Sandy Shore

Beaches and dunes held together by tough grasses, open to wind and sea. Easy walking at low tide, a landing place for boats, and a place where storms leave strange things behind.

Hear it

By day: Walking on the Shore (On Patreon, Guardian tier)
Calm: On the Shore (In the album RPG Ambiences Vol. 1)
In the tropics: Tropical Coast (In the album RPG Ambiences Vol. 8)
At night: Tropical Coast during Night (On Patreon, Guardian tier)
In a storm: Storm on Shore with Thunder (On Patreon, Raven tier)
At camp: Campfire on Seashore with Gulls (On Patreon, Raven tier)
A wreck: Shipwreck on Shore (In the album RPG Ambiences Vol. 5)
Tides: Rough Sea (In the album RPG Ambiences Vol. 8)

For the table

Ground: open, about 30 km a day on foot
Water: scarce
Foraging: fair

Hazards

Tides. The sea comes back faster than a walker on the flats. A causeway or a beach crossed at low tide can close behind the party.

D&D 5e

Plays as: coastal, normal pace at most
Checks: forage: Survival DC 10 · find the way: DC 5 · search: DC 15
Creatures are spotted at: 2d10 × 10 ft

This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 ("SRD 5.2.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.

Pathfinder Second Edition

Plays as (Pathfinder Second Edition): plains, open terrain, about 32 km a day at Speed 25
Checks: Subsist: Survival DC 15 · Sense Direction: Survival DC 15
Random encounters: flat check DC 12 each day

This product is licensed under the ORC License located at the Library of Congress at TX 9-307-067 and available online at various locations including paizo.com/orclicense, azoralaw.com/orclicense, and others. All warranties are disclaimed as set forth therein. Attribution: this rules layer is based on the following Licensed Material: Pathfinder Player Core © 2023 Paizo Inc., Designed by Logan Bonner, Jason Bulmahn, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, and Mark Seifter. Authors: Alexander Augunas, Kate Baker, Logan Bonner, Jason Bulmahn, Carlos Cabrera, Calder CaDavid, James Case, Eleanor Ferron, Steven Hammond, Joan Hong, Vanessa Hoskins, James Jacobs, Jenny Jarzabski, Erik Keith, Dustin Knight, Lyz Liddell, Luis Loza, Patchen Mortimer, Dennis Muldoon, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Mikhail Rekun, David N. Ross, Michael Sayre, Mark Seifter, Kendra Leigh Speedling, Mark Thompson, Clark Valentine, Andrew White, Landon Winkler, and Linda Zayas-Palmer; Pathfinder GM Core © 2023 Paizo Inc., Designed by Logan Bonner and Mark Seifter. Authors: Amirali Attar Olyaee, Logan Bonner, Creighton Broadhurst, Jason Bulmahn, James Case, Jesse Decker, Eleanor Ferron, Fabby Garza Marroquín, Jaym Gates, Matthew Goetz, James Jacobs, Brian R. James, Jenny Jarzabski, Dustin Knight, Jason LeMaitre, Lyz Liddell, Luis Loza, Ron Lundeen, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, David N. Ross, Michael Sayre, Mark Seifter, Owen K.C. Stephens, Amber Stewart, Clark Valentine, Landon Winkler, and Linda Zayas-Palmer; Pathfinder Monster Core © 2024 Paizo Inc., Authors: Alexander Augunas, Dennis Baker, Kate Baker, Joshua Birdsong, Joseph Blomquist, Logan Bonner, Jason Bulmahn, James Case, John Compton, Paris Crenshaw, Adam Daigle, Darrin Drader, Brian Duckwitz, Robert N. Emerson, Scott Fernandez, Eleanor Ferron, Leo Glass, Matthew Goodall, BJ Hensley, Thurston Hillman, Vanessa Hoskins, James Jacobs, Jenny Jarzabski, Miko Kallio, Jason Keeley, Jeff Lee, Lyz Liddell, Luis Loza, Ron Lundeen, Robert G. McCreary, Philippe-Antoine Menard, Jacob W. Michaels, Dave Nelson, Jason Nelson, Tim Nightengale, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Mikhail Rekun, Patrick Renie, Alex Riggs, David N. Ross, Michael Sayre, Mark Seifter, Chris S. Sims, Amber Stewart, Jeffrey Swank, William Thompson, Jason Tondro, Clark Valentine, Landon Winkler, Tonya Woldridge, and Linda Zayas-Palmer. If you use our Licensed Material in your own published work, please credit us as follows: Biomes, Pathfinder Second Edition rules layer © 2026 Michael Ghelfi. Reserved Material: the names of Biomes and its catalogues, its descriptions, sounds, art and code. Pathfinder is a registered trademark of Paizo Inc.; this site is not published, endorsed, or specifically approved by Paizo Inc.

Adventure hooks

A storm has left a whale on the beach, and three villages claim the meat, the bone and the oil. The lord’s bailiff is a day’s ride away, and he will claim all of it.
Every year turtles come ashore to lay, and every year a merchant buys their eggs for a sauce the court adores. This year the turtles have not come, and the merchant has promised the court its sauce anyway.
A beachcomber has found a sealed bottle holding a love letter in excellent verse, addressed to whoever finds it. He has fallen in love, and wants help finding the poet before the next storm brings him a rival.
The dunes are moving inland, as they always have, and will bury the chapel within the year. The priest wants the old bones in its floor moved first; the villagers would rather move the dunes.

What grows here

Marram Grass (grass). A stiff grass up to 1.2 m with sharp rolled leaves, native to the coasts of Europe and North Africa. It holds the sand of beach dunes with long rhizomes and grows upward as sand buries it, which is why it was planted to fix dunes, as in the Landes of Gascony. Where it was introduced, in California, New Zealand and Australia, it has become an invasive weed. Gives: Marram Stem, Marram Rhizome.

Animals

African Bush Elephant (man-killer, in herds, day and night)
Brown Bear (man-killer, alone, at dawn and dusk)
Polar Bear (man-killer, alone, by day)
Arctic Fox (dangerous if cornered, in families, day and night)
Harbour Seal (dangerous if cornered, alone, by day)
Walrus (dangerous if cornered, in herds, day and night)
European Herring Gull (harmless, in colonies, by day)

Creatures

Giant Crab (a threat to the unwary, Challenge 1/8)
Sahuagin (a threat to the unwary, Challenge 1/2)
Pirate (a fight to fear, Challenge 1-6)
Bronze Dragon (a fight to fear, Challenge 2-22)

To gather

Arctic Fox Pelt, European Herring Gull Egg, European Herring Gull Feathers, Harbour Seal Blubber, Harbour Seal Pelt, Marram Rhizome, Marram Stem, Walrus Blubber, Walrus Hide, African Bush Elephant Hide, Brown Bear Bile, Brown Bear Hide, Elephant Ivory Powder, Polar Bear Fat, Walrus Ivory, Polar Bear Hide, Sunken Ambergris, Enchanted Salt Pinch, Coral Polyp Dust, Henbane Leaf, Adult Dragon Tonsils, Dragon Tongue, Witch's Eye

To fish

Harbour Scrap, Herring Shoal, Rock Crab, Wreck Timber Bundle, Drowned Purse, Message Bottle, Sea Turtle, Ambergris Lump

Fantasy variants

Blessed Sandy Shore, Enchanted Sandy Shore, Dead Sandy Shore

Nearby biomes

Rocky Shore, Estuary

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