Travel and Exploration
Travelling Overview
Hexes and Overland Movement
Overland maps are constructed of hex grid overlaying a map of the area. Hexes generally cover a two-league area, and each hex is considered to have a single "primary terrain" that governs the speed at which the party travels through it. Some hexes may include obstacles other than the primary terrain type, such as rivers or chasm, that will affect the speed of travel as appropriate.
Party Speed / Travel Time
The speed of the slowest party member dictates the distance the party can travel in a day. Generally speaking, most humanoids can cover a distance of eight leagues in a standard marching day - speed 5 or 6 creatures both move at this same overland rate. A typical day of traveling assumes eight hours of marching, broken up by several short breaks and a midday meal, with a small amount of wiggle room for minor obstacles, and occupies ten hours of the day from start to finish.
It is possible, but tiring, to travel for longer - or faster - than this ten-hour schedule. Generally, a party wishing to do so foregoes the little breaks during the day, allowing for an additional two hours of travel without altering the actual schedule. When necessary, however, the party may travel additional hours as desired, cutting into either time to find and prepare a campsite or sleep hours.
Each additional hour of travel beyond eight requires a moderate Endurance check from each party member; failure results in either the loss of a healing surge or an inability to travel the desired distance, at the player's discretion. Each additional hour after the first increases the DC of the Endurance check by +2. Healing surges lost to this check are not recovered during a normal extended rest - they can only be recovered through time spent actively recouperating. A character regains two healing surges lost this way per day spent with no more than light activity.