 Environment
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| Environment Guidelines | Environment Basics Environments in Combat |
| Sample Environments | Generic Environments Aquatic Environments Arctic Environments Arcane Environments Forest Environments Desert Environments Marsh Environments Mountain & Hill Environments Space Environments Urban & Interior Environments |
An environment is essential an “extra” character, which takes actions (usually in the form of its FX) every turn, just like other sorts of characters.
The Surprise Round[]
Even if there is otherwise no Surprise Round, the Environment always acts first during the Surprise Round. If any of its Sustained- or Continuous-Duration FX are not yet active (especially Climates), activate them immediately at the top of the Surprise Round. Essentially, you should always assume that a Climate will affect characters present right away.
Initiative[]
During combat, an environment always “acts” last, usually at an Initiative Count of 1. Like other characters, an Environment gets two actions, so if there are multiple environmental features in the battlefield, the environment can only “choose” two active FX each turn. This is partially for the sake of keeping the rules constant, but also to keep bookkeeping easier for the GM. If there are only one or two extra FX that a GM has to keep track of each round, it makes things much easier.
Triggered Action[]
By default, an Environment is incapable of triggering its own Triggered FX. The Environment needs another character to trigger them. However, just like the Extra, the Environment does not use any of its own actions when a Triggered FX is activated. The character activating the FX pays the action instead.
Attacking the Environment[]
With rare exception, it is impossible to actually harm the Environment. Certain Terrain in an Environment might be able to be damaged or destroyed, but the Environment as a whole cannot, for example, be stunned and denied an action. See Damaging Objects for details.
Mobile Terrain[]
In popular fiction, combat can break out anywhere. Characters aboard a raft drifting down a jungle river find themselves ambushed by headhunters. In an old clock tower, the heroes finally catch the evil mastermind and must do battle in a maze of whirling gears and cogs.
For the most part, the Environment cannot “move”, but certain Terrain features themselves might be mobile. Decide in advance what “track” the terrain will take, as most likely the terrain will be following a pre-set course. There are two ways to handle mobile terrain, mostly based on how large the feature is.
If the piece of mobile terrain is small enough that anyone who wound up on it would essentially be within arm's reach (such as a raft drifting down a river or a mine cart or something similar), then it should be treated like Terrain. During the Environment's turn, the Environment may use a Move Action to move the Landmark from one zone to another, and is allowed up to two Moves. Ranks taken in Speed might allow the terrain to move more quickly (representing a fast-moving raft on a swiftly-flowing river, for instance). Characters who are adjacent to the Terrain on the Environment's turn are moved with the Terrain at no cost to those characters.
If characters would be able to move around a piece of mobile terrain and evade one another, then it is large enough to be considered its own Zone (or possibly multiple zones, for truly large mobile terrain). The Environment moves this larger mobile terrain the same way as it would a smaller one. It can move and change which zone or zones it is adjacent to, or it can be treated as “inside” another zone, or even “replacing” another zone for the sake of simplicity (especially if the terrain is quite large, such as a paddleboat cruising down a river).
Regardless, leaping onto mobile terrain often leads to unsteady footing. Characters wishing to enter mobile terrain must make an Acrobatics check (DC 10). If they fail this check, they still enter the terrain successfully, but all enemies in that terrain gain Combat Advantage over them, as if they were vulnerable (suffering 1 Penalty to Defense). At the GM's option, more swiftly-moving terrain might be more difficult to enter, increasing the DC for the Acrobatics check.
Flight and Zones[]
How do Zones handle three-dimensional movement? Characters who can fly or use certain other types of three-dimensional movement have the option to move upwards and out of reach of their foes. This is impossible indoors, at least when the ceiling is of normal height.
Above[]
A character with flight, swinging or wall-crawling can move above a Zone, within about 10 feet of the ground. This costs one Move. They count as being within the Zone, which means they can use Close Range attacks (and be targeted by close range attacks in return) without penalty.
Characters without a similar movement ability may spend two Moves to try to jump or climb up and Engage with a successful Athletics or Acrobatics check (DC 15). If successful, the ground-bound character may use his or her other action to Attack with 2 Penalties. Large characters suffer only 1 penalty. After making the attack, the character returns to the ground without penalty, and must use more Moves later to vault back up.
Altitude[]
Characters can also move upwards into higher and higher zones at a cost of one move per zone upwards. Without another means of moving upwards (such as climbing or using stairs), ground-bound characters cannot Engage with characters one or more zones upwards in altitude. They may use Long Range attacks without penalties against foes only one zone up, and can attack higher foes with mounting penalties. Close Range attacks are valid as well, but are more likely to suffer penalties.
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