Movement, Space, and Ranges · Core Rules

Philosophy

Cerberus has no movement modes. There is no run, charge, sprint action, or double move. A character has a Speed measured in feet per tick and spends it while doing something else: striking, shooting, casting, or drinking a potion. Movement is never an action. It is a resource that accompanies one.

The action determines how much Speed remains. Attacking costs no movement; casting costs half. A feat can remove that restriction, as Mobile Caster does. Measure distance in feet, not squares.

There is no grid. The GM tracks distances mentally or with a sketch. When doubt remains about whether someone is inside an area or within range, rule in favor of the defender, as everywhere else in the game.

Speed

A human's base Speed is 30 ft per tick, or 90 ft over a full round. With the class layer, each archetype carries a speed grade that raises it with level (see 1).
Dexterity adds 2 ft per point. A quick body covers more ground with the same effort, at every level and in every class.
Race, size, feats, and spells can modify it as well. Muscular Speed adds Strength, Barbarian Bounds and Speed adds 20 ft, while Speed and Haste alter it magically.
Jumping: horizontal distance = 1× Speed; height = ¼ Speed.
Climbing and swimming use half Speed. Difficult terrain also halves Speed (see 6).
A flying creature has two Speeds, one on the ground and one in flight. Its sheet lists both.

Movement Allowed by an Action

The following defaults apply during each tick.

Action during the Tick	Movement Allowed
Attack (melee, shot, or throw)	full Speed
Dodge or parry	full Speed—the dodge is movement
Cast a spell	half Speed
General action (drink, open, pick up)	half Speed
Stand up	all movement for the tick (see 3)
Long incantation, ritual, or concentration	none
Do nothing except move	full Speed and nothing else

Two rules govern the table:

The action's text takes precedence. A spell, feat, or creature technique can state its own movement limit, replacing the corresponding line. Mobile Caster does exactly this by raising casting movement from half to full Speed.
The final line is the game's only “run.” Giving up every other action does not make a character faster. It leaves full Speed available, just like an attack. There is no sprint multiplier.

Movement can be split around the action. A character does not need to spend it all at once: they can advance, strike, and finish moving during the same tick. Entering melee, attacking, and leaving is the game's default behavior—subject to the cost of leaving when an opponent has the feat that grants an opportunity attack (see 9).

Momentum doubles nothing by default. A character arriving at full Speed does not strike harder. That benefit always comes from a feat or creature text: Good Rider for a mounted charge, Attack from the Sky for Einar's leap, or the griffin's and dragon's dives.

Mounted Combat

A rider and mount naturally form a coordinated group. While the rider remains in the saddle, they share movement and position but remain two separate creatures.

Movement. The pair uses the mount's Speed. Its movement carries the rider without spending the rider's movement or creating a second move. The rider can move independently only by dismounting or jumping from the mount.

Being carried does not restrict the rider's actions. The rider can attack, shoot, or cast, including a Standard spell, while the mount advances at full Speed. The rider spends their own actions normally, while the mount retains its actions. The mount can therefore attack at the same instant its rider strikes or casts.

Position, Range, and Targets. Rider and mount occupy the mount's space, but each can be targeted and injured separately. Measure the rider's range from that space; a reach weapon extends it normally. The mount retains its own reach and threat range. An area effect covering their position can strike both.

Reactions. A mount's dodge automatically carries its rider, but only the mount spends a dodge. This movement does not guarantee that the rider avoids an attack aimed personally at them; the rider may need to use a separate dodge or parry. Every coordinated reaction uses the rider's Reflex.

Opportunity Attacks. The pair's movement counts as a single exit from a threat range, so it does not provoke two opportunity attacks from the same enemy. The enemy chooses whether to target mount or rider, provided its reach can strike that target.

Mounted Charge. A charge requires traveling at least the mount's full Speed in a straight line before impact. Mount and rider can strike simultaneously. Each applies their own charge effect to their first eligible attack if they have an ability granting one; later attacks during the round receive no such benefit. If the mount is stopped, knocked prone, or forced from its path before impact, both lose the charge. Parrying the rider does not cancel the mount's attack, or vice versa.

