Extended movement in D&D (redux)
Here's my revisions, given the great advice by kearsley and nottheterritory:
First, the difficulty numbers for the endurance checks need to change with the amount of time moved... it just needs to change based on whether you're doing normal movement, double-movement or double-move-running. Past each of the intervals, an Endurance check would be made, thus allowing the party to stop moving at 10 hours and not be "tired". On failed Endurance checks, people would progress from being normal to exhausted to faint and, finally, to collapsed. Without further ado,
Hours of Hours of Hours of
Normal Movement Double Movement 2xRunning Endurance DC
10 2 1 15
12 4 2 17
14 6 3 19
16 8 4 21
18 10 5 23
20 12 6 25
22 14 7 27
24 16 8 29
26 18 9 31
28 20 10 33
30 22 11 35
I had to jerry-rig the double-movement and running hours since otherwise people wouldn't get tired double-moving a marathon (which, on average, is completed in 4.5 hours). Here, they'd have to complete 2 Endurance checks to do that, meaning that if you had a poor endurance you'd be really slow coming across the finish line. These new DCs address nottheterritory's concern that epic heroes shouldn't get exhausted as easily as your 1st level schmuck, but it's still hard for them to go for days and days at a time. A possible option is that if you beat your DC by 5 or more, you could move up a condition (i.e. from tired to normal or exhausted to tired).
The conditions need to be updated though, so here's my take on kearsley's ideas.
Conditions Effect
Tired You take a -2 to initiative.
You can no longer run.
Exhausted You are tired.
Your healing surge value drops by your level.
You are slowed.
Faint You're exhausted.
You cannot take immediate actions or
opportunity actions.
You need twice as long to receive an
extended rest after which you will no
longer be faint.
Collapsed You are prone and faint.
You can only crawl.
After an extended rest, you will no longer
have collapsed, but will still be faint.
Example: In order to go 30 miles, Vincent decides to double run so he can get the message to the duke really quickly. After 1 hour (and 8 miles), he fails his Endurance check and is now tired. He only double moves for the next 2 hours (another 12 miles bringing his total distance up to 20 miles). He fails this check as well, since he just got a massive cramp. Vincent is now exhausted so his movement is now 2, so he goes another 2 hours of slow walking to get only 4 miles farther (total time: 5 hours, total distance: 24 miles). If he fails this roll as well, he's faint, but resolute, so he walks another 2 hours, getting 2 miles from his goal. He fails his next check as well (really bad dice day), collapsing and crawling towards his goal. Since there is no worse condition here than collapsed, Vincent crawls for 4 hours and makes it to the duke in 11 hours (which is 1 hour LATER than he would have made it if he'd walked the entire way).
He could have paced himself at a double move (not run) and gone 12 miles in 2 hours, failed a check, gone another 12 miles in 2 hours, failed a check, 2 hours for 4 miles, failed a check, then finished his journey in one more hour (total of 7 hours).
Of course, if Vincent was lucky with his dice, he would run the entire way, making the 30 miles disappear in 3 hours 45 minutes and even fight a battle at his destination.
I hope these sound more fair. Feel free to comment. nottheterritory, I know it doesn't make it much less complicated, but tables are easier to look at than a formula, so I hope that's a little more morning-friendy, only-on-one-coffee-friendly than kearsley's earlier description.
First, the difficulty numbers for the endurance checks need to change with the amount of time moved... it just needs to change based on whether you're doing normal movement, double-movement or double-move-running. Past each of the intervals, an Endurance check would be made, thus allowing the party to stop moving at 10 hours and not be "tired". On failed Endurance checks, people would progress from being normal to exhausted to faint and, finally, to collapsed. Without further ado,
Hours of Hours of Hours of
Normal Movement Double Movement 2xRunning Endurance DC
10 2 1 15
12 4 2 17
14 6 3 19
16 8 4 21
18 10 5 23
20 12 6 25
22 14 7 27
24 16 8 29
26 18 9 31
28 20 10 33
30 22 11 35
I had to jerry-rig the double-movement and running hours since otherwise people wouldn't get tired double-moving a marathon (which, on average, is completed in 4.5 hours). Here, they'd have to complete 2 Endurance checks to do that, meaning that if you had a poor endurance you'd be really slow coming across the finish line. These new DCs address nottheterritory's concern that epic heroes shouldn't get exhausted as easily as your 1st level schmuck, but it's still hard for them to go for days and days at a time. A possible option is that if you beat your DC by 5 or more, you could move up a condition (i.e. from tired to normal or exhausted to tired).
The conditions need to be updated though, so here's my take on kearsley's ideas.
Conditions Effect
Tired You take a -2 to initiative.
You can no longer run.
Exhausted You are tired.
Your healing surge value drops by your level.
You are slowed.
Faint You're exhausted.
You cannot take immediate actions or
opportunity actions.
You need twice as long to receive an
extended rest after which you will no
longer be faint.
Collapsed You are prone and faint.
You can only crawl.
After an extended rest, you will no longer
have collapsed, but will still be faint.
Example: In order to go 30 miles, Vincent decides to double run so he can get the message to the duke really quickly. After 1 hour (and 8 miles), he fails his Endurance check and is now tired. He only double moves for the next 2 hours (another 12 miles bringing his total distance up to 20 miles). He fails this check as well, since he just got a massive cramp. Vincent is now exhausted so his movement is now 2, so he goes another 2 hours of slow walking to get only 4 miles farther (total time: 5 hours, total distance: 24 miles). If he fails this roll as well, he's faint, but resolute, so he walks another 2 hours, getting 2 miles from his goal. He fails his next check as well (really bad dice day), collapsing and crawling towards his goal. Since there is no worse condition here than collapsed, Vincent crawls for 4 hours and makes it to the duke in 11 hours (which is 1 hour LATER than he would have made it if he'd walked the entire way).
He could have paced himself at a double move (not run) and gone 12 miles in 2 hours, failed a check, gone another 12 miles in 2 hours, failed a check, 2 hours for 4 miles, failed a check, then finished his journey in one more hour (total of 7 hours).
Of course, if Vincent was lucky with his dice, he would run the entire way, making the 30 miles disappear in 3 hours 45 minutes and even fight a battle at his destination.
I hope these sound more fair. Feel free to comment. nottheterritory, I know it doesn't make it much less complicated, but tables are easier to look at than a formula, so I hope that's a little more morning-friendy, only-on-one-coffee-friendly than kearsley's earlier description.