I was looking this up for a PFS scenario, and I stumbled upon some weird wording. It seems like in some cases, the rulebook (as well as some adventure paths and PFS scenarios) uses "difficult terrain" and "two squares of movement" interchangeably. But do they mean the same thing, or are they separate entities, meaning they can overlap?
For instance, difficult terrain is only really referenced here:
Hampered Movement: Difficult terrain, obstacles, and poor visibility can hamper movement (see Table: Hampered Movement for details). When movement is hampered, each square moved into usually counts as two squares, effectively reducing the distance that a character can cover in a move.
Also, the bog rules say this:
If a square is part of a shallow bog, it has deep mud or standing water of about 1 foot in depth. It costs 2 squares of movement to move into a square with a shallow bog, and the DC of Acrobatics checks in such a square increases by 2.
They have the same effect, with the bog having an extra rider effect on it (the Acrobatics). Should I treat bog as regular difficult terrain, or as its own thing? Meaning, if it's somehow made difficult terrain as well (through, for instance Entangle), would each square count as four?
Also, I wanted to use Solid Fog as an example, but that has yet another different wording:
(...) Creatures moving through a solid fog move at half their normal speed and take a -2 penalty on all melee attack and melee damage rolls. (...)
So, basically, walking through Solid Fog while Entangled, in a Bog is one-eigth movement? This is an extreme example, obviously, but I've certainly seen two of the three happen.
Also, this is just an example, I'm sure there are more cases like this, this just came to mind. Should all of these things stack, or should I just treat them as variations on the theme of difficult terrain?
They're different.
Moving at half movement, for example, while using Acrobatics means you only get half your move speed. So, if I'm 30 feet, I instead move 15. If I'm 20 feet, I move 10, etc. This does not take into account other effects which impede movement.
Counting as 2 squares means it's specific only to that square, meaning if I wanted to move into that specific square, it costs as if I moved into that square twice (i.e. 10 feet).
Walking through Solid Fog, even if only partway through your movement, cuts your movement in half, straight out of the gate.
Entanglement cuts your speed in half again, meaning if you're moving 20 feet, you only get to move 5 feet while entangled in solid fog. Similarly, moving through a square that's considered Bog terrain requires two squares of movement.
Combining all of this, you would only have 5 speed, and need to move into a square that requires 10 movement to do. In other words, a character has to spend his entire round just to move one square.
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They're different.
Moving at half movement, for example, while using Acrobatics means you only get half your move speed. So, if I'm 30 feet, I instead move 15. If I'm 20 feet, I move 10, etc. This does not take into account other effects which impede movement.
Counting as 2 squares means it's specific only to that square, meaning if I wanted to move into that specific square, it costs as if I moved into that square twice (i.e. 10 feet).
Walking through Solid Fog, even if only partway through your movement, cuts your movement in half, straight out of the gate.
Entanglement cuts your speed in half again, meaning if you're moving 20 feet, you only get to move 5 feet while entangled in solid fog. Similarly, moving through a square that's considered Bog terrain requires two squares of movement.
Combining all of this, you would only have 5 speed, and need to move into a square that requires 10 movement to do. In other words, a character has to spend his entire round just to move one square.
What does one do with the "all diagonals cost 15ft in difficult terrain" rule for decreases that are not difficult terrain?
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I was looking this up for a PFS scenario, and I stumbled upon some weird wording. It seems like in some cases, the rulebook (as well as some adventure paths and PFS scenarios) uses "difficult terrain" and "two squares of movement" interchangeably. But do they mean the same thing, or are they separate entities, meaning they can overlap?
By looking through the CRB I can only come to the conclusion that they're used interchangeably. The whole environment chapter lists only "some very steep stairs" as explicit examples of difficult terrain. But it lists a lot of terrain types that reduce your movement. The only areas in which "difficult terrain" is used a lot in the CRB is in spells ("and the area is difficult terrain") and feats ("move through difficult terrain normally").
