Source Player Core pg. 412
Your movement and position determine how you interact with the world. Moving in exploration and downtime modes is relatively fluid. Movement in encounter mode follows additional rules explained in Tactical Movement. The rules below apply in all modes of play.
The majority of creatures have a Speed, which is how fast they can move across the ground.
There are other ways to move, such as through the air or underground. Each of these special movement types has its own Speed value. Many creatures have these Speeds naturally, such as a barathu having a fly Speed or a kalo having a swim Speed. The various types of movement are listed below. Since the Stride action can be used only with your normal Speed, moving using one of these movement types requires using a special action, and you can't Step while using one of these movement types. Speeds can be increased or decreased with item, circumstance, and status bonuses and penalties. Penalties can't reduce your Speeds below 5 feet unless stated otherwise.
Switching from one movement type to another requires ending your action that has the first movement type and using a new action that has the second movement type. For instance, if you Climbed 10 feet to the top of a cliff, you could then Stride forward 10 feet. In some cases, the GM might rule otherwise, especially if you're moving a very short distance using one of the types of movement.
Most characters and monsters have a Speed statistic that indicates how quickly they can move on a solid surface. This statistic is referred to as land Speed when it's necessary to differentiate it from special Speeds.
When you use the Stride action, you move a number of feet equal to your Speed. Whenever a rule mentions your Speed without specifying a type, it's referring to your land Speed.
Hover: Some creatures, such as barathus, have a land Speed that represents how fast they can move while hovering within 5 feet of a solid surface. Hovering creatures don't count as flying but might be able to avoid certain types of difficult or hazardous terrain, at the GM's discretion.
A burrow Speed lets you tunnel through solids. You can use the Burrow action if you have a burrow Speed. Burrowing doesn't normally leave behind a tunnel unless the ability specifically states that it does. Most creatures need to hold their breath when burrowing, and they might need tremorsense to navigate.
A climb Speed allows you to move up or down inclines and vertical surfaces. Most creatures need to succeed at Athletics checks to Climb, but if you have a climb Speed, you automatically succeed and move up to your climb Speed instead of the listed distance.
You might still have to attempt Athletics checks to Climb in hazardous conditions, to Climb extremely difficult surfaces, or to cross horizontal planes such as ceilings. You can also choose to roll an Athletics check to Climb rather than accept an automatic success in hopes of getting a critical success. Your climb Speed grants you a +4 circumstance bonus to Athletics checks to Climb.
If you have a climb Speed, you're not off-guard while you're climbing.
As long as you have a fly Speed, you can use the Fly and Arrest a Fall actions. You can also attempt to Maneuver in Flight if you're trained in the Acrobatics skill.
Wind conditions can affect how you use the Fly action. In general, moving against the wind uses the same rules as moving through difficult terrain (or greater difficult terrain, if you're also flying upward), and moving with the wind allows you to move 10 feet for every 5 feet of movement you spend (not cumulative with moving straight downward).
Upward and downward movement are both relative to the gravity in your area; if you're in zero gravity, moving up or down is no different from moving horizontally.
With a swim Speed, you can propel yourself through liquids with little impediment. Instead of attempting Athletics checks to Swim, you automatically succeed and move up to your swim Speed instead of the listed distance. Moving up or down is still moving through difficult terrain.
You might still have to attempt checks to Swim in hazardous conditions or to cross turbulent water. You can also choose to roll an Athletics check to Swim rather than accept an automatic success in hopes of getting a critical success. Your swim Speed grants you a +4 circumstance bonus to Athletics checks to Swim.
Having a swim Speed doesn't necessarily mean you can breathe in water, so you might still have to hold your breath if you're underwater to avoid drowning.
If you fall more than 5 feet, when you land you take bludgeoning damage equal to half the distance you fell. Treat falls longer than 1,500 feet as though they were 1,500 feet (750 damage). If you take any damage from a fall, you land prone. You fall about 500 feet in the first round of falling and about 1,500 feet each round thereafter.