Control. A trained mount performs familiar maneuvers freely. An unusual order, an untrained mount, or a situation that should cause panic may require a general action or a prescribed chance check. The GM considers training, danger, the bond with the rider, and the mount's Intelligence.

Being Unhorsed. If the mount falls, dies, strikes an obstacle, or stops abruptly, the GM prescribes the chances that the rider remains mounted, jumps and lands standing, or is thrown prone. Consider Speed, the rider's Dexterity and experience, the saddle, the mount's size, and the cause of the fall. Failure normally leaves the rider prone near the mount. The fall deals additional damage only when circumstances justify it: a collision, ravine, trampling, obstacle, or flying mount.

Example—Two Impacts, One Instant. A rider with Good Rider travels 60 ft in a straight line on her warhorse. She strikes with her lance while the horse attacks with its hooves. The group makes one roll using the rider's Reflex, increased by 25% for the impact. The rider's first attack and the warhorse's first attack each deal double damage. If a defender parries the lance, the hooves still land; later attacks during the round are no longer charge attacks.

Chases

Because movement accompanies actions and no mode multiplies it, a chase is subtraction:

Ticks to catch up = gap ÷ difference in Speed per tick.

The GM need not play through those ticks. Calculate mentally and announce the result.

Player: I run after him. GM: You move 50 ft per tick, he moves 30, and he has about thirty feet on you. You catch him before the street corner.

A pursuer who is not faster will never catch anyone through Speed alone. They need a shortcut, obstacle, mount, spell, or plan. Resolve that approach with the prescribed chance check from 1.

Player: He's faster than me. I cut across the rooftops to land on him at the alley exit. GM: Good plan, but the timing is tight: 3 chances in 5.

When to Zoom In. Enter tick mode only when priority during the chase is contested: someone shoots, releases a spell, or closes a door (see 7). Otherwise, resolve the chase at scene scale and count nothing.

Ranges

Spell entries use named ranges:

Range	Distance
Touch	the caster must touch the target
Close	30 ft + 5 ft per CL
Medium	100 ft + 10 ft per CL
Far (or Long)	400 ft + 40 ft per CL
Global	no practical limit on the same plane

Far and Long are synonyms in spell entries and use the same line.
A distance written in the spell entry takes precedence over this table. Ray of Frost says “Medium, 80 ft,” so its range is 80 ft.
Range grows with caster level because everything grows with caster level (see 12). A powerful mage reaches farther without changing the spell.

Ranged weapons have their own distances. The GM can adjust these benchmarks:

Weapon	Effective Range
Sling, thrown dagger	30 ft
Shortbow, light crossbow	300 ft
Heavy crossbow	400 ft
Longbow	600 ft, up to 1,000 ft for a powerful archer
Pistol	100 ft
Repeating pistol	100 ft
Musket	600 ft
Blunderbuss	30 ft cone

Because there is no attack roll (see 1), there is no range penalty. Within effective range, the shot lands unless dodged or parried. Beyond that range, the GM calls for a prescribed chance check or simply refuses the shot.

Reach and Threat Range

Every melee combatant projects a threat range: the space their weapon—or fists—can reach without movement. An enemy “who can be touched without moving” is inside it. Use the following geometry:

Size	Base Reach
Medium	5 ft
Large	10 ft
Huge	15 ft
Gargantuan	25 ft
Colossal	40 ft

Fists, short weapons, and one-handed weapons use base reach.
Spears, pikes, halberds, and whips add +5 ft.
Forced movement out of a threat range is involuntary and provokes no opportunity attack.

Threat range also serves abilities that count nearby opponents. Osseur's “I Love to Fight,” for example, triggers when two enemies are simultaneously inside his range. The GM adjudicates exact reach when an unusual weapon or anatomy falls outside these benchmarks.

