Movement and Positioning

intro bullshit?

Tactical Movement

Where you can move, how long it takes you to get there, and whether you’re vulnerable to reaction attacks while you’re moving are key questions in combat.

Movement Speed

Your speed is determined by your race and your Encumbrance. Your speed while unarmored is your base land speed.

Encumbrance: A character encumbered by carrying a large amount of gear, treasure, or fallen comrades may move slower than normal.

Hampered Movement: Difficult terrain, obstacles, or poor visibility can hamper movement.

Movement in Combat: Generally, you can move your speed in a round and still do something, such as swing an axe or cast a spell. If you do nothing but move (that is, if you use both of your actions in a round to move your speed), you can move double your speed. If you spend the entire round running, you can move quadruple your speed. If you do something that requires a full round, you can't move at all.

Bonuses to Speed: Some class features, feats, and spells can boost a character's base speed. Always apply any modifiers to a character’s speed before adjusting the character’s speed based on armor or encumbrance.

Measuring Distance

Diagonals: When measuring distance, each diagonal move counts as 1.5 squares (round down). You can’t move diagonally past a corner (even by taking a 5-foot step). You can move diagonally past a creature, even an opponent. You can also move diagonally past other impassable obstacles, such as pits.

Closest Creature: When it’s important to determine the closest square or creature to a location, if two squares or creatures are equally close, randomly determine which one counts as closest by rolling a die.

Moving Through Occupied Squares

Friend: You can move through a square occupied by a friendly character, unless you are charging. When you move through a square occupied by a friendly character, that character doesn’t provide you with cover (see ???).

Opponent: You can’t move through a square occupied by an opponent, unless the opponent is helpless (dead, unconscious, paralyzed, bound, or the like). You can move through a square occupied by a helpless opponent without penalty. (The GM may rule that some creatures, such as an enormous dragon, present an obstacle even when helpless. In such cases, each square you move through counts as 2 squares.)

Ending Your Movement: You can’t end your movement in the same square as another creature unless it is helpless.

Bull Rush: During your movement, but not a charge, you can attempt to move through a square occupied by an opponent (a Bull Rush).

Tumbling: A trained character can attempt to tumble through a square occupied by an opponent (see the Tumble skill, ???).

Very Small Creatures: A Fine, Diminutive, or Tiny creature can move into or through an occupied square. The creature provokes reaction attacks when doing so.

Very Large Creatures: Any creature can move through a square occupied by a creature three size categories larger than it is. A child (Small), for example,
can run between the legs of an elephant (Huge). A big creature can move through a square occupied by a creature three size categories smaller than it is. An elephant, for example, can step over a child.

Designated Exceptions: Some creatures break the above rules. Any creature that completely fills the squares it occupies cannot be moved past, even with the Acrobatics skill or similar special abilities.

Terrain and Obstacles

The rules presented so far in this section assume that you’re moving through an area clear of obstacles or difficult terrain. However, in dungeons and wilderness areas, that’s often not the case.

Difficult Terrain: Difficult terrain, such as rubble, an uneven cave floor, thick undergrowth, and the like, hampers movement. Each square of difficult terrain counts as 2 squares of movement. Each diagonal move into a difficult terrain square counts as 3 squares. You can’t run or charge across difficult terrain.

Large and small creatures may be impacted differently by difficult terrain; for example, a child could slip through dense brambles, and a giant could walk on dense rubble like it was gravel.

Obstacles: Like difficult terrain, obstacles can hamper movement. If an obstacle hampers movement but doesn’t completely block it, such as a low wall or a deadfall of branches, each obstructed square or obstacle between squares counts as 2 squares of movement. You must pay this cost to cross the barrier, in addition to the cost to move into the square on the other side. If you don’t have sufficient movement to cross the barrier and move into the square on the other side, you can’t cross the barrier. Some obstacles may also require a skill check to cross (such as Climb of Jump).

On the other hand, some obstacles, such as floor-to-ceiling walls, block movement entirely. A character can’t move through a blocking obstacle.

Squeezing: In some cases, you may have to squeeze into or through an area that isn’t as wide as the space you take up. (This is particularly true for creatures whose space fills more than one square, such as a giant.) You can squeeze through or into a space that is at least half as wide as your normal space. For instance, an ogre (whose space is 10 feet, or 2 squares, wide) can squeeze through or into a space at least 5 feet (1 square) wide. Each move into or through a narrow space counts as if it were 2 squares, and while squeezed in a narrow space you take a –4 penalty on attack rolls and a –4 penalty to AC.

When a Large creature (which normally takes up four squares) squeezes into a space that’s one square wide, the creature’s miniature figure occupies two squares, centered on the line between the two squares. For a bigger creature, center the creature likewise in the area it squeezes into. A creature can squeeze past an opponent while moving but it can’t end its movement in an occupied square.

To squeeze through or into a space less than half your space’s width, you must use the Escape Artist skill (page ???). You can’t attack while using Escape Artist to squeeze through or into a narrow space, you are off-guard.

Big and Little Creatures in Combat

Creatures smaller than Small or larger than Medium have special rules relating to position.

Size	Example	Space	Reach
Fine	Fly	.5 ft	0 ft
Diminutive	Mouse	1 ft	0 ft
Tiny	Cat	2.5 ft	0 ft
Small	Child	5 ft	5 ft
Medium	Human	5ft	5 ft
Large	Troll	10 ft	10 ft
Huge	Giant	15 ft	15 ft
Gargantuan	Baleen Whale	20 ft	20 ft
Colossal	Ancient Dragon	30 ft or more	20 ft or more

Tiny, Diminutive, and Fine Creatures: Very small creatures take up less than 1 square of space. This means that more than one such creature can fit into a single square. For example, a Tiny creature (such as a cat) typically occupies a space only 2-1/2 feet across, so four can fit into a single square. Twenty-five Diminutive creatures or 100 Fine creatures can fit into a single square.

Creatures that take up less than 1 square of space typically have a natural reach of 0 feet, meaning they can’t reach into adjacent squares. They must enter an opponent’s square to attack in melee. This provokes a reaction attack from the opponent. You can attack into your own square if you need to, so you can attack such creatures normally. Since they have no natural reach, they do not threaten the squares around them. You can move past them without provoking reaction attacks. 

Large, Huge, Gargantuan, and Colossal Creatures: Very large creatures take up more than 1 square. For instance, an ogre (Large) takes up a space 10 feet on a side (2 squares wide).

Creatures that take up more than 1 square typically have a natural reach of 10 feet or more, meaning that they can reach targets even if they aren’t in adjacent squares. For instance, an ogre can attack targets up to 10 feet (2 squares) away from it in any direction, even diagonally. (This is an exception to the rule that 2 squares of diagonal distance is measured as 15 feet.)

Unlike when someone uses a reach weapon, a creature with greater than normal natural reach (more than 5 feet) still threatens squares adjacent to it. A creature with greater than normal natural reach usually gets a reaction attack against you if you approach it, because you must enter and move within the range of its reach before you can attack it. (This reaction attack is not provoked if you take a 5-foot step.)

Large or larger creatures using reach weapons can strike up to double their natural reach but can’t strike at their natural reach or less. For example, an ogre with a Large longspear could strike with the longspear at opponents 15 or 20 feet away, but not at those 5 or 10 feet away.