So, how do you get started? Many start with small hills. With those, you cut a piece of foam out of a huge pink sheet, paint it, flock it, and presto! You have a hill. You can fill a box with them and reuse them. There are tons of tutorials on the web and in various miniature game guidebooks. But, what if you’re ready to go a little further?

So that big hill at the top of the article? Looks great, right? Here’s how I did it.

Assemble foam insulation, a piece of plywood for a base, some hot wire foam cutting tools, artist’s gesso (for primer), and paint. You need to cut out and glue down four layers of foam (or however many you want) to make your hill. The more layers you add, the steeper it gets. What if you’d like something a little more? A hill, after all, is big and hard to store in your basement. Still it’s a lot cooler if there’s a secret involved.

How about this?

The trick? Build your hill with a plan and in stages (resulting in two pieces you store together). You will put in pegs to help the top and bottom stay secure.

To get started, you could sketch your design out to make the plan for your work. Then cut the hill out from your huge sheet of insulating foam, and cut your peg holes in the bottom. Glue it down. (Let it cure for 24 hours.) Cut the upper section’s pegholes in the lowermost piece. Glue the top two to four parts of the upper layer together. Put the pegs into the cured base. I used plaster on the bottom to hold the wooden craft pegs. If you have the correct drill bit size, you can also cut through the foam to glue the pegs in pace, then cover the joins with gesso.

Now it will move to reveal the secret!

For the detail colors, paint them on your hill all at once. To blend acrylics, you want to work from the same “base” as much as possible. (There are lots of tutorials out there for painting as well, so I’ll defer on providing painting guidelines.) For this hill, I knew that I wanted a secret passage. So I made sure to include that in the plans. When done, I got some moss from the craft store to fill the end with. It looks like bushes!

This terrain is just right for a final battle when the PCs use dimension door to get in past your hidden entrance.

Final Tip: The tactical element requires rulers, string markers, or tape measures. Unless you want to spend a lot of time drawing in squares by hand, I suggest just “free handing” with your handy measuring element so you can enjoy your terrain.

“Inspiring Terrains” looks at encounters—fundamental building blocks that bring together PCs, conflict, and environment. With a little inspiration and a few mechanical bits, it’s easy to make the terrain in an encounter just as memorable as the foes. [Part 1][Part 2][Part 3][Part4]

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For the fifth installment, we leave the wilderness to explore a shadowy, refuse-strewn alleyway.

Betwixt and Between

Clandestine meetings with informants, grisly murders by cultists, stealthy urban rangers tailing their marks, thieves casing their next score—scenes set in alleyways figure prominently in urban fantasy. Typically, though, the narrow lane serves only as a convenient hiding place. To enhance an alleyway, think about why the passageway exits, and then, use its essential characteristics to make it an active participant in the encounter…

Alleys live in the space between: “Why is this piece of land not a road?” and “Why is this piece of land not a building?” Think of the stereotypical walled medieval town. Immense effort went into defending some area behind stout fortifications. To make that investment worthwhile, every bit of the land within must serve a useful purpose. Some land bears buildings, some holds roads, but the particular bit bearing the alleyway has neither. Why? Is it a back entrance to a building? Was it supposed to be a building—or was it once a building—but for some reason it was left unoccupied? Is it somehow unsuitable for construction? Answering this question will give the alley a reason to exist. Even better, if the reason the alley exists ties into the motivation for the encounter, the alley will feel like a destination all its own, instead of simply scenery adorning the background.

Masonry Collision (At-Will Terrain)

Face, Meet Wall. Whatever the reason for its existence, alleyways are narrow by their very nature. Although the default choice for 4th Edition is to set encounters in open areas, narrow passages can make a welcome change of pace. Some of the terrain powers given in the underground mine installment of this series would be appropriate in alleyways. Alternatively, the tight confines can make unintentional movement hazardous.

As your foe slides backward to avoid your attack, he does not notice the rough stone behind him—at least not until his cranium collides with the wall.