Opportunity Attacks

Voluntarily leaving a threat range is allowed but reckless: it can grant the enemy one attack outside their round against the exposed creature. A mage retreating to cast, an injured combatant fleeing, and an ally crossing a melee all expose themselves this way.

This attack requires the Opportunity Attack feat. By default, a character watches the target leave without attacking for free. The feat is available to everyone and exploits the opening only once per tick.

Line of Sight, Line of Effect, and Cover

Keep two distinct requirements separate:

Line of sight allows a character to choose a target. Without it, they target a point rather than a creature. See 2 for senses that replace sight.
Line of effect is an uninterrupted path to the target. A solid wall blocks it; a grate, pane of glass, or smoke curtain may allow sight without passage. The GM decides.

Cover is the true defense against magic. A damage spell allows no Save (see 12): characters do not resist it, they prevent it. Apart from interrupting the incantation, getting behind a wall is the game's only reliable protection.

Cover	Effect
Light—an ally, slender trunk, smoke	+2 to the defender's Reflex duel
Substantial—a low wall, arrow slit, wall corner	+5 to the defender's Reflex duel
Total—a solid wall	the target cannot be targeted

A defender who does not defend—because no dodge remains, they are prone, or they are unconscious—receives no bonus. The attacker instead makes a prescribed chance check for the blow to find an opening: typically 4 in 5 behind light cover and 2 in 3 behind substantial cover.

Cover does not protect against an area effect unless it is total.

Areas of Effect

Shape	Measurement
Radius	a sphere around an origin point declared by the caster
Cone	begins at the caster; its width at the far end equals its length
Line	5 ft wide along its full length
Emanation	centered on the caster and moves with them

The caster needs line of effect to the origin point. The area then spreads from that point, and a solid wall stops it.
Everything inside the shape is affected without a Save (see 12), except when the GM allows a high-level character a Reflex Save to leave the radius.
Allies inside the area are affected like enemies.
When unsure whether a creature lies at the edge of an area, it is outside.

The Third Dimension

Altitude is measured like any distance. A creature 100 ft above is 100 ft away; ranges and areas do not change in kind when they rise.
Effects grant three degrees of freedom: Levitate moves only up and down; Air Walk follows the slopes allowed by its spell level; Fly moves freely.
Flight defeats melee. A grounded creature threatens nothing beyond its reach. An enemy holding an altitude of 30 ft cannot be touched with an axe. Defeat it with ranged weapons, spells, or a fall. A colossus with 40 ft of reach is the exception.
Falling. If flight ends because a spell is dispelled, its duration expires, or the creature reaches 0 HP, the creature falls and takes the damage from 6: 1d6 per 10 feet unless protected by Feather Fall.
Attacking from the air follows the ordinary rules. Momentum grants no bonus without a feat or explicit creature text.

Forced Movement

A spell, breath weapon, or giant's backhand can move a creature against its will.

The effect states the distance. Forced movement does not spend the target's movement or cost an action.
If pushed toward a real danger—a chasm, blaze, or spikes—the target makes a Reflex Save against the effect's DC to stop at the edge.
A creature one size category larger than the effect allows moves half the distance; a creature two categories larger does not move.

Chapter Summary

A character has one Speed, spent during actions. There is no run, charge, or sprint mode.
The action determines remaining movement: full Speed while attacking or dodging, half while casting unless a feat says otherwise.
Chase = gap ÷ Speed difference. A slower pursuer needs a plan to catch the target.
Ranges: Close 30 + 5/CL, Medium 100 + 10/CL, Far 400 + 40/CL, Global. A value written in the entry takes precedence.
Reach by size: 5, 10, 15, 25, 40 ft; polearms add +5 ft.
Voluntarily leaving a threat range can trigger an opportunity attack when the opponent has the required feat; forced movement never does.
Total cover makes a target untargetable and is the only true defense against a damage spell.
Flight defeats melee; falling deals 1d6 per 10 feet.