You can Grab an Edge as a reaction to reduce the damage from some falls, or Arrest a Fall if you have a fly Speed. In addition, if you fall into water, snow, or another relatively soft substance, you can treat the fall as though it were 20 feet shorter, or 30 feet shorter if you intentionally dove in. The effective reduction can't be greater than the depth (so when falling into 10-foot-deep water, you treat the fall as 10 feet shorter).
If you land on a creature, that creature must attempt a DC 15 Reflex save. Intentionally aiming yourself to land on a creature after a long fall is almost impossible.
Critical Success The creature takes no damage.
Success The creature takes bludgeoning damage equal to one-quarter the falling damage you took.
Failure The creature takes bludgeoning damage equal to half the falling damage you took.
Critical Failure The creature takes the same amount of bludgeoning damage you took from the fall.
A dropped object takes damage just like a falling creature. If the object lands on a creature, that creature can attempt a Reflex save using the same rules as for a creature falling on a creature. Hazards and spells that involve falling objects, such as a rock slide, have their own rules about how they interact with creatures and the damage they deal.
Your movement during encounter mode—and at other times where precise movement matters—depends on the actions and other abilities you use. Whether you Stride, Step, Swim, or Climb, the maximum distance you can move is based on your Speed. Certain augmentations, feats, or items can grant you other movement types, allowing you to swiftly burrow, climb, fly, or swim. Some abilities have the traversal trait, allowing you to substitute other forms of movement you have in place of the ability's Stride actions.
When the rules refer to a “movement cost” or “spending movement,” they're describing how many feet of your Speed you must use to move from one point to another. Normally, movement costs the number of feet you're moving. However, sometimes it's harder to move a certain distance due to difficult terrain or other factors. In such a case, you might have to spend a different amount of movement to move from one place to another.
Some reactions and free actions are triggered by a creature using an action with the move trait. The most notable example is Reactive Strike (reproduced below). Actions with the move trait can trigger reactions or free actions throughout the course of the distance traveled. Each time you exit a square within a creature's reach, your movement triggers those reactions and free actions (although no more than once per move action for a given reacting creature). If you use a move action but don't move out of a square, the trigger instead happens at the end of that action or ability.
Some actions, such as Step, specifically state they don't trigger reactions or free actions based on movement.
Move | Operative |
[reaction]
Trigger A creature within your reach leaves a square during a move action it’s using.
You’re able to move deftly around your foes, getting out of tricky situations or managing to put yourself into a place where you hold the advantage. You Step up to twice directly toward the triggering creature.
If an encounter involves combat, it's often a good idea to track the movement and relative position of the participants using a Starfinder Flip-Mat or some other form of grid to display the terrain and miniatures to represent the combatants. When a character moves on a grid, every 1-inch square of the play area is 5 feet across in the game world. Hence, a creature moving in a straight line spends 5 feet of its movement for every map square traveled. Difficult terrain can make some squares cost more of your movement.
Iseph decides to Stride. They have a Speed of 25 feet. Iseph moves straight south, spending 10 feet of their Speed, then diagonally, spending another 5 feet. Iseph's next diagonal move, because it's their second diagonal of the turn, costs 10 feet of movement. Iseph has spent all 25 feet of their Speed and ends that Stride.
Iseph Seeks, and a control panel catches their eye to the north, so they decide to move toward it. They spend 5 feet of their Speed to head east. However, the debris is difficult terrain, so each dotted square costs 5 more feet of Speed. Iseph moves diagonally, spending 10 feet of movement since this is an odd-numbered diagonal. They want to move northeast again, but that would cost them 15 feet (10 feet for an even-numbered diagonal and 5 more for being difficult terrain). Instead, Iseph decides to move directly north. This costs them 10 feet, so they've used all 25 feet of their Speed and are out of actions.
Because moving diagonally covers more ground, you count that movement differently. The first square of diagonal movement you make in a turn counts as 5 feet, but the second counts as 10 feet, and your count thereafter alternates between the two. For example, as you move across 4 squares diagonally, you would count 5 feet, then 10, then 5, and then 10, for a total of 30 feet. You track your total diagonal movement across all your movement during your turn, but reset your count at the end of your turn. The diagram in the sidebar below shows an example.