Free Action
Requirement You push, pull, or slide a creature into a square containing an alley wall
Check Dungeoneering (easy DC) to aim your foe’s motion precisely
Success Creature slams squarely into wall
Target Creature forced to move
Attack Level + 3 vs. Fortitude
Hit 1d6 + 1/2 level damage, and the target is knocked prone
Miss Half damage

Watch Out Below! (Single-Use Terrain)

Aboveground Tunnel. With land so scarce within the town walls—and in the absence of modern building codes—houses and shops often got wider as they rose. In extreme cases, the upper stories of buildings which were separated at ground level met at a certain height, forming a ceiling above the alleyway.  The dark shadows cast by the upper stories create a variety of hiding places within the alley, and ambushing monsters and acrobatic characters could even conceal themselves on the underside of the overhangs. Poorly supported and often built shoddily, these pseudo-bridges were prone to collapse onto the cobbles below.

Overhanging buildings create a roof over this alleyway. Pulling on the poorly-mortared blocks and pushing the rotten timbers brings the entire structure crashing down.

Standard Action
Requirement You reach the bottom of a pseudo-bridge spanning an alleyway by climbing, flying, natural reach, or the like
Check Athletics (hard DC) to pull down the building
Success Timbers and stones collapse onto the square below; Acrobatics (medium DC) to avoid being caught in the collapse
Target Each creature in a close burst 4 within the alleyway underneath the collapsed square, including the triggering creature if the Acrobatics check fails
Attack Level + 3 vs. Reflex
Hit 1d10 + 1/2 level damage, and the target is slowed (save ends)
Miss Half damage.
Effect Squares within the burst become difficult terrain

Rotting Refuse (Single-Use Terrain)

Befouled. Scarce land and the relatively light traffic through alleys make them natural dumping points for refuse, chamber pots, offal, corpses—just about anything the city folk want out of their sight ends up there. Smell, of course, is a more pervasive problem.

Refuse, filth, and nightsoil congeal into a slick, nauseating, quivering puddle. Merely approaching the mass makes your eyes water and your gorge rise.

Move Action
Requirement You must be in a square containing foul, rotting waste
Check Acrobatics (hard DC) to kick or throw the waste at the mouth and eyes of the intended target
Success Disgusting refuse strikes the targeted creature
Target One adjacent creature
Attack Level + 3 vs. Will
Hit 1d8 + 1/2 level poison damage, ongoing 5 poison damage (save ends), and the target is weakened until the end of its next turn
Miss Half damage with no ongoing damage and no weakening

Master of the Metropole (Terrain Mastery Boon)

Use this boon to reward a player after a series of encounters in dark alleyways.

As a veteran of the crowded and quickly-changing conditions of life in the city, you have learned to steel yourself against adversity. You rebound quickly when down, you know where to gather rumors, and you have learned how to disappear quickly.

Terrain Mastery Boon

Lvl  3                        680 gp
Power (free; daily)
Gain a +2 power bonus to a saving throw you just rolled and use the new result. 

Lvl  8                      3,400 gp
Property Gain a +2 power bonus to Stealth checks and Streetwise checks.

Lvl 13                     17,000 gp
Power (free; daily)
Trigger—You are bloodied
Effect—You can use an at-will power

What’s that noise? And the stench! Watch out!

“Inspiring Terrains” looks at encounters—fundamental building blocks that bring together PCs, conflict, and environment. With a little inspiration and a few mechanical bits, it’s easy to make the terrain in an encounter just as memorable as the foes. [

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For the fourth installment, we endure the stinging winds of the preternaturally flat playa.

Trapped Water and the Hot Sun

Through a quirk of topography, some of the flattest surfaces in nature occur in the most rugged regions. Mountains and ridges channel water to the lowest points in the basins they surround. Once there, the water has nowhere to go, so it remains, forming lakes which slowly disappear as evaporation and seepage take their toll. The flat expanse of sand and salt left behind in the dry lakebed is known as a playa…

Two features define playas—they are dry and they are flat. Although neither characteristic seems terribly relevant to a group of powerful PCs, all the in-game effects of a lakebed follow from these two qualities. Dryness brings with it evaporated salt and blowing dust, which hamper vision and make potable water sources rare. Flatness leads to difficulty in gauging distance—and, therefore, difficulty navigating, tracking, and determining range to foes.

