Movement

Movement is a vital part of any combat encounter. Any creature can use one action to move up to its SPEED. A creature’s SPEED indicates the number of 5-foot increments (squares) it can move in one action (it also indicates its normal speed in miles-per-hour).

SPEED is the total of the raw dice pool of STRENGTH and AGILITY plus one relevant skill.  Movement skills include (but are not limited to) running, climbing, swimming, flying, and zero-g.

• Movement methods. For non-primary movement methods, the movement rate is halved.  For most characters, this means that walking/running is at the full rate, and climbing, swimming, zero-g, etc. are at half rate (after adding the bonus from the skill).  Some exploits may grant a full movement rate.  Some creatures (such as birds) may have a different primary movement mode, and walk/run at half speed. A skill cannot turn a movement method into a primary method; only an exploit can do that.

• Hustling. A character who moves with two actions in a turn is “hustling,” and effectively moving at twice its normal speed. Creatures with more than two actions available may not move more than twice in a turn. An Olympic sprinter typically has a SPEED of 10 or more, and is using both actions to run, resulting in movement in the range of 20 miles per hour.

• Difficult terrain. Difficult terrain (deep snow, swamp, ice, high or low gravity, etc.) halves ground movement rates. Some exploits may allow full movement rates on one or more difficult terrain types.

• Vehicles. A vehicle's SPEED is also its maximum speed in tens of miles per hour. A vehicle with a SPEED of 12 has a maximum speed of 120mph.

• Diagonal movement. If a square grid is being used, a diagonal movement counts as 5’, but creatures may not move diagonally around a corner.

• Climbing and balancing. Climbing is an AGI check. A successful check allows the climber to move at her climb speed up a vertical surface. The climber need only make one check per turn—this check applies to all climbing movement in that turn. Balancing on a narrow ledge or beam is a form of climbing. A failed check simply means that the character cannot climb the wall or object. She may attempt another check next turn. A high quality climbing kit can assist with climbing. The surface determines the difficulty of the climb.

Surface Difficulty

Cliff, rough, many handholds Challenging [13]

Brick or stone wall, few handholds Difficult [16]

Ice or smooth metal Demanding [21]

Overhand or ceiling Demanding [21]

Narrow ledge or plank Challenging [13]

Tightrope Strenuous [25]

Fighting while climbing. Fighting while hanging from a wall is difficult. A non-climber attacking a climber gains a +2d6 bonus to the attack. A climber attacking a nonclimber suffers a –2d6 penalty. If both combatants are climbing, nobody gets any bonuses or penalties.

Creatures with primary climbing modes. If a creature has climbing as a natural movement mode, it simply moves its Speed along walls and ceilings with no checks requires or combat checks imposed.

Falling. Characters who fall from a height take 1d6 damage for every 10’ fallen. (Falls of less than 10’ do not cause damage.) Any fall results in the character landing prone unless an AGI check with a difficulty value equal to the number of feet fallen is made (this represents an attempt to reduce falling damage by jumping down; see below).

Jumping. Every character and creature has a “free” Jump allowance noted on its character sheet or stat block. This is a distance that the character may make a running jump without making any check at all; it simply happens automatically (for a standing jump, simply half the values). A jump counts as one action.