Movement in the Shallow
Movement Through Mudjaw Beach
The light-green water is approximately 2–3 feet deep. The dark-blue eastern channel is approximately 6–7 feet deep. These rules use PF2e's difficult-terrain and swimming systems, with a few encounter-specific rulings to keep movement on this map consistent and easy to adjudicate.
| Creature | 2–3 ft. Shallows | 6–7 ft. Deep Water |
|---|---|---|
| Small Humanoid | Greater difficult terrain. The water reaches high enough on most Small creatures to make wading extremely awkward. Each 5-foot square costs 15 feet of land movement. | Must Swim. Use the normal Swim action unless the creature has a Swim Speed. |
| Medium Humanoid | Difficult terrain. The creature can still wade and keep its footing, but each 5-foot square costs 10 feet of land movement. | Must Swim. For this encounter, the entire dark-blue channel counts as swimming water regardless of an individual creature's exact height. |
| Grindylow | Swim 25 feet. The shallows are deep enough for a grindylow to use its Swim Speed normally. It can also use Jet. | Swim 25 feet. It can also use Jet. |
| Blue-Ringed Octopus | Swim 25 feet. At Tiny size, 2–3 feet of water provides ample depth for normal swimming. It can also use Jet. | Swim 25 feet. It can also use Jet. |
| Mudjaw Bloom | Extremely slow. A Mudjaw Bloom can move only 5 feet by spending all 3 actions. | Extremely slow. A Mudjaw Bloom can move only 5 feet by spending all 3 actions. |
Both the grindylow and the blue-ringed octopus can use Jet anywhere in the light-green or dark-blue water. Jet costs 2 actions and moves the creature up to 60 feet in a straight line through the water without triggering reactions.
The entire path must remain in water. A creature cannot Jet across dry sand, exposed roots, or another section of ground merely because water lies on the far side. Roots, logs, or other solid obstacles can also block the required straight-line path.
Small and Medium humanoids in the light-green shallows are wading, not Swimming. They use their land Speeds with the terrain penalties above and do not automatically use the encounter's aquatic-combat restrictions simply because they are standing in shallow water.
Once a Small or Medium humanoid enters the dark-blue channel, treat it as Swimming. A creature without a Swim Speed normally uses Athletics to Swim and is off-guard while in aquatic combat.
The water-depth rules above describe the normal squares on the map. Particularly dense mangrove roots, thick reed beds, submerged branches, fallen logs, and unusually soft mud can still be declared difficult terrain or otherwise block movement when their placement clearly warrants it.
A Swim Speed does not allow a creature to pass through a solid obstacle. Grindylows and octopuses can maneuver through open flooded areas easily, but they must still go around trunks, logs, dense root masses, and other impassable features.
Humanoids use their normal land Speeds on dry ground. Grindylows have a 10-foot land Speed. The blue-ringed octopus has no listed land Speed and should generally remain in the flooded portions of the battlefield rather than moving normally across exposed ground.
A Mudjaw Bloom is effectively rooted in the muck. It does not Stride normally. To relocate, it must spend all 3 actions on its turn to drag itself 5 feet into an adjacent space. It cannot combine this movement with another Stride or use those actions separately to move farther.