Eventually, all things on a playa come back to the lack of water and the lack of vertical relief.

Camouflage Mirage (Terrain Feature)

Wet or Dry? The sun heats both the flat surface of the playa and the air just above it. Light passing through this heated layer bends in surprising ways, creating the illusion of standing water. These mirages generally disappear when approached, but the large, flat expanses of dry lakebeds provide enough space for the imagined lake to recede indefinitely, tantalizingly just out of reach.

Heat rising from the salt and sand refracts the blinding sunlight, creating the illusion that water fills the lake.

Effect All creatures upon the dry lakebed gain a +5 bonus to Stealth checks as they use the ever-present mirage to their advantage
Usage Ambush attackers—lurkers, other creatures who attack from concealment, or even clever PCs—benefit from the increased ability to hide provided by the camouflage mirage terrain feature

Hindering Interstices (Single-Use Terrain)

Just Parched. Lakes in merely arid lands evaporate slowly, giving the earth time to interact with the water, the wind, and any indigenous life. The lake leaves behind a mudflat; as the mud gives up its moisture to the dry air above and the parched sands below, it hardens, shrinks, and cracks, leaving behind a field of flat polygons separated by deep cuts. So regular as to suggest sentient creators, these vast fields of regular shapes actually require only slow baking in the sun.

You catch your boots in a deep crack in the dried mud of the lakebed, prematurely bringing yourself to a halt.

Free Action
Requirement Forced movement across a crack in the lakebed
Check An Athletics check (moderate DC) to plant your feet firmly in the gap in the lakebed
Success Reduce the forced movement by 1 square/tier  

Smooth as Glass (Single-Use Terrain)

Truly Dry. The driest of climates cause shallow, still lakes to evaporate quickly. Winds, currents, and life have no time to disturb the bottom, so the desiccated remains are amazingly, almost preternaturally flat. Acres of packed sand and evaporated salt lie as flat as a sheet of ice floating on a still pond.

Careful balance and subtle shifts of your weight allow you to glide over the hard lakebed like a skater on ice.

Free Action
Requirement Movement across a perfectly flat lakebed, beginning or passing through a square with this power (may be applied to forced movement, but not to teleportation, flying, or phasing)
Check An Acrobatics check (hard DC) to glide smoothly over the flat ground
Success Shift 1 square/tier as a free action at the end of the movement

Cataracts of Radiance (At-Will Terrain)

Sunlight, Sunlight, More Sunlight. Flat expanses of white sand and salt combine with the beating sun and the absence of clouds to create a spectacularly bright environment. This surfeit of light can lead to blindness just as quickly as its absence, and desert-dwellers take elaborate precautions to limit the amount of light reaching their eyes. Circumventing these precautions grants an immediate tactical advantage.

You guide a brilliant reflection of the blinding sun directly into your foe’s eyes.

Minor Action
Requirement A bright light source; while the sun is the most common source of light, the full moon, arcane effects, or even a blazing bonfire might also meet this requirement
Check A Dungeoneering check (hard DC) or a Nature check (moderate DC) to reflect the light precisely at the proper angle
Success Bright light shines directly into the eyes of your foe, threatening its vision
Target One creature within 2 squares of the triggering square
Attack Level + 3 vs. Reflex
Hit The target is blinded (save ends)

Entrained with the Rain (Terrain Feature)

The Inevitability of Rain. Running water forms playas, and though every drop of moisture has departed, eventually the rains return. In wetter environs, plant life temporarily traps the rainwater on the surface. In the parched terrain near the playa, though, rare rainfalls lead to powerful flash floods rushing through arroyos to the basin of the playa itself. The water immediately seeps through the dry sands to hidden voids below, leaving behind only suddenly sucking mud.

