Using Environments

Environments represent everything in a scene beyond the PCs and adversaries, such as the physical space, background NPCs, and natural forces.

ENVIRONMENT STAT BLOCK

Each environment's stat block presents their necessary mechanical statistics:

NAME

The unique name of the environment stat block.

TIER

The PC tier the environment is designed to challenge.

TYPE

The type of scene it most easily supports:

• Explorations wondrous locations with mysteries and marvels to discover
• Socials locations that primarily present interpersonal challenges
• Traversals dangerous locations where movement through and around the space itself is a challenge
• Events special activities or occurrences (rather than physical spaces)

DESCRIPTION

An evocative one-line summary of the environment.

IMPULSES

The manner or mode with which the environment pushs and pulls the people within them.

DIFFICULTY

The standard Difficulty for action rolls made to overcome, oppose, or resist the environment or its elements.

POTENTIAL ADVERSARIES

Suggested adversaries that might appear in scenes within the environment.

FEATURES

Features provide inspiration for GM moves you can use that represent the dynamic landscape or situation.

FEATURE QUESTIONS

Prompts for plot hooks, narrative engines, and connections to other story elements.

ADAPTING ENVIRONMENTS

Sometimes you want to use an environment but it's at the wrong tier for your party. Or you might want to replace a feature or two, then present it as an entirely different environment. Whether planning your session or even improvising an environment mid-session, you can adjust an existing environment's stat block to fit the needs of your scene or improvise elements as needed. The environments framework is there to help organize ideas, not to stifle creativity.

When you need to quickly adjust a stat block to a different tier, you can simply replace its existing statistics with those listed on the Environment Statistics by Tier table, using the column that corresponds to your party's tier.

BENCHMARK STATISTICS FOR ENVIRONMENTS BY TIER

Environment Statistic	Tier 1	Tier 2	Tier 3	Tier 4
Damage Dice	1d6+1 to 1d8+3	2d6+3 to 2d10+2	3d8+3 to 3d10+1	4d8+3 to 4d10+10
Difficulty	11	14	17	20

ENVIRONMENT STAT BLOCKS BY TIER

This section contains the following stat blocks.

TIER 1 (LEVEL 1)

• Abandoned Grove (Exploration)
• Ambushed (Event)
• Ambushers (Event)
• Bustling Marketplace (Social)
• Cliffside Ascent (Traversal)
• Local Tavern (Social)
• Outpost Town (Social)
• Raging River (Traversal)

TIER 2 (LEVELS 2-4)

• Cult Ritual (Event)
• Hallowed Temple (Social)
• Haunted City (Exploration)
• Mountain Pass (Traversal)

TIER 3 (LEVELS 5-7)

• Burning Heart of the Woods (Exploration)
• Castle Siege (Event)
• Pitched Battle (Event)

TIER 4 (LEVELS 8-10)

• Chaos Realm (Traversal)
• Divine Usurpation (Event)
• Imperial Court (Social)
• Necromancer's Ossuary (Exploration)