ever breaking.

Kingdom of Shadows

The City of Shadows was once the capital of a prosperous kingdom whose commerce was centered around a stable portal to the Shadowfell. But one day, a shadow dragon emerged from the portal with an army of undead and reduced the city to rubble. Now, the city and the kingdom that once surrounded it have been overrun by the forces of darkness.

City of Shadows

Once a bustling interplanar trade settlement of 24,000 people, this city was all but eviscerated by the dragon's onslaught. From the rubble, the dragon's undead army rebuilt parts of the city to serve as crude fortifications against invading enemies. Some trade halls still stand and are used by intelligent undead to do business with travelers from the Shadowfell, but they are largely unused as trade through the Shadowfell portal has stagnated recently. Otherwise, the most important locations in the city are the shrine to Bahamut, the crypts, and the capital.

Unable to defile the shrine to Bahamut during its initial onslaught, the dragon ordered its minions to build walls around its grounds and stationed elite soldiers to starve out the priests and survivors that sought shelter there. In the present time, only one survivor remains: a single archdruid, whose timeless body allows them to tend to the shrine's garden's until adventurers powerful enough to defeat the dragon come to their aid.

The crypts are where the dragon's reserve army lay dormant, waiting to be brought to unlife by their dark master or some other animating force when the time comes. In the crypts might lie powerful undead animated by the magic of the Shadowfell, unclaimed treasures and riches, the base of a minor faction of intelligent undead, or even a secret cave system that can be entered from outside the city's walls.

The capital is a ruined, partially flooded castle that houses the Shadowfell portal and the lair of the dragon itself. Guarded by powerful undead brutes that roam its outer walls, the capital holds a large treasure hoard within its vault, which has been buried below the waterline for safety reasons. The dragon's unliving quarters are exposed to the sky and have various perches that allow it to gain a wide view of the entire city and region.

Temple of Bahamut

The temple of Bahamut is the last bastion of civilization in the Kingdom of Shadows. Tucked away within some wooded hills, this shoddy temple houses roughly 100 commoners, 10 acolyte workers, and 10 head priests that perform managerial and administrative tasks, all hidden and protected from undead by the magical shrine in its center. Spellcasting services for spells of 3rd level or lower can be offered here, possibly at a 25% discount if such spells would directly aid in the fight against the dragon, although the priests prefer exchanges that use food and other trade goods rather than direct gold.

Consider leading your players here soon after they have been introduced to the region. Perhaps they stumble upon it randomly, or maybe a religious member of the party receives visions of this place from their deity. The ranks of the temple will be more than willing to share information about the kingdom's history and the shrines to Bahamut to interested adventurers, and the temple itself is generally meant to serve as a base of operations for the players to regroup and perform downtime activities.

Kingdom of Shadows Summary

 Navigation. DC 15. If the characters are off the few dirt roads or paths that wind through this area, they will encounter difficult terrain caused by swamps more often than not. Shortcuts generally take the form of secluded paths that are obscured by fog or fallen trees, but the characters might also find tunnels and tree clearings that cut through the forest and allow for easier travel.

Foraging. DC 20. Living animals are sparse here, and plants that do grow yield barely any edible products. Water is abundant, but necromantic spoilage and natural detritus makes the vast majority of it unpotable.

Weather. Due to rolling fog and somewhat dense trees, visibility may be limited to 90 feet in normal conditions and 30 feet in severe ones. Otherwise, this region only usually experiences light rain from time to time.

Special Rules. See the Regional Effects section below.

Kingdom of Shadows Tactical Terrain

Ambient Mood

The hills are steep and sharp, with jagged escarpments forming sprawling, hilly plateaus. Small groves dot the area, as do the occasional burial mound, watchtowers from ancient Saruun Khel, and other old ruins. The features of the Moon Hills include the following:

• Play up the hills and the jagged cliff faces, making travel through this area feel like navigating a maze. Straight and easy paths are rare here.
• Random boulders are common in the area, placed by the influence of elemental earth and looking as though they were dropped from the sky. Wind and rain erode the soil to reveal other strange rock formations that develop as elemental earth energy seeps into the landscape.
• The area's key hook is the presence of many crossings to the Feywild and the Shadowfell. The minotaurs of Saruun Khel traveled to both those planes and the Plane of Earth to trade. The distorted topography of the Moon Hills is due in part to the influence of earth magic, and areas near planar crossings exhibit otherworldly traits. This doesn't always imply the presence of monsters, but it can leave travelers feeling unsettled.
• Plenty of farms and manor houses are found in the area, owing to its proximity to Fallcrest. Trails, old fences of wood or stone, property markers, and so on are common sights, especially near the roads and the river.
• Several druids are active in the area, drawn by the ambient planar energy and its effects on the land. Though rocky, the soil of the Moon Hills is bountiful, in part because of the links to the Feywild and the Plane of Earth. Though in some areas, the influence of the Shadowfell renders the land gray and dull.
• The maze-like nature of this land promises lots of hidden areas and sudden discoveries. When bandits are active here, they thrive on ambush.
• The variety of terrain and features makes travel in the Moon Hills challenging. Any experienced traveler can attempt to navigate this place, but the lack of clear sight lines and the difficulty of long-distance navigation can make things daunting for the inexperienced.

Settlements

An attack on any of the farms or manors in the Moon Hills draws the notice of travelers or locals within a day or two. While the area has its secrets, the countryside is civilized overall.

Moon Hills Summary

 Navigation. DC 15. The steep hills and the winding paths between them can be confusing, but the sparse vegetation of the hills allows clear views of the sky. If the characters are off the roads or paths that wind through this area, they will encounter difficult terrain more often than not. Shortcuts generally take the form of secluded paths that bypass the worst of the hills, but the characters might also find canyons, tunnels, and ravines that cut through the earth and allow for easier travel.

Foraging. DC 10. Water and light game are plentiful here.

Weather. Normally weak winds often turn the valleys and canyons of this region into wind tunnels. Additionally, influence from the Plane of Earth creates small ground tremors on a regular basis, with larger earthquakes that cause minor property damage into unfortified buildings occurring once per year or so. Otherwise, this region has a moderate climate and no abnormal weather events.

Special Rules. If the characters take a long rest here, roll on the planar confluence table.

Discoveries

To determine whether or not a scouting character can find a specific location, use the DCs on the table below.

Planar Confluence

Parties that rest in the Moon Hills risk exposure to planar magic. Whenever the characters complete a night's rest or long rest here, there is a 20% chance of one of the following effects occurring.

Terrain

The Moon Hills are an ideal spot for ambush, as the steep slopes favor a well-planned attack. Bandits and intelligent monsters prefer to open an assault with missile fire from atop a hill. Their targets can either trudge upslope, enduring attacks along the way, or flee along the gullies between the hills. But with the gullies providing a predictable path, smart attackers have more ambushers in place just around the corner. Devious foes might even send a group to cut off retreat back in the ambushed travelers' original direction.

Ambient Mood

Even relative to the rest of the Abyss, Zaedum is a confusing and disorienting place with alien geometry and landscapes. As described in the Exploration section, this place has subjective gravity and a landscape that constantly shifts in position and angle. As such, when designing adventures in Zaedum, consider the following:

• Mountains can be upside down, dense forests can hover in the sky, and settlements are built with no particular direction of gravity in mind. While there is a bright purple sky that can be seen as "up", there is still no standard direction of gravity for the characters to rely on.
• The ecosystem is dominated by large, vibrantly colored trees, mushrooms, and other forms of megafauna that easily tower over most denizens of the layer. Otherwise, it is characterized by the typical filth and corruption that characterizes the rest of the Abyss.
• The landscape slowly shifts positions over time, causing landmarks to move to new locations and for terrain features to disappear or newly emerge. Every so often, a character might notice a distant hill shrink out of the corner of their eyes, or maybe a few trees will swap locations the moment they look away to take a drink of water.
• When describing Zaedum, emphasize the following emotions that the characters might feel: disorienting, unsafe, vulnerable, anxious, impatience, short-tempered.

Inhabitants

A variety of fey and demons reside here, and they all seek new ways to gain power over those they see as inferior. Here are a few notable groups of inhabitants in the layer:

Hag Coven. A coven of abnormally powerful green hags and their underlings have control over a few key settlements and wayshrines (see below) throughout the layer, and are highly feared and envied for their expertise in mind control and other enchantment magic.

Infernal Batallion. Having been abandoned here to die long ago, a single pit fiend and its batallion of devils occupy a small fortification along the coast of the River Styx. These devils have an amicable relationship with the local fey, but only to the extent that the fey are given equipment and training to help them fight against the demons.

