and you think they have long sight lines... but really do they? It’s easy for your mind to play tricks on you in both frozen deserts and deserts that are excessively hot.
It's possible to get lost in deserts, but it's possible to get lost in any terrain. Of the standard D&D mundane terrain list of Arctic, Coastal, Desert, Forest, Grassland, Hill, Mountain, and Swamp, it's probably worse than Coastal or Grassland, better than Forest or Swamp, and comparable to the rest.
and you think they have long sight lines... but really do they? It’s easy for your mind to play tricks on you in both frozen deserts and deserts that are excessively hot.
heat radiating from the ground makes things hazy. Not to mention if there’s wind the sand blowing up and swirling. Frozen ones the snow blowing up and swirling.
forest, sure there could be fog... but aside from that. It’s pretty straightforward stuff, and all it takes is survival, or nature, or even history checks. To know things like Moss mostly grows on the specific sides of trees (north in northern hemisphere. South in Southern Hemisphere). Forests also have more readily accessible things to help you find your bearings. Like a tree to climb. Or food sources to keep up your energy.
You're comparing deserts and forests, when you should be comparing deserts and jungles.
It is hard to go in a straight line in deserts, impossible in jungles. You might see a mirage on the horizon in deserts, you can't even see horizon in jungles. Sure you can mark some of the thousands of trees you'll pass and hope it can be seen, but if you do find evidence of crossing your own path, that just means you know you are screwed. You can't see the stars through the canopy. If you climb a tree (which takes a ton of energy), you will just see tops of the canopy to the horizon covering any land mark close by. The moss trick doesn't work because of all the shade. The terrain is even more tangled uneven and difficult. Hot humid environments over heat you more than dry environments. You have to watch out for threats in 3 dimensions. Not to mention disease carrying insects and poisonous plants and animals.
The one point where jungles are better than deserts is a higher abundance of water. But this is pretty off topic...
and you think they have long sight lines... but really do they? It’s easy for your mind to play tricks on you in both frozen deserts and deserts that are excessively hot.
heat radiating from the ground makes things hazy. Not to mention if there’s wind the sand blowing up and swirling. Frozen ones the snow blowing up and swirling.
forest, sure there could be fog... but aside from that. It’s pretty straightforward stuff, and all it takes is survival, or nature, or even history checks. To know things like Moss mostly grows on the specific sides of trees (north in northern hemisphere. South in Southern Hemisphere). Forests also have more readily accessible things to help you find your bearings. Like a tree to climb. Or food sources to keep up your energy.
You're comparing deserts and forests, when you should be comparing deserts and jungles.
It is hard to go in a straight line in deserts, impossible in jungles. You might see a mirage on the horizon in deserts, you can't even see horizon in jungles. Sure you can mark some of the thousands of trees you'll pass and hope it can be seen, but if you do find evidence of crossing your own path, that just means you know you are screwed. You can't see the stars through the canopy. If you climb a tree (which takes a ton of energy), you will just see tops of the canopy to the horizon covering any land mark close by. The moss trick doesn't work because of all the shade. The terrain is even more tangled uneven and difficult. Hot humid environments over heat you more than dry environments. You have to watch out for threats in 3 dimensions. Not to mention disease carrying insects and poisonous plants and animals.
The one point where jungles are better than deserts is a higher abundance of water. But this is pretty off topic...
It's quite common for mountainous areas to be desert. Sandy deserts are one type of desert, but rocky deserts are also quite common.
Sand dunes are actually pretty uncommon (about 15% of the Sahara is dunes, and most other deserts are less), though most desert soil is sandy because that's what's left when you remove most of the water and organic material. A lot of deserts are also hilly or mountainous and not particularly harder to navigate than non-desert variants of those terrains.
That said, it's D&D, so you should probably use extremes of whatever climate you're using.
To the point, consider it desert or beach terrain instead of all just sand. DMG gives some examples of environmental impact on players but nothing definite.
Consider water-related exhaustion risks and movement impairment with deserts, especially on dunes, but that's a gap for the DM to determine, not the player. If the DM says yes regarding something not covered specifically in the sources, I recommend working with it. If the DM says no, same thing. The DM fills in the gaps in the rules when they're there, and different DMs can (and often do) augment the rules differently. That's okay. Variety and spices and all that stuff.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
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It's possible to get lost in deserts, but it's possible to get lost in any terrain. Of the standard D&D mundane terrain list of Arctic, Coastal, Desert, Forest, Grassland, Hill, Mountain, and Swamp, it's probably worse than Coastal or Grassland, better than Forest or Swamp, and comparable to the rest.
i'd say heck ya...worse than snow.
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
You're comparing deserts and forests, when you should be comparing deserts and jungles.
It is hard to go in a straight line in deserts, impossible in jungles. You might see a mirage on the horizon in deserts, you can't even see horizon in jungles. Sure you can mark some of the thousands of trees you'll pass and hope it can be seen, but if you do find evidence of crossing your own path, that just means you know you are screwed. You can't see the stars through the canopy. If you climb a tree (which takes a ton of energy), you will just see tops of the canopy to the horizon covering any land mark close by. The moss trick doesn't work because of all the shade. The terrain is even more tangled uneven and difficult. Hot humid environments over heat you more than dry environments. You have to watch out for threats in 3 dimensions. Not to mention disease carrying insects and poisonous plants and animals.
The one point where jungles are better than deserts is a higher abundance of water. But this is pretty off topic...
Agreed about Jungles.
Blank
It's quite common for mountainous areas to be desert. Sandy deserts are one type of desert, but rocky deserts are also quite common.
Sand dunes are actually pretty uncommon (about 15% of the Sahara is dunes, and most other deserts are less), though most desert soil is sandy because that's what's left when you remove most of the water and organic material. A lot of deserts are also hilly or mountainous and not particularly harder to navigate than non-desert variants of those terrains.
That said, it's D&D, so you should probably use extremes of whatever climate you're using.
To the point, consider it desert or beach terrain instead of all just sand. DMG gives some examples of environmental impact on players but nothing definite.
Consider water-related exhaustion risks and movement impairment with deserts, especially on dunes, but that's a gap for the DM to determine, not the player. If the DM says yes regarding something not covered specifically in the sources, I recommend working with it. If the DM says no, same thing. The DM fills in the gaps in the rules when they're there, and different DMs can (and often do) augment the rules differently. That's okay. Variety and spices and all that stuff.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.