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Movement Budgets

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Track per-turn movement distances with a dynamic colored ruler, optionally enforce movement caps, and roll back accidental token moves with one click.


What it does

Every tracked token has a remaining movement budget. While dragging a token:

  • The ruler draws in green while the move is within budget.
  • The ruler turns red once the move exceeds the budget.
  • The movement pill on the Crawl Strip card counts down remaining feet in real time.

Movement limits are purely visual by default. You can enable hard move refusals in settings if your table prefers strict enforcement.


Which tokens are tracked

Mode Tokens tracked
Crawl (out of combat) Tokens added to the crawl roster via Add Tokens
Combat All owned tokens in the active combat encounter

Movement is not tracked when the crawl is stopped.


Where budgets come from

Because Shadowdark does not use per-character speed attributes on sheets, budgets are configured via module settings and NPC stat blocks:

Situation Movement budget Default
Crawl (any token) Out-of-combat movement budget 90 ft
Combat (PC token) Combat movement default 30 ft
Combat (NPC token) NPC's system.move stat block entry See table below

NPC movement in combat

NPC movement values map from standard Shadowdark distance keywords:

Keyword Distance per turn
None 0 ft (immobile)
Close 5 ft
Near 30 ft
Double near 60 ft
Triple near 90 ft
Far 120 ft
Special Falls back to combat default (30 ft)

Unrecognized or blank values use the combat default.


When budgets reset

Movement budgets refill automatically upon these triggers:

Event Result
Next Round on Crawl Bar Refills all crawl roster movement budgets
Full cycle of Crawl Order Advancing past the last party member resets all budgets
Combat round / turn change Active combatant receives a fresh movement budget
Movement Rollback Restores the token's turn-start budget and position

Enforcement settings

Configure strict movement rules under Configure Settings → Shadowdark Enhancer:

Setting Default When enabled
Enforce out-of-combat movement budget Off Refuses crawl moves exceeding budget
Enforce combat movement budget Off Refuses combat moves exceeding remaining movement
Lock movement out of turn Off Only the token holding the active turn may move

How out-of-turn locking works

  • In combat: Only the active combatant may move.
  • During a crawl: Only the party member whose turn it is in the Crawl Order may move (active once all members have rolled initiative).
  • GM override: GMs can always move any token freely.

With enforcement disabled, remaining movement can drop into negative numbers (for example, -10/30 ft) to show how far past the budget a token moved.


Rolling back a move

The module snapshots each token's position at the beginning of its turn.

To revert a move:

  1. Right-click the token to open Foundry's token HUD.
  2. Click the Rollback Movement button (the circular arrow in the left column).

The Rollback Movement button on the token HUD

The token instantly snaps back to its turn-start coordinates, its movement budget is refunded in full, and a notification confirms the rollback.

Players can roll back their own tokens. The action executes on the active GM client to ensure state consistency.


Troubleshooting

\"No turn-start position recorded for this token.\"
The token was placed after the round started, or combat began before the crawl was initiated. The position will be recorded automatically at the next turn or round change.

Movement is not being deducted.
Ensure the crawl session is active (End button shown on Crawl Bar) and that the token has been added to the crawl roster via Add Tokens.

The ruler stays green beyond the budget limit.
Remaining movement resets each turn. If a token has not moved yet in the current turn, cycle the turn or advance the round to ensure fresh state.

A ghost ruler trail remains on canvas.
Selecting another token or clicking the canvas clears lingering ruler lines.


Known limitations

  • Uniform terrain cost: Grid movement does not calculate difficult terrain multipliers.
  • Single movement mode: Special movement types (fly, swim, burrow, climb) use the standard budget.
  • No encumbrance penalty: Encumbered status does not automatically reduce movement budgets.

Related: Crawl Strip & Crawl Bar · Settings Reference