Most movement in a game can be represented on a flat map. If creatures are flying, swimming, or otherwise moving through three-dimensional space, see the advice in the sidebar under Aerial Combat.
Creatures and objects of different sizes occupy different amounts of space. The sizes and the spaces they each take up on a grid are listed in the Size and Reach table (see below). The table also lists the typical reach for creatures of each size, for both tall creatures (most bipeds) and long creatures (most quadrupeds). See Range and Reach for more about reach.
The Space entry lists how many feet on a side a creature's space is, so a Large creature fills a 10-foot-by-10-foot space, or 4 squares on the grid. (If you need to measure in three dimensions, their space is also 10 feet high.) Sometimes part of a creature extends beyond its space, such as if a sky fisher is grabbing you with its lasso filaments. In that case, the GM will usually allow attacking the extended portion, even if you can't reach the main creature.
Size | Space | Reach (Tall) | Reach (Long) |
Tiny | <5 Feet | 0 ft | 0 ft |
Small | 5 ft | 5 ft | 5 ft |
Medium | 5 ft | 5 ft | 5 ft |
Large | 10ft | 10ft | 5ft |
Huge | 15ft | 15ft | 10ft |
Gargantuan | 20 feet or more | 20ft | 15ft |
A Small or larger creature or object takes up at least 1 square on a grid, and creatures of these sizes can't usually share spaces except in situations like a character riding a mount.
Multiple Tiny creatures can occupy the same square. At least four can fit in a single square, though the GM might determine that even more can fit. Tiny creatures can share a space occupied by a larger creature as well. If a Tiny creature's reach is 0 feet, it must share a space with a creature in order to attack it.
You can move through the space of a willing creature. If you want to move through an unwilling creature's space, you can Tumble Through it. You can't end your turn in a square occupied by another creature, though you can end a move action in its square provided that you immediately use another move action to leave that square. If two creatures end up in the same square by accident, the GM determines which one is forced out of the square (or whether one falls prone).
You can share a space with a prone creature if that creature is willing, unconscious, or dead and if it's your size or smaller. The GM might allow you to climb atop the corpse or unconscious body of a larger creature in some situations. A prone creature can't stand up while someone else occupies its space, but it can Crawl to a space where it's able to stand, or it can attempt to Shove the other creature out of the way.
In most cases, you can move through the space of a creature three sizes larger than you or larger. This means a Medium creature can move through the space of a Gargantuan creature and a Small creature can move through the space of a Huge or Gargantuan creature. Likewise, a bigger creature can move through the space of a creature three sizes smaller than itself or smaller. You still can't end your movement in a space occupied by a creature.
Tiny creatures are an exception, just like with sharing a space. They can move through creatures' spaces and can even end their movement there. Similarly, other creatures can move through and end their movement in a Tiny creature's space.
Because objects aren't as mobile as creatures are, they're more likely to fill a space. This means you can't always move through their spaces like you might move through a space occupied by a creature. You might be able to occupy the same square as a statue of your size, but not a wide column. The GM determines whether you can move into an object's square normally, whether special rules apply, or if you're unable to move into the square at all.
When an effect forces you to move, or if you start falling, the distance you move is defined by the effect that moved you, not by your Speed. Forced movement doesn't trigger reactions that are triggered by movement. Some common causes of forced movement include the Reposition and Shove actions of Athletics or the solarian's Stellar Rush feat. In the rare cases where it's unclear whether your movement is voluntary or forced, the GM makes the determination.
If forced movement would move you into a space you can't occupy—because objects are in the way or because you lack the movement type needed to reach it, for example— you stop moving in the last space you can occupy.
Usually the creature or effect forcing the movement chooses the path the victim takes. If you're pushed or pulled, you can usually be moved through hazardous terrain, pushed out of an airlock, or the like. Abilities that reposition you in some other way can't put you in such dangerous places unless they specify otherwise. In all cases, the GM makes the final call if there's doubt on where forced movement can move a creature.
Some abilities allow a creature to move while carrying another along with it. This is forced movement for the carried creature. Unless noted otherwise, they both move on the same path while this happens—the carrying creature can't drag its victim through dangers while avoiding them itself, for example.