Rain pours from the skies, but instead of pooling on the saltpan, it passes right through the top layer of earth. The mud it leaves behind attempts to pull anyone standing upon it into the same subterranean reservoir sought by the rushing water

Effect Any creature that does not move between the start of its turn and the start of its next turn is slowed (save ends) (forced movement and teleportation count as movement; creatures which do not touch the ground or which pass freely through the ground are immune to this effect)
First Failed Save—The creature is immobilized (save ends the immobilization, but the creature remains slowed)
Usage The entrained with the rain terrain feature penalizes immobility, so use it with fast creatures that can attack and move: consider adding rocks or other squares lacking this feature to the battleground as points of contention for both sides

Stalwart of the Sabkha (Terrain Mastery Boon)

Use this boon to reward a player after a series of encounters on the flat expanses of dry playas.

Extensive experience skating on evaporated saltpans has taught you the benefit of even forced motion, and your eyes have grown accustomed to the abuse of sun and salt.

Lvl  3                      680 gp
Terrain Mastery Boon
Property Gain a +2 power bonus to all saving throws you roll to recover from blindness
Power (free; encounter)
If an enemy uses a forced movement effect against you, you can shift 1 square/tier as a free action at the end of the forced movement.

Venture forth onto the arid desolation of the desiccated lakebed!

“Inspiring Terrains” looks at encounters—fundamental building blocks that bring together PCs, conflict, and environment. With a little inspiration and a few mechanical bits, it’s easy to make the terrain in an encounter just as memorable as the foes. [Part 1][Part 2]

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Stagnant Water, Sucking Mud

Fen, bog, marsh, swamp—whatever the name, standing water and thick mud define the unique environment of the swamp. The slowly moving water saturates the soil, clumping it into low hillocks and thick layers of silt. Dead plants and rotting animals do not wash away. Instead, they suffuse the area with a fetid odor of decay and fertilize the life that remains. Still water, oozing mire, and a profusion of life endure year-round…

(Technically, fens, bogs, marshes, and swamps are distinct environments. Likewise, a subarctic wetland will feel quite different from a tropical mire. The default assumption here is a temperate marsh, but many of the powers can be adapted to swamps in different environments. For instance, the springtime power caught in the flow would be appropriate for the monsoon season of a tropical marsh.)

To use a swamp most effectively, highlight the wet and muddy conditions. Review the swimming rules for areas of open water, and consider making much or all of the sodden land difficult terrain. Characters or monsters who become familiar with life in the fen can use its nature to their advantage.

Air through a Reed (At-Will Terrain)

Hollow reeds, tightly woven tussocks of papyrus, air trapped under lily pads—you know where the fen teems with hidden air pockets.

Move Action
Requirement You must be underwater in a swamp.
Check Nature (easy DC)—You find hidden air pockets
Success You need neither to surface for breath nor to make an Endurance check to avoid the consequences of drowning.
Note PCs can use this power in two different ways: first, air-breathing PCs can fight underwater with less risk; more commonly, though, PCs can sneak up on foes by moving underwater (be sure to give the PCs the appropriate bonuses to their Stealth checks for hiding submerged within the brackish pools).

Caught in the Flow (At-Will Terrain)

The Spring Surge. As the months pass, the swamp changes—making it a very different location than the last time the PCs visited. In spring, as sunshine melts the snow and vernal rainstorms bring rushing floods, the marsh fills to the brim with water. Plants return to life, animals venture from their dens, and the swamp awakens from its winter slumber. The excess water creates otherwise-rare currents through the mire.

You catch your enemy in the unexpectedly flowing water, moving it farther than you normally would.

Free Action
Requirement You must use a power which forces an enemy to move from, to, or through a square containing water.
Check Perception check (easy DC)—You notice the flow of water.
Success Those undergoing forced movement move 1 square/tier farther.

