Use this skill to prevent yourself from becoming lost, to plot a course, or to identify your location by checking the stars, landmarks, ocean currents, or a GPS device.
Check: Make a Navigate check when you’re trying to find your way to a distant location without directions or other specific guidance. Generally, you do not need to make a check to find a local street or other common urban site, or to follow an accurate map. However, you might make a check to wend your way through a dense forest or a labyrinth of underground storm drains.
For movement over a great distance, make a Navigate check, The DC depends on the length of the trip. If you succeed, you move via the best reasonable course toward your goal. If you fail, you still reach the goal, but it takes you twice as long (you lose time backtracking and correcting your path). If you fail by more than 5, you travel the expected time, but only get halfway to your destination, at which point you become lost.
You may make a second Navigate check (DC 20) to regain your path. If you succeed, you continue on to your destination; the total time for your trip is twice the normal time. If you fail, you lose half a day before you can try again. You keep trying until you succeed, losing half a day for each failure.
| Length of Trip | DC |
|---|---|
| Short (a few hours) | 20 |
| Moderate (a day or two) | 22 |
| Long (up to a week) | 25 |
| Extreme (more than a week) | 28 |
When faced with multiple choices, such as at a branch in a tunnel, you can make a Navigate check (DC 20) to intuit the choice that takes you toward a known destination. For instance, if following paths through a mountainous region, you can choose the path that takes you toward a village that you know lies to the northeast. If unsuccessful, you choose the wrong path, but at the next juncture, with a successful check, you realize your mistake.
You cannot use this function of Navigate to find a path to a site if you have no idea where the site is located. Your GM may choose to make the Navigate check for you in secret, so you don’t know from the result whether you’re following the right or wrong path.
You can use Navigate to determine your position on earth without the use of any high-tech equipment by checking the constellations or other natural landmarks. You must have a clear view of the night sky to make this check. The DC is 15.
Special: You can take 10 when making a Navigate check. You can take 20 only when determining your location, not when traveling.
A character with the Guide feat gets a +2 bonus on all Navigate checks.
Time: A Navigate check is a full-round action.