I am using the term combat situation to refer to an situation where people are using actions and taking turns based on initiate.
The movement action (p. 214 core book Pace/Sample Movement Actions) Walk is 2-6 yards or approx 3 miles per hour. On the Travel speed Chart (p.252 of core book) easy ground allows you to move 2.5 miles per hour. So in combat on easy ground you can move 3 mph but over distance you can only move 2.5 mph and on very difficult ground you can move 3 mph in combat but over distance you can only move 0.75 or less mph?
According to the Stealth entry (p. 135 core book) you can use stealth at no penalty while using a walk action but if you move faster then a walk, according to the Elf entry under light footedness (p. 66 core book) i.e. with none of the standard penalties for moving faster then a walk, you take a -5 penalty to your stealth roll. According to the Travel Speed table when traveling stealthily you halve the rate of travel. So according to all of this if you walk stealthily in combat you can move 3 mph and have no penalty to you stealth roll, if you run stealthily in combat you can move 9 mph with a -5 penalty to you stealth roll, if you are traveling over distance you can walk stealthily on easy ground at 1.25 mph, and you can run stealthily over distance at 3.25 mph with a -5 penalty for the stealth roll.
Why the heck are the meanings for movement so different between the travel table and the sample actions? Why are the penalties for stealthy travel completely different? Why can you move over twice as fast in a combat situation with stealth travel then over a distance? Why are the increases from walk to run, an increase of 6 mph in a combat situation and 4 mph on the travel table, so different from each other? Isn't the travel table just supposed to be a way to simulate action based movement over a long distance so people to have move the distance 6 yards at a time?
I am playing a Woodman of Mirkwood who has done a lot of traveling so these are important questions for me.
I don't have my book with me so I can't refer to page #s and specific quotes, but I believe that the difference is that when you're moving stealthily in a combat situation or in "adventure time", you're probably moving very slowly and carefully.
When you're crossing large areas and moving cross-country stealthily, my opinion is that this doesn't mean that you're creeping along, but are instead just moving a bit more carefully and trying to stay out of sight, off the trail, etc.
Originally posted by Jason Durall I don't have my book with me so I can't refer to page #s and specific quotes, but I believe that the difference is that when you're moving stealthily in a combat situation or in "adventure time", you're probably moving very slowly and carefully.
When you're crossing large areas and moving cross-country stealthily, my opinion is that this doesn't mean that you're creeping along, but are instead just moving a bit more carefully and trying to stay out of sight, off the trail, etc.
But that is the reverse of the rules. When moving in combat you move more than double the speed that you move over distance.
Originally posted by Grimbar But that is the reverse of the rules. When moving in combat you move more than double the speed that you move over distance.
Well, you've got me there. As I said, I don't have the book with me so I can't really look anything up.
It doesn't help that outside of combat situations (and only rarely in combat), I view use movement as a sort of "you travel for days and get there" and don't really give it rigorous attention.
Ok I can understand, or at least pretend to, the reason for the difference of amount of movement between action based and movement chart. The thing that bugs me is the rather large penalty to stealthy movement with the movement chart. Why was it done? Everything else I can find only talks about a penalty when using stealth at anything faster then a walk and that is just a penalty to the stealth roll. Why is there no penalty to using stealth listed under the skill i.e. something that says you have to half your movement rate? The difference is not insignifigant and it does nuke the stealth specialty of Shadow. I mean it is somewhat hard to shadow someone while moving half their speed.
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