Attack
Target Each enemy undergoing forced movement
Attack Level + 3 vs. Fortitude
Hit Target is knocked prone
Miss Target stays upright but still moves farther

Do-feel-um (Single-Use Terrain)

Summer Swarms. Months of water and sun have fed the teeming life of the swamp. Nymphs hatch into mayflies, worms breed thousands of creeping young, and flies seem to multiply by the minute.

You disturb the reeds and shake the trees, dislodging a swarm of angry insects.

Standard Action
Requirement You must be adjacent to a square containing plant life. (In a swamp, virtually every square meets this requirement.)
Check Athletics check (moderate DC)—You disturb the resting insects. You may fall prone as part of the standard action to avoid the attack.
Success A swarm of vermin rises to harass its perceived enemies.

Attack
Target Each non-prone creature in a close burst 2 centered on the triggering square
Attack Level + 3 vs. AC
Hit Ongoing 5 damage/tier (save ends)

Frigid Sinkhole (Single-Use Terrain)

Winter’s Thin Rime. Winter cold stiffens the mud and freezes the top layer of water. Beneath the seeming safety of the ice, though, lie pockets of stagnant, chilled liquid.

You knock your foe through the hardened top layer of the swamp into a freezing pocket of water.

Free Action
Requirement You must hit a foe with an attack.
Check Nature check (moderate DC)—You find freezing swamp water hidden beneath the surface.
Success Freezing water soaks your foe.

Attack
Target Creature hit by your attack
Attack Level + 3 vs. Reflex
Hit Ongoing 5 cold damage/tier (save ends)

Read the Ripples (At-Will Terrain)

Water lapping against the reeds where it shouldn’t reveals the presence of an underwater creature.

Minor Action
Requirement You must be within a body of water or able to see the surface of a body of water.
Check Perception (hard DC)—You notice small ripples and minor disturbances in the water
Success You gain tremorsense 5/tier against creatures within or passing through that body of water until the beginning of your next turn.
Note Because the results of this power depend on how the bodies of water in the encounter are connected, the GM should decide on the boundaries of the various pools in the encounter before play. The simplest choice is to have all the water in a swamp be connected, although this makes read the ripples a more powerful power.

Skip over the Lilies (At-Will Terrain)

Falling Leaves. No less than on dry land, the shorter days and cooler nights of fall cause swamp plants to die back, shedding leaves and vines in their last preparations for winter. Water levels reach their annual nadir. Between the drier land and the copious plant matter, travel through the swamp is easiest in the autumn.

Stepping lightly from solid ground to lily pad and from hanging vine to decaying log, you make your way across open water as easily as you would across dry land.

Minor Action
Requirement You must move over 1 or more squares of water or mud.
Check Acrobatics check (hard DC)—You step adroitly from one solid landing to the next.
Success You pass over water or mud as if it were solid land, neither taking a penalty to your movement nor falling into the water.
Note This power must be used in conjunction with a move action. If the Acrobatics check fails, the movement suffers whatever consequences ensue from passage along its route (for instance, falling into the water).

Swamp Hunter       (Terrain Mastery Boon)

Use this boon to reward a player after a series of encounters in the soggy fen.

Your body has become accustomed to throwing off the baleful effects of the swamps. You recover from disease more quickly, and you have learned to extricate yourself from confinement.

Lvl  3      680 gp
Lvl 13     17,000 gp
Terrain Mastery Boon
Property You gain a +5 bonus to Endurance checks made to fight off disease.
Power (free; daily)
For the remainder of the encounter, you may save at both the beginning and the end of your turn against the slowed condition. If you save successfully but then once more become slowed, you may continue to save 2/turn.
Level 13—As above, but you may save against the immobilized and the slowed conditions.

What lies hidden within the wet, sticky, bug-infested swamp?

