Walls, vision and cover
Walls, doors and cover; dynamic vision and light; the difference between invisible (a barrier you can't see) and hidden (a secret that doesn't block); portals and travel zones; half and three-quarters cover.
Walls block sight, stop movement, hold doors that open and close, and hide from players what's on the other side. Together with dynamic vision and light, they give you real fog of war. This guide is for the GM.
Drawing walls
In the Build group of the map editor you have:
- Wall: chains segments; blocks vision and movement.
- Door: a door or Window anchored to the wall (the window blocks movement but you can see and shoot through it).
- Cover: blocks movement but lets you see and shoot (parapets, railings).
- Split: splits a wall in two so you can adjust it.
- Shape: a closed room in one go (rectangle, square, circle or triangle).
Detect walls builds the walls automatically from the map image; you review them and click Apply or Discard.
Properties of a wall
Selecting a wall (or several) opens its panel. There you choose the Type (Wall / Door / Cover), open or close a door, put a Bolt on it (GM only), set its Thickness and Color, and choose what it Blocks (Vision / Movement / Sound). With Blocks from you can make it one-sided.
Two things that get confused: invisible vs. hidden
They behave differently:
- Invisible (barrier): the wall isn't drawn, but it blocks just the same as a physical one (vision and movement), and players have it. Use it for clean boundaries without marking the map.
- Hidden from players (secret): the wall is secret; it isn't sent to players, so for them it doesn't block anything. Use it for hidden doors and passages the GM will reveal. Only the GM sees it.
If you want it to block without being seen, use Invisible. If you want a secret that has no effect until revealed, use Hidden from players.
Wall height
Height (feet) limits the band in which that wall exists. Empty = full height, which is how every wall starts.
- A low top (the Railing button, 3 feet) blocks movement for whoever is at its level, but from above you can see over it.
- A high floor is a bridge: you pass underneath.
This is how a balcony works. It goes together with floors (see the Floors: multi-level maps guide) and exports to Foundry as the Wall Height module.
Dynamic vision and fog
The Dynamic vision popover controls what each player sees:
- Enable: walls block the players' sight (needs the fog turned on).
- Shared vision: when off, each player sees only their own view; when on, they share what's been seen.
- Explored memory: what's already been seen stays dim after it leaves the line of sight.
- Realistic lights and Lights extend vision: fine-tune how light and line of sight interact.
- Ambient light sets the scene's global light (Dark, 30 ft, 60 ft or Full).
Each token can have Darkvision (30/60/90 ft) from its menu, and a Light it carries (Candle / Torch / Lantern).
Light
The Light tool places sources with Range, Color, Intensity, beam angle (cone) and Animation (Fixed, Torch, Pulse, Wave, Mist, Energy). In Scene settings → Ambience you set the scene's Darkness tint.
Portals and travel zones
The Portal tool connects points on the same map or on different maps:
- Connect with a portal from another scene, choose a Destination map, or ↺ This same map (teleport within the scene).
- Travel zone (no click): any token that ends its movement on top crosses automatically.
- Pair (create the return portal) creates the way back for you.
- When crossing, you can take the party (PCs), the enemies, everyone or the selection, and switch maps.
Cover
A Cover wall can give a defense bonus to whoever shelters behind it:
- Half +2 or 3/4 +5 to AC and to Dexterity saving throws.
- With the Automatic cover rule turned on (campaign settings), Roliando detects when the line of fire crosses a cover wall and adds the bonus on its own, noting it in the roll (e.g. — half cover (+2)).