Environment and World Actions
The raging storm howls and a bolt of lightning splits the ground in front of the adventurers. Souls lost to the sea manifest amid the fervor of the fishing competition for another chance at the perfect catch. The battlefield itself can be as active a participant in Turn-Based Action as the characters are, and its actions can have serious consequences for everyone involved.
Some world bonuses and penalties have an effect that activates within the initiative count. These world actions occur at the start of each round before any participants act. The Narrator determines if any participants are within the range of these effects and adjudicates the action accordingly.
World Bonuses, Penalties, and Cover
The action hardly happens in a featureless void. Craggy roads, chandeliers of suspect quality, and figures reaching out from the mists for fresh blood can all greatly shape the way you move through the world.
World benefits and world penalties are objects, obstacles, and field conditions in the immediate area. They might provide you with bonuses, or can slow you down and provide another source of danger.
Difficult Terrain
One of the most common forms of world penalties is difficult terrain. Anything from dense bramble, precarious steps, or tenacious mud can slow you down from your normal movement speed.
Every foot of movement you take within difficult terrain costs 1 extra foot. Multiple hazards that would cause difficult terrain in a space do not stack. However, additional conditions that increase the cost of movement (such as crawling while prone ) stack with difficult terrain.
Cover
A common world benefit presents cover for participants that stumble on it. Larger obstacles such as trees and stone walls can help to keep creatures out of sight and out of harm's way.
Cover provides you with protection from attacks and effects that originate on the other side of it. There are three degrees of cover: half, three-quarters, and total cover. If you are behind multiple sources of cover, you only gain the benefits from the most protective source of cover.
Half cover is provided by obstacles that block at least half of your body, such as a tree trunk or another creature. Half cover provides you with a +2 bonus to AC, Dexterity saving throws , and ability checks made to hide.
Three-quarters cover obscures three-quarters of your body, like an arrow slit or a castle wall. It provides you with a +5 bonus to AC, Dexterity saving throws , and ability checks made to hide.
Total cover keeps you completely concealed from the other side. You cannot be targeted directly by attacks, spells, or ability checks, although spells that target an area of effect and checks to search the area might still reach you.
World Actions
Environments are often dynamic spaces with moving parts other than their inhabitants. Within Turn-Based Action, the world gets its own turn to enact these moving parts in the form of a world action.
World actions have a variety of specific effects depending on the environment. A bolt of lightning might strike near a single participant. The fumes from the swamp could thicken and choke the people in it. New participants might even emerge from the landscape and jump right into the action!
After the environment uses a world action with a recharge, the Narrator rolls 1d6. On a result equal to or greater than the listed number, the environment regains its world action. Otherwise at the start of each round the Narrator repeats the roll until the environment regains the world action.
Example Environments
If a particular bonus, penalty, or action doesn't make sense for where the participants are located, the Narrator can reskin a different environment's effects or forgo using them altogether for a Turn-Based Action encounter. That said, an unexpected effect can prompt creativity, challenge, and intrigue in the game.
CAVERNOUS
- Echo. Sound travels twice as far, and any effect which causes thunder damage does 1 extra point of damage per die rolled.
- Loose Foundation. Area hazard that can cause the entire section of cave to collapse within 2 rounds of being disturbed by any explosive effect or significant impact. Participants still in the area are grappled and start to suffocate (escape DC 12).
- Stalactites. Obstacles that can be knocked down by ranged attacks that deal any damage (AC 12). The creature beneath a stalactite makes a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or takes 2d6 piercing damage.
- Stalagmites. Obstacles that each provide half cover .
FIERY
- Burning Surface. Touching an unattended object or a surface for the first time on a participant’s turn causes them to take 1d6 fire damage.
- Floating Ash. A participant that ends their turn in this area hazard makes a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or is blinded until the start of their next turn.
World Actions
- Flame Burst (Recharge 4–6). A single participant makes a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or they take 1d12 fire damage.
- Sweltering Heat. All participants make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or suffer one level of fatigue .
FORESTED
- Brush. Obstacle provides half cover while a participant is prone behind it.
- Trees (Fallen or Standing). Obstacle provides half cover .
- Fallen Leaves. Area hazard that may conceal potholes, traps, and other hazards. Participants can perceive what’s under the leaves by making a DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check.
World Actions
- Distressed Animal Cacophony (Recharge 4–6). All participants can only hear sounds within 10 feet of them (except for loud, explosive noises).
FRIGID
- Frostbitten Surface. Touching an unattended object or a surface for the first time on a participant’s turn causes them to take 1d6 cold damage. This effect is nullified if they have resistance to cold damage or the participant’s skin isn’t exposed to the surface.
- Icy Patch. When a participant starts moving in a single direction through this area hazard, movement in another direction is considered difficult terrain until the start of their next turn.
- Snow. The area is lightly obscured .
World Actions
- Cold Chill (Recharge 4–6). All participants make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or take 2d6 cold damage. This damage is reduced to 1d6 if they are wearing cold weather gear.
FURNISHED
- Chandelier. Obstacle can be swung from with a DC 12 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check, or knocked down dealing 2d6 bludgeoning damage to any creatures underneath (each makes a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw to negate the damage).
- Clutter. Area hazard that counts as difficult terrain . If a participant uses the Dash action to move through the area, they make a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone .
- Mirror. A participant using this Medium-sized object as cover can use their reaction to reflect a 1st-level spell or cantrip targeting them, turning it back onto the spellcaster by succeeding on a Dexterity check opposed by a spellcasting ability check (on a failure, the spell hits a randomly determined unoccupied square). The mirror then breaks.
- Tables. Obstacles that can be pushed over as an action to provide half cover.
HAZY
- Blanketed Ground. Area hazard that may conceal potholes, traps, and other hazards. Participants can perceive what’s under the fog by making a DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check.
- Thick Fog. The area is heavily obscured .
World Actions
- Shadow Puppet (Recharge 6). A shadow that looks identical to a random participant in the haze manifests and is hostile to everyone (initiative 20). The shadow can see through the fog clearly.
- Twisting Haze. All participants in the haze move into randomly determined unoccupied spaces within 5 feet.
ROCKY
- Boulder. Obstacle can be dislodged and made to roll with a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check, dealing 2d10 bludgeoning damage to any creatures in its way (each makes a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw to negate the damage).
- Loose Rocks. Object can be used for a thrown weapon attack (1d4 bludgeoning, range 15/30 feet).
- Uneven Footing. Area hazard that counts as difficult terrain .
World Actions
- Falling Rocks (Recharge 5–6). Participants near a treacherous cliffside make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take 2d6 bludgeoning damage.
STORMY
- Heavy Precipitation. The area counts as difficult terrain .
- Loud Winds. All participants can only hear sounds within 15 feet of them (except for loud, explosive noises).
World Actions
- Forceful Gale. A single participant makes a DC 12 Strength saving throw or they are pushed 15 feet in one direction. This movement does not provoke opportunity attacks .
- Lightning Strike (Recharge 5–6). A single participant makes a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw or they take 4d6 lightning damage. They cannot be targeted by this action again until Turn-Based Action ends.
SWAMPY
- Thick Trudge. Area hazard that counts as difficult terrain.
- Tenacious Mud. When a participant ends their turn in this area hazard, they make a DC 12 Strength saving throw or are restrained until the end of their next turn. They can use their action to break free of this effect.
World Actions
- Swamp Gas. Participants in mud make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or are poisoned until the end of their next turn.
- Leeches (Recharge 6). A swarm of insects (leeches) rises out of the swamp to attack any creature in the marsh.