“Inspiring Terrains” looks at encounters—fundamental building blocks that bring together PCs, conflict, and environment. With a little inspiration and a few mechanical bits, it’s easy to make the terrain in an encounter just as memorable as the foes. [Part 1]

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Deep, Foreboding Mines

Mines have been part of fantasy literature since its earliest days. In the game, though, mines usually feel like little more than renamed dungeons or caves—just another dark, underground environment with a different name…

Real mines—and memorable mines in the game—have an essential nature all their own. Unlike a cave, someone labored to excavate a mine. Unlike a dungeon, desire for a particular ore drove the creator of a mine to wrest stone from the ground. Because of this purposeful, profit-driven construction, mines share several defining characteristics, reflected in the terrain powers below. (Also remember that mines may invoke more familiar aspects of the rules—tight passages require squeezing, the pitch blackness makes light sources vital, and so on.)

Scrape the Walls (At-Will Terrain)

Twisting, Cramped Tunnels. Miners scrape away rock with their arms and carry it out on their backs. They follow the ore as it meanders through the surrounding stone. No one bothers with luxuries such as straight, wide, or high passageways. Instead, cramped mine tunnels corkscrew erratically, and miners quickly learn to mind their heads.

Overhanging rocks and sharp corners threaten any creature moving near this surface.

Free Action
Requirement You must use a power that forces an enemy to move from, to, or through a square adjacent to a wall
Check Perception check (easy DC) to notice where the walls, ceiling, and floor protrude dangerously
Success The enemies undergoing forced movement take damage from its rough passage
Target Each enemy undergoing forced movement
Attack Level + 3 vs. AC
Hit 1d4 + 1/2 level damage

Tenuous Support (Single-Use Terrain)

Holding Up the Earth. Tons of rock push down on the holes excavated by miners. Beams and bolts can hold back the patient weight of the earth for a time, but eventually the ground reclaims all mines, collapsing them into impassability.

Fine cracks in the rock and loose debris on the floor tell your trained eye that stress is building within the rock. A well-placed blow to the supports will bring heavy rocks crashing down.

Standard Action
Requirement You must be adjacent to a wall that is held up artificially (by beams, rock bolts, or the like)
Check Dungeoneering check (moderate DC) to collapse the wall
Success Rocks fall from the wall as it collapses
Target Each creature in a close blast 2 in the direction the wall fell
Attack Level + 3 vs. Reflex
Hit 1d6 + 1/2 level damage, and the target is immobilized (save ends)
Miss Half damage
Effect The area of the blast becomes difficult terrain while the rest of the collapsing wall remains in place

Blinding Debris (At-Will Terrain)

The Dust of Toil. Endless chipping and blasting has left the mine covered in a thick layer of gritty dust. Dirt covers the skin, infiltrates packs and armor, and even invades the lungs, giving everyone a dry, hacking cough.

The dust is so sharp and gritty that it feels like tiny knives scraping throats and eyes.

Move Action
Requirement You must be in a square covered in dust (in a mine, every square meets this requirement)
Check Thievery check (moderate DC) to gather a handful of dust and fling it at your foes
Success Blinding dirt flies in the face of one foe
Target One adjacent creature
Attack Level + 3 vs. Fortitude
Hit 1d6 + 1/2 level damage, and the target is blinded until the beginning of its next turn
Miss Half damage

Caustic Crystals (Single-Use Terrain)

Dug from the Earth. Long sequestered from air and water, many ores corrode unexposed skin or emit dangerous gasses once unearthed. Miners avoid these natural dangers when they can, while canny creatures use them against their foes.

Ochre and vermillion ores eat away at unprotected living tissue.

Move Action
Requirement You must be in a square containing exposed corrosive ore
Check Athletics check (moderate DC) to kick or throw the ore at the intended target
Success Corrosive rock strikes the targeted creature
Target One adjacent creature
Attack Level + 3 vs. Fortitude
Hit 1d8 + 1/2 level acid damage and 5 ongoing acid damage (save ends); if the damage roll is 8, the target is weakened until the end of its next turn
Miss Half damage with no ongoing damage

Explosive Vapors (Single-Use Terrain)

A familiar smell betrays the presence of flammable gas, ready to ignite if exposed to searing flame.

