Basic Hexcrawl Player Procedure

• Determine if the Party is taking a Preparation Watch or a Travel Watch.
  In a full day’s travel there are 6 watches, typically:
  1-2 Preparation Watches, 2 Travel Watches, and 2 Rest Watches.
• Determine the expedition’s navigator, and other player’s watch actions.
• The Navigator decides the intended direction of travel and the travel pace: Normal, Slow, Exploratory or Fast.

WATCH ACTION ORDER: If it is a travel watch resolve them in the following Order:

• Sighting (Preparation Watch)
• Pack Puller (Preparation Watch: Grazing) or (Travel Watch: Coaching)
• Forager (Preparation Watch or a Slow Pace Travel Watch)
• Tracker (Preparation Watch: Find Tracks) or (Travel Watch: Follow Tracks)
• Outrider (Travel Watch)
• Scout (Preparation or Travel Watch: Reporting)
• Scout (Preparation or Travel Watch: Pathfinding)
• Cartographer (Travel Watch: Read Map)
• Navigator (Travel Watch)
• Sentinel (Preparation, Travel or Rest Watch).
• Cartographer (Travel Watch: Draw Map)

(Sentinel & Initial Exploratory Encounters are triggered at a set time, provided the encounter is not already discovered by an outrider or similar).

NAVIGATOR *Essential*
The expedition’s navigator is responsible for making navigation checks (A Wisdom (Survival) check to determine if the party becomes lost).
When traveling by Sea/Air the Navigator can roll with Adv if they are proficient with Navigator's Tools, and Veer automatically resets when entering a new Hex.

SIGHTING
During a Preparation watch, a character can take a watch action to find an outlook – a good sighting place (Typically 50ft up) which will allow the character to significantly extend the distance to which they can see the surrounding wilderness.
*See Hexcrawl Tools: Spot Distances.
At the GM’s discretion, a skill check may be required to identify or reach the outlook.
(I.e a Strength (Athletics) check to reach the top of an appropriately positioned tree.)

General Benefits: successfully reaching a sighting point allows the PC to see into neighboring hexes, and possibly even see notable locations within those hexes or their current hex. This may or may not still require a Wisdom (Perception) check at Advantage.
On a success veer is reset, and during the current or subsequent watch, they can grant one ally Forager, Scout, Outrider, or Cartographer’s advantage on their watch action check.

PACK-PULLER
A pack-puller is essential for managing an expedition's pack animals and keeping them fed.

• Coacher: A pack-puller can lead a number of animals equal to their passive Wisdom (Animal Handling) score. This number includes the pack-puller’s mount, if any.
• Grazing: Some animals (like horses) can simply graze for sustenance without any check..
  In an appropriate biome (as determined by the GM), they will be fully fed as long as they are allowed to graze for one watch per day.
  In a sparse biome, they must graze for two watches per day and it may be necessary to also provide fresh water for them. Alternatively the Pack Puller can make a foraging roll to find them food and drink.

FORAGER
Characters can forage during a preparation watch or while traveling at a slow pace.
Foragers make a Wisdom (Survival) check against the Forage DC of the terrain.
On a success, the forager either gains 2 rations of food or finds a source of freshwater. Allowing the expedition to drink their daily ration of water and for waterskins to be refilled.
An additional 2 rations of food or source of fresh water can be found for every 2 points by which the check result exceeds the DC.
A PC with the Wanderer Background Feature automatically finds enough for 5 people (provided the resources are abundant), but can also choose to roll for additional rations.
However, if resources are not abundant, then the Wanderer must still roll for foraging but the DC is decreased by 5.

VARIANT FORAGER: Herbalist/Alchemist.
If a forager is proficient in Herbalism Kit or Alchemist Supplies, they may forage for ingredients to use for Herbalism/Alchemy instead of food and water.

TRACKER
A tracker can take one of two actions depending on if it is a preparation or travel watch:

• Finding Tracks: During a Preperation Watch, the tracker can search a significant area of wilderness to find tracks by making a Wisdom (Perception) check against the appropriate Track DC.
• Following Tracks: Once tracks have been found, during a Travel Watch, the tracker can follow its trail by making a Wisdom (Survival) check against the Track DC.
  A new check must be made each time the trail enters a new hex.
  If the trail is lost, it may be possible to reacquire it using the Finding Tracks action.

OUTRIDER
During a travel watch, a character can journey out in an effort to protect the expedition from detection or threats.
Whenever an encounter is generated for the expedition, each outrider group can attempt a Wisdom (Perception) check (DC 15 or opposed by the encounter’s Stealth check) to detect the encounter before it’s encountered by the expedition.

However, an additional encounter check is also made for each outrider group at half the normal chance of an encounter. This makes it possible for outriders to discover locations or encounter creatures which would have otherwise been missed by the main expedition.

SCOUT
A scout can journey out from an expedition in an effort to chart a course or learn the lay of the land. When scouting, they can choose one of two actions:

• Reporting: If the navigator receives a scout’s report, they gain advantage on their navigation checks for the next travel watch.
• Pathfinding: The scout attempts a Wisdom (Survival) score using the area’s Navigation DC. On a success, the expedition can treat trackless terrain as if it had a faded trail for one watch (changes navigation check base to DC10).

A character can scout during a travel watch in which an expedition is traveling only if their speed is faster than the expedition’s. Alternatively, scouts can be sent out during watches in which the rest of the expedition are preparing or resting, but not traveling.

An additional encounter check is made for each scouting group. (They are effectively a separate expedition while engaged in scouting.)

CARTOGRAPHER
A Cartographer reads out & records the routes of the party’s travels, they can choose to perform one of the following two actions:

• Craft a Map: If the expedition lacks a map, you may Attempt to draw a Map of the area you Travel through with a Dexterity Check, adding proficiency bonus if proficient with Cartographer's tools. The DC is equal to the area's Navigation DC.
  You gain Bonuses to your check when travelling at a Pace other than Normal

• Slow:            +2
• Exploration:  +4
• Fast              -2

• Map Reading: Provided the expedition has a Map of the Area, a member proficient with Cartographers Tools (When on Land) can precisely read the map to assist the Navigator and grant them Advantage.
  While Map reading, Veer automatically resets to the intended location when entering a new Hex. To do so only requires a Compass, a map is not required.

SENTINEL
A member of an expedition acting as a sentinel can make active Wisdom (Perception) checks to detect threats or notice anything else out of the ordinary, instead of relying on the group's passive perception.
This can be done on any type of watch, but on rest watches it can be shortened to two hours instead of 4.
In addition, should the expedition be ambushed, the Sentinel cannot be surprised.