But more convincingly, the definition of difficult terrain in the combat chapters references things that in the environment chapter get more detailed rules, just without using the word difficult terrain:
Difficult Terrain: Difficult terrain, such as heavy undergrowth, broken ground, or steep stairs, hampers movement. Each square of difficult terrain counts as 2 squares of movement. Each diagonal move into a difficult terrain square counts as 3 squares. You can't run or charge across difficult terrain.
Dense Rubble: The ground is covered with debris of all sizes. It costs 2 squares of movement to enter a square with dense rubble. Dense rubble adds 5 to the DC of Acrobatics checks, and it adds 2 to the DC of Stealth checks.
I'm just going to posit that dense rubble and broken ground are more or less the same thing.
Stairs are the most common means of traveling up and down within a dungeon. A character can move up or down stairs as part of their movement without penalty, but they cannot run on them. Increase the DC of any Acrobatics skill check made on stairs by 4. Some stairs are particularly steep and are treated as difficult terrain.
Stairs win a prize as the only explicit example of difficult terrain in the Environment chapter.
Undergrowth: Vines, roots, and short bushes cover much of the ground in a forest. A space covered with light undergrowth costs 2 squares of movement to move into, and provides concealment. Undergrowth increases the DC of Acrobatics and Stealth checks by 2 because the leaves and branches get in the way. Heavy undergrowth costs 4 squares of movement to move into and provides concealment with a 30% miss chance (instead of the usual 20%). It increases the DC of Acrobatics checks by 5. Heavy undergrowth is easy to hide in, granting a +5 circumstance bonus on Stealth checks. Running and charging are impossible. Squares with undergrowth are often clustered together. Undergrowth and trees aren't mutually exclusive; it's common for a 5-foot square to have both a tree and undergrowth.
Note here that light undergrowth already behaves like difficult terrain, but heavy undergrowth behaves more like "dire" difficult terrain. Also notice that there's a slight discrepancy: the combat chapter names heavy undergrowth, but the environment chapter makes undergrowth difficult at "light" and very difficult at "heavy".
I suspect it's the combat chapter being a bit fast and loose here, because the environment chapter is supported by the chapter with my favorite title:
Hampered Movement: Difficult terrain, obstacles, and poor visibility can hamper movement (see Table: Hampered Movement for details). When movement is hampered, each square moved into usually counts as two squares, effectively reducing the distance that a character can cover in a move.
My conclusion from all of this is that at the time of writing the CRB, "difficult terrain" wasn't neatly patented as a keyword sold with certain exclusive and strictly-defined types of dungeon tiling, but meant more conversationally, as "any terrain that is difficult to move in". Anything that fits the description (takes at least 2 squares to enter) should be considered candidate difficult terrain.
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So what then of effects that say characters move across or through them at half speed, rather than saying the terrain costs double movement to enter? I think they'll need to be judged on a case by case basis. You might not be able to overcome Solid Fog with fancy footwork, and it certainly shouldn't help if you're slowed down because you can't see in the dark. Black Tentacles and Entangle clearly say they create difficult terrain. Grease says you can use Acrobatics to move through it at half speed - that may be a reference to using Acrobatics to move across uneven or narrow surfaces, which is also at half speed because you're trying to maintain balance. So an effect that lets you move at full speed in difficult terrain might not let you maintain balance at full speed in such terrain...
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Finally, effects that slow down specific people are clearly not difficult terrain - like using Acrobatics to bypass enemies, being entangled by a tanglefoot bag, or being slowed by Slow.
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Is the phrase running and charging are impossible only in the case of heavy undergrowth, or are those actions prohibited also in the case of light?
Answer, under running confirms, no running in difficult terrain: "You can't run across difficult terrain or if you can't see where you're going."
And under difficult terrain: "You can't run or charge across difficult terrain."
Here's another case where the grammar of the paragraph structure could be more helpful if the rules were stated thusly: general rules, then subsections define specific rules, such as light versus heavy. When necessary, tables are a better than free flowing ambiguous text. In this case there were general, then specific, then general following the specific, making it difficult terrain to read the meaning.