Free Action
Requirement You must make an attack that deals fire damage in a square containing explosive vapors
Check The attack must inflict fire damage, although it need not hit
Success Flammable vapors ignite in a fierce explosion
Target Each creature in a close burst 3
Attack Level + 3 vs. Reflex
Hit 1d8 + 1/2 level damage, and 5 ongoing fire damage (save ends)
Miss Half damage with no ongoing damage

(The GM may wish to extend the explosion to the entire area filled by the vapors. This has the potential to be a devastating effect on the combat; be sure to mark the affected area before the battle and let intelligent creatures avoid setting off the explosion inadvertently.)

Tunnel Rat (Terrain Mastery Boon)

Use this boon to reward a player after a series of encounters in an underground mine.

Your long experience in the cramped quarters of deep mines lets you contort your body. Now you pass easily through areas others find constraining.

Lvl 8                       3,400 gp
Terrain Mastery Boon
Property You treat difficult terrain as if it were normal terrain
Power (minor; daily)
You can squeeze through spaces without the normal penalties to speed and attack rolls, without provoking attacks of opportunity, and without granting combat advantage.

Cramped, dark, twisting, dangerous—adventure awaits in the mines!

Welcome to 4th Edition week here at KQ.com. All this week will feature wonderful material designed for 4th Edition (while still being inspirational for any edition).

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The encounter is our fundamental building block, bringing together PCs, opposition of some sort, and the environment. Although 4th Edition with its emphasis on movement during combat underscores the architecture of locations—defining where the PCs can and cannot move—too often only the color of the battle mat distinguishes one set of surroundings from another. With a little inspiration and a few mechanical bits, it’s easy to make the terrain in an encounter just as memorable as the foes…

Making Terrain Memorable

Terrain powers are location-based attacks that anyone can use. By changing the palette of attacks available to a PC, these powers make combat on a mountaintop feel very different from combat in a banquet hall. Players pay more attention to the environment around the PCs, engaging more strongly with the game. To use terrain powers most effectively, explain the possibilities to players as combat begins—this gets everyone thinking about the environment from the beginning.

Terrain powers also provide a great opportunity for players to exercise more narrative control over scenes. Even if the GM hasn’t prepared any terrain power options for the encounter, if players come up with reasonable suggestions, let them use it! Combat will remain balanced, because their opponents can use the same powers against them. Letting players get involved in defining their surroundings increases their immersion and their involvement in the game.

Further, this opens the door for alternative rewards, such as the terrain mastery boon. Boons distill the experience a PC has gained by exploring a memorable bit of terrain. Like other alternative rewards, these should be given to characters most engaged with the terrain in question. Give them to the character who used terrain powers most enthusiastically or to the player who dealt or took the most damage from terrain features.

Unlike other alternative rewards, though, terrain mastery boons tie strongly to the actual terrain in question. This makes them somewhat difficult to price, for if the campaign moves from soaring mountaintops to filthy urban alleyways, for instance, the benefits gained through the Steadfast Cragsman boon (below) may be of little use. As a result, rather than always allowing characters to keep their boons for five levels, the GM should replace the boon with a more useful magic item sooner if the campaign evolves to make the boon less valuable.

Through description, terrain powers, and terrain mastery boons, GMs can better bring terrain to life. But now, we climb to the steep, snowy peaks of a towering mountain. Perhaps, your players will reminisce as much about the alpine environment itself as the foes they defeated there.

Frigid, Icy Mountain Summits

Mountaintops bring together slick rocks, sharp drops, deep snowdrifts, biting winds, thin air, and blinding sunshine. Each element alone would enhance an encounter; together, their synergy accentuates the essential nature of the mountaintop—its slope. Everything atop the mountain—the rock, the snow, the PCs, and their foes—fights a constant battle against the insistent pull of gravity. No one atop a steep peak ever forgets which way is down.

Out of combat, mountaintops threaten PCs with high or extreme altitude and potentially frigid cold. In combat, features of the environment prove more acutely dangerous.

Sheer Bank (Permanent Terrain Effect)

Steep rock and snow near the summit of the mountain make footing treacherous. Downward slides pose a constant threat.

