Exploration Trees
Athletics, Pathfinding, Survival.
3 trees5 advancements + 1 ultimate1 skill point each, 2 for the ultimate
Athletics
Climbing, Swimming, Jumping, Running
- 1
Climber 1 pt
You move vertically like others move horizontally.
Core: Climb surfaces with good handholds at half speed. Hang for several minutes before tiring. Catch yourself from minor slips.
Advantage: Full speed climbing, hanging indefinitely, automatic catch from any slip, climbing while carrying loads.
- 2
Swimmer 1 pt
Water is a medium, not an obstacle.
Core: Swim competently in calm water. Hold your breath for 1 minute of activity. Swim unarmored without difficulty.
Advantage: Full speed swimming, 3+ minute breath holds, swimming in light armor, rough water conditions.
- 3
Leaper 1 pt
You understand exactly what your body can do in the air.
Core: Jump 10 feet horizontal or 5 feet vertical from standing. Land safely from controlled jumps.
Advantage: 15 ft horizontal/8 ft vertical, doubled with running start, always landing on your feet.
- 4
Tumbler 1 pt
You know how to fall and how to fold.
Core: Reduce fall damage somewhat. Fit through gaps with effort. Escape from loose bindings.
Advantage: Ignore first 20 feet of falls, fit through head-sized gaps, escape ropes (1 min)/manacles (10 min).
- 5
Sprinter 1 pt
You can push your body past where others stop.
Core: Run faster than normal for short bursts. Travel efficiently on foot. Function on reduced sleep.
Advantage: Double speed for 1 minute, 50% farther per day, only 4 hours sleep needed.
- 6
Ultimate: Legendary Athlete 2 pts
Prerequisite: 3+ other Athletics advancements
Your physical capabilities reach the edge of human possibility.
Core: Climb sheer surfaces at half speed. Ignore first 40 feet of falls. Hold breath 10 minutes. Fit through fist-sized gaps.
Advantage: Superhuman feats, impossible climbs, surviving lethal falls, physical feats that become legend.
TOTAL: 7 points
Pathfinding
Wayfinding, Routes, Maps, Guiding
- 1
Pathfinder 1 pt
You always know where you are.
Core: Determine cardinal directions by sun, stars, moss, or terrain. Overland, retrace any path you've traveled and estimate distance traveled within 10%. When you go astray, know by nightfall where you have ended up.
Advantage: Navigating featureless terrain, finding specific locations from vague descriptions, pathfinding through magical misdirection, navigating at night.
- 2
Lay of the Land 1 pt
The country ahead is never a surprise.
Core: From high ground, know what kind of country lies a day's travel around you and whether it is settled or wild. Tell burned, flooded, or blighted ground from sound at a distance.
Advantage: Reading country through forest/fog/darkness, reading it two days out, reading it with no high ground to stand on, spotting an old road or track gone to grass.
- 3
Cross-Country 1 pt
There is always a way through.
Core: Overland, find the ford, the pass, or the way around any ordinary obstacle within 1 hour. Know before setting out how many days a journey will take, on foot or with wagons.
Advantage: A way for wagons through trackless ground, a crossing in flood/snow/storm, a way past ground others call impassable, estimating journeys through country you have never seen.
- 4
Trailblazer 1 pt
Where you have walked, others can follow.
Core: Mark an overland route as you travel it, at no cost in time. Anyone shown your marks can follow that route without you for 1 year. Up to 6 people behind you keep to it.
Advantage: Marks that outlast fire/flood/years, marking a route at a run or by night, keeping a long column or wagon train on the route, giving directions a stranger can follow for days.
- 5
Mapmaker 1 pt
What you have crossed, you can put on paper.
Core: Read any land map and plan a route by it. Draw a usable map of country you have crossed overland, an evening's work for each day of travel.
Advantage: Navigating by a land map of the country, reading crude/damaged maps, mapping country from a height or a traveler's description.
- 6
Ultimate: Lodestar 2 pts
Prerequisite: 3+ other Pathfinding advancements
Those who follow you arrive.
Core: The Mind save to navigate overland always passes, whatever the country, the weather, or the hour. Overland, know the direction and distance to any place you have stood, and to the nearest road and settlement.
Advantage: Finding a way where none is known to exist, finding a place deliberately hidden or forgotten, leading the lost out of country that will not let them leave, journeys that become legend.
TOTAL: 7 points
Survival
Foraging, Shelter, Weather, Danger
- 1
Forager 1 pt
You see food where others see weeds.
Core: Find enough food and water for yourself each day in any normal wilderness, with no save and no Stamina spent. Identify common edible, poisonous, and medicinal plants at a glance. Know if a water source is obviously contaminated.
Advantage: The Sense save to forage for others or in barren/hostile terrain, identifying rare medicinal plants.
- 2
Shelter Builder 1 pt
You make the wilderness comfortable.
Core: Build weatherproof shelter for yourself in 30 minutes using natural materials. Start a fire reliably in normal conditions. Your shelters last for weeks if undisturbed.
Advantage: Shelter for groups (up to 6), building in extreme weather, fire-starting in rain/wind/with wet wood, creating lasting structures.
- 3
Live Off the Land 1 pt
You gather as you walk.
Core: Foraging on the march costs you half the usual Stamina. Know how much forage a stretch of country holds before you search it: plenty, little, or none.
Advantage: Finding water in dry country, making short rations last, judging forage in country seen only from afar.
- 4
Weather Reader 1 pt
The sky tells you what's coming.
Core: Predict weather 12 hours in advance reliably. Identify signs of incoming storms, temperature drops, or dangerous conditions. Know when to travel and when to shelter.
Advantage: Predicting magical weather, 24+ hour forecasts, identifying unnatural weather patterns, judging how long a storm will last.
- 5
Danger Sense 1 pt
The wild warns you of threats.
Core: Sense approaching creatures within 100 feet in natural environments, their direction and whether they're predatory. Can't be surprised in wilderness you're familiar with.
Advantage: Sensing creatures at greater range (300 ft), detecting hidden/ambushing creatures, identifying specific threats, sensing danger in unfamiliar terrain.
- 6
Ultimate: Apex Survivor 2 pts
Prerequisite: 3+ other Survival advancements
You are the apex predator in any environment.
Core: Natural animals won't attack you unless cornered or magically compelled. Move through any natural terrain at full speed without leaving tracks. Extreme temperatures don't exhaust you. Above ground, always know the direction to water or shelter. The Sense save to forage always passes, whatever the country. Foraging costs you half the usual Stamina on the march and none when the party stops for it.
Advantage: Surviving supernatural environments, thriving where survival should be impossible, keeping a group alive in lethal terrain.
TOTAL: 7 points