The areas a party moves through can be every bit as dangerous as the foes that lurk within it. This isn't just a backdrop for daring deeds, it's a living, breathing entity that shapes the challenges and opportunities faced by intrepid heroes. From treacherous mountain peaks to bustling cityscapes, from forgotten ruins teeming with danger to vibrant ecosystems teeming with life, the Adventuring Environment throws obstacles, tests resourcefulness, and offers unique rewards to those brave enough to explore its depths. It's a crucible that forges legends, a canvas upon which stories of triumph and tribulation are painted.

The most fundamental tasks of adventuring—noticing danger, finding hidden objects, or hitting an enemy in combat—rely heavily on a character's ability to see. Darkness and other effects that obscure vision can prove a significant hindrance.

Darkness is rated from 1 to 5, in the same manner as Cover and Concealment, and is treated as the appropriate level of concealment.

Note that cover, concealment, darkness and any other such modifiers only apply the worst modifier. A character who is kneeling behind a boulder (Cover 2) on a foggy (Concealment 1) night (Darkness 3) has a total Cover and Concealment number of 3—the highest amount among those that apply.

A character who brings artificial light into an environment can push back the darkness, but only to a certain degree. Every light source is rated for Brightness and Radius.

• Within the light source’s Radius: Subtract the light source’s Brightness from the Darkness value, to a minimum of zero.
• Out to twice the light source’s Radius: Subtract half the light source’s Brightness (rounded down) from the Darkness value.
• Beyond twice the Radius: The light does not penetrate; the Darkness value remains unchanged.

Danger lurks not only in the form of menacing monsters and powerful adversaries, but also in the subtle perils of the environment itself. While weapons and spells pose immediate threats in combat, adventurers must remain ever vigilant, as danger can manifest in myriad forms. Treacherous traps lie in wait, cunningly designed to ensnare the unwary. Environmental hazards, from crumbling ruins to unstable terrain, pose their own challenges, testing the resilience and resourcefulness of heroes. Even a simple misstep or a fall from a great height can spell disaster for the unprepared. In this unforgiving world, adventurers must navigate not only the threats posed by foes, but also the hazards woven into the very fabric of their surroundings.

While a character can brace themselves to drop down even as far as six meters, an accidental fall leaves no time to prepare.

The damage inflicted on a fall depends on the distance fallen; the farther a character falls, the higher their velocity on impact. Consult the table below to determine damage.

• If the character was prepared for the fall and the total distance fallen is under thirty meters, drop the three lowest dice from the damage roll.
• Damage from a fall is Vital damage and automatically bypasses all Resistance.
• A character who falls farther than 140 meters reaches terminal velocity and takes no additional damage.
• After falling, the character is Prone, unless they fell less than six meters and were prepared for the fall.

Any reasonably-sized object that falls onto a character will inflict falling damage on that character, in a similar manner to falling damage inflicted upon a character. The Director is permitted to consider the sizes of objects to determine if something might inflict differing damage. Very large objects might inflict d10s or d12s of damage, whereas smaller objects might inflict d6s or d4s.

In addition, things that fall do not inflict Vital damage, but inflict a damage of a sort that would make sense, with Blunt damage being the most likely.

Air is vital to creatures that can breathe, but most adventuring takes place in environments where air is plentiful. Exceptions include flooded tunnels, caves filled with toxic gases, or swamps with patches of miasma—situations where breathing may be restricted.

A creature has a number of Breath Points equal to 4 + their Body modifier. Typically, this is not tracked unless suffocation is a possibility; only when a creature is deprived of air will their Breath Points fall below the maximum.

• Deprived of Air: At the start of each turn, a character who cannot breathe loses 1 Breath Point. If they have no Breath Points remaining, they instead take 2d6 Vital damage.
• Breathing Normally: At the start of each turn, a character who can breathe recovers 1 Breath Point, up to their maximum.

The temperature of an environment can make a character's life difficult. Typically, temperatures will be comfortable, uncomfortable or dangerous. Temperature is, of course, relative, and a character who belongs to an ancestry noted for living in hot or cold climes may find that their comfort zones are shifted. (No such ancestries yet exist, but they may be added in future expansions.)

Comfortable temperatures are the default, and a character who is in an area with comfortable temperatures will suffer no penalties.

Uncomfortable temperatures may be too warm or too cold, and while they can reach harmful levels, are survivable for short periods of time. A character who is in uncomfortable temperatures suffers slight to all skill checks. Note that specific items of equipment may remove this penalty.

Dangerous temperatures can cause permanent harm within minutes of exposure. Dangerous levels of cold are typical of the Arctic in winter during a blizzard, whereas dangerous levels of heat include a literal inferno—equatorial heat never really reaches dangerous levels. A character exposed to dangerous temperatures suffers 1d8 points of Cold or Fire damage at the start of each of their turns.