Setup: Choose part or all of the encounter area to represent a steep slope. This works most easily if the downslope direction lines up with the lines on the battle map. Gravity aids motion down the mountain.

Effect: All movement (with the exception of teleportation and phasing) is doubled in the downslope direction. Movement in the other three directions is unaffected. If a creature moves diagonally, double only the motion in the downslope direction. (In other words, if a creature tries to move two squares down and two squares to one side, it actually moves four squares down and two squares to the side.) The extra downward motion does not count against the movement of the creature.

(Note that Sheer Bank is a terrain effect, not a terrain power.)

Deceptive Footing: To the untrained eye, all fields of snow look alike. Mountaineers, though, know that the thin air and strong sunlight often combine to harden the top layer of the snow. While this makes normal movement easier, as climbers do not have to pull their legs from the snow with each step, once the top crust is breached, the climber sinks into the soft snow below. Because this terrain feature is difficult to spot, you may require a Nature check (moderate DC) to notice it.

Icy Rime (At-Will Terrain)

The strong top layer of this snowpack is thin. A focused blow would break through it to the loose snow below.

Move Action
Requirement: You must be adjacent to a square containing loose snow capped with a hard top layer (most snowy mountaintop squares meet this requirement)
Check: Athletics check (moderate DC) to kick or punch through the top layer of snow
Success: Your foe sinks into a deep snowdrift
Target: One creature
Attack: Level + 3 vs. Reflex
Hit: 1d4 + 1/2 level damage, and the target is immobilized (save ends)
Miss: Half damage.
Enveloped from Above: The blowing wind pushes snow into cornices, overhangs which can give way underfoot or collapse onto unwary climbers; similarly, a sudden breeze or a sharp blow can clear snow-laden boughs of mountain trees, leaving those below buried in powder and firn

Clinging Blanket of Snow (Single-Use Terrain)

A thick layer of snow sits uneasily above the battlefield.

Standard Action
Requirement: You must be adjacent to a square with overhanging snow (in a cornice, in the boughs of a tree, or the like)
Check: Perception check (moderate DC) to find the weak point in the overhang
Success: A thick blanket of snow crashes to the slope below
Target: Each creature in the square
Attack: Level + 4 vs. AC
Hit: 1d6 + 1/2 level damage, and the target is blinded until the end of its next turn
Miss: The target is blinded until the end of its next turn but takes no damage
Look Out Below: All mountaineers know the danger of avalanches. Heavy snow perched on sheer slopes await only a trigger to crash downhill, crushing everything in its path; although large slab avalanches are powerful enough to demand encounters designed around them, loose snow on the steepest of slopes can slump downward in more localized flows

Loose Snow Avalanche (Single-Use Terrain)

Unpacked snow balances precariously on steep, slick rock. A loud noise or the correct pressure would send it careening downhill.

Standard Action
Requirement: You must be adjacent to a square that contains loose snow on a slope, or you must be able to make a sonic attack that targets that square
Check: Nature check (moderate DC) for an adjacent square, or the attack must inflict sonic damage, whether it hits (the square’s defenses are level + 5) or not
Success: The top layer of snow begins to slide down the hill, burying everything in its path
Target: Each creature in a close blast 3 down the slope from the initiating square
Attack: Level + 3 vs. Fortitude
Hit: 1d10 + 1/2 level damage, and the target is knocked prone
Miss: Half damage

Steadfast Cragsman (Terrain Mastery Boon)

Use this boon to reward a player after a series of encounters on snow-covered mountain summits.

Hard-earned lessons have toughened your body against cold and have taught you how to brace yourself against falling snow and inadvertent slips.

Lvl 8                       3,400 gp
Terrain Mastery Boon
Property: If an enemy uses a forced movement effect against you, you can reduce the distance you are moved by 2
Power (Daily): Immediate Interrupt
Trigger—You take cold damage
Effect—Reduce the damage you take by 8

Adventure awaits amidst the icy cornices and sharp rocks of the mountain summits!