 Seeds of Zuggtmoy. A fungal-bodied marilith leads an army of demons throughout the layer, destroying anything and everything they encounter along the way. This marilith serves the will of Zuggtmoy by spreading spores and fungi along their path, with the hopes that Zaedum will one day be fungal enough for the Demon Queen of Fungi to invade and take over.

Wayshrines

Hidden throughout Zaedum are an unknown number of wayshrines, special monuments that allow users to teleport to other wayshrines throughout the layer. These wayshrines are permanent teleportation circles as detailed in the spell's description, but creatures at the shrine can activate it without casting the spell if they feed it the soul of one celestial or devil of CR 5 or higher. Such souls can sometimes be stolen from living celestials or devils in the layer, but it is far more reliable to find a pre-trapped soul in a dungeon or acquire them from a powerful creature (such as a hag) that already owns it. Upon activation, creatures can use the wayshrine to send themselves to a different wayshrine of their choice that they know the sigil sequence of.

As an optional rule, when activating a wayshrine, there is a 25% chance that the users are teleported to a random wayshrine of the DM's choice, rather than the intended destination.

Wayshrines are generally concealed by the shifting landscape of the layer, but act as "anchors" that are fixed in position relative to every other wayshrine. As such, information surrounding their whereabouts or sigil sequences is highly coveted by all creatures in Zaedum. It also may be possible to create a diagram showing where each wayshrine is located for teleportation purposes, although the shifting landscape still makes it impossible for such a diagram to act as a map that aids in foot travel.

Settlements

Despite the constant death and destruction here, Zaedum is home to a number of settlements. Here are a few examples:

City of Grune. The relatively calm city of Grune exists in a big forest clearing where travelers can come to rest, restock their supplies, and do business with interplanar merchants. Keeping the peace is a coven of powerful green hags, who oversee the city's operations and strike down anyone that threatens the integrity of their settlement. However, adventurers and other notable creatures that attempt to leave are compelled by powerful magic to stay in the town forever, and must figure out how to lift this curse before they are permanently enthralled by the hags to serve as footsoldiers or livestock.

Town of Ptok. An offshoot of the River Styx flows through this town and allows access to the rest of the Abyss and Lower Planes, although the subjective gravity causes the river to flow through the air in strange and alien ways. In this settlement, fey and humanoids alike seem to defy all logic and sustain themselves by constantly drinking water from the Styx, causing them to be empty shells that only carry out their meager lives through pure instinct. Why these citizens are compelled to constantly drink Styx water, and why they are still able to maintain a semblance of a normal settlement, is a mystery for the adventurers to solve.

Zaedum Summary

 Navigation. DC 15. The megafauna and warped terrain of the area has a negative impact on visibility, but the use of subjective gravity to "fly" makes it easier to see into the distance from a good vantage point. However, the Shifting Landscape effect causes the party to always be lost and unable to regain their bearings while traveling here. Shortcuts here generally take the form of cavernous openings or tree clearings that are secluded, were unnoticed due to the subjective nature of directions and gravity here, just revealed by the constantly shifting landscape, or newly formed or created by the chaotic magic of the Abyss and Feywild.

Foraging. DC 20. There are very few beasts here, and the plants tend to be inedible or toxic to consume. There is plenty of water here, but most of it isn't drinkable due to the taint of demonic corruption.

Weather. Moderate rain and wind periodically pass through parts of the region, although the subjective gravity here means that this weather might not always come from the traditional directions they would be expected to come from. Otherwise, this region has a slightly warmer than average climate and no abnormal weather events.

Special Rules. Divination spells cast in or into the region have a 50% chance of revealing false or misleading information. For example, the location of a creature or area revealed by a mind spike or find the path spell might be off by up to 12 miles, while a scrying spell might sense a creature disguised as the target or an illusion of a location similar to the one desired.

Additionally, the entire layer is under the influence of the Shifting Landscape (as described above, and on page 9) and Abnormal Gravity (subjective gravity, on page 8) regional effects. As an additional option, you can also use the Planar Effects (DMG 50) for Abyssal Corruption, Feywild Magic, or both.

Terrain

To help convey a sense of disorientation and verticality to your players, it is encouraged to have monsters attack the players from unexpected angles and positions that wouldn't make sense in a region with normal gravity. As such, you may wish to spend a bit more time preparing your encounters here compared to normal.

Due to the complex, chaotic, and three dimensional nature of Zaedum, no single tactical terrain table would be adequate for this section, nor would any list of examples. When designing encounters here, try to add at least one unique terrain feature or twist that makes the encounter (and Zaedum as a whole) a memorable experience.