What happens between travelling and rest?

Question

Rules of exploration mode of Pathfinder 2e had recently puzzled me.

1. Here is said that every 24 hours characters need 8 hours of rest and if they'd go for more than 16 hours without it - they'd be fatigued.
2. Here is table of distances that characters can cover - and it's clear from that table is that per day characters are supposed to spend only 8 hours walking.

Is there any explanation about what happens during the other 8 hours before rest? Are there some mandatory activities that take those 8 hours? Is there limit on time of activity characters can do during day? Like - if characters spent 8 hours to reach some ruins - can they start exploring them? Because, according to rules of travel - they are too tired to walk anywhere by that time.

Thanks everyone for answering about what CAN be done during that time, it is going to help me set up some camp activities for player for sure.

But, I want to clarify that question is about what characters MUST do, according to rules. Is there anything that must take part of 16 hour-day that characters have, something that is written in official rules (or other official sources) that takes their time. Supposedly taking 8 hours that they are supposed to stay awake, but not travelling and whether it can be combined with some other activities (like exploring dungeons) or not. Alternatively - I'm looking for explanation (also official) - why travelling speed table lists travel distance per day as if characters have travelled only 8 hours per day.

Right now I'm aware that 1 hour per day is taken by daily preparations and unlike some other RPGs, daily preparations are not part of the rest. And that after 8 hours of travelling in fine weather characters are supposed to get fatigued (though fatigue shouldn't stop them from travelling, just limit exploration activities and impose AC penalty, but still in may be the reason for that travelling speed table to list only 8 hours of travel per day).

Answer 1

I don't think there's an explicit rule stating what happens during the hours you're "not travelling" but there's also nothing limiting how much time you spend travelling

Note that nowhere does it say that you can only travel for 8h. The maximum distance seems to imply that, but that's only if you read it in conjunction with the travel speeds per hour and also if the party "[travels] over flat and clear terrain at a determined pace" while doing nothing else. No rest stops, no paying attention to ambushes, no skills, no spells, nothing. Just moving forward for 8 hours.

The way the travelling and exploration rules are written appears to assume you will be, most of the time, doing exploration activities as you travel. And most exploration activities halve your speed. This, conveniently, means that to reach the "maximum miles per day" you'd have to be traveling for more than 8 hours (up to 16, if you spend every single moment doing an exploration activity). So, after "8 hours of rest and 1 hour of daily preparations", you have 15 hours to fill with travelling and everything else you do while travelling.

So taking these facts into account (no explicit time limit, the table applying only to "traveling over flat and clear terrain at a determined pace" and exploration activities halving travel speed), I'd say that the "miles per day" does not impose a time limit on travelling, it only imposes a maximum distance limit, and how long it takes the party to reach that limit is just not part of the equation used to travel that distance.

Edited to add:

This of course leaves us with the question: What if the party actually "travels over flat and clear terrain at a determined pace" while engaging in no other activities for 8 hours straight? In absence of other rules, and applying real world logic (which you could argue isn't appropriate, in that case you'd have to come up with your own heuristic), I'd say that the party is just too extenuated to continue travelling or exploring so their options at this point are either setting up camp or roaming a town until they find a place to take a break, and then taking a break until it's time to actually "rest" again. They've spent a whole working day walking without stop while carrying all of their adventuring gear on them, I don't think they'd be able to do any complex activity after that much exertion.

However, you can include the time preparing for a break and taking that break in the "travel time" in the first place, and therefore consider they were travelling at a reduced speed for a while because, once again: nowhere (that I know of) does the book say that you can only travel for 8 hours a day. The only explicit limit is on distance, not time, so anything you do while not fighting or resting is essentially "travelling but at a slower pace".

Answer 2

The other 8 hours is raising and striking camp and taking care of gear.

It takes a lot of time to build a shelter, collect firewood, prepare a meal, and so on in a world without gas stoves and high-tech tents. Additionally, your dinner might need to be trapped or foraged first.

You need time to look after your gear. Leather needs to be cleaned and conditioned, metal must be cleaned and oiled, weapons have to be sharpened.

Time is required to look after your skills. Warriors will be exercising and doing drills, bards will be practicing songs and poems, wizards will be studying their books, and so on.

Social and spiritual activities both take time as well.

Answer 3

After some research and digging through the rules - I found what limits travelling per day. There is an obscure table of temperature effects in GM Core, that states that during a fine weather overland travel is limited to 8 hours before characters would get fatigued. Less if weather is colder or warmer.

There are no obligatory activities that characters should take during the day, aside from daily preparations that take about an hour. Walking in some dungeon doesn't count as travelling (despite of some dungeons being really big), so there you can spend all 16 hours walking.

Setting up camp, cooking food, training and other things are not mandatory activities and are not listed in basic rules, only in some additional supplements (like Kingmaker adventure path)

Answer 4

Most of the remaining time would be spent dealing with daily chores.

1) Setting up camp.

You would want to make sure your camp is set up in such a way to insulate you from as much of the hazards of the local environment as possible.

2) Finding and boiling water.

This would be a daily occurrence, and a major priority, unless the party has a magic source of water. Drinking water you find in nature can have significant risks, whether it be contamination from an animal carcass that you didn't know is upstream or other potential disease vectors. the average human can survive for only about 3ish days without water, but significantly longer without food.

3) Hunting/trapping food.

You want to eat fresh food as often as possible, since it lasts less time than the rations that are specifically prepared for longer-term storage. Eating fresh food also allows you to preserve the travel rations you are carrying for the days when you can't find anything safe to eat at all.

4) Repairing gear from daily wear.

Anything that gets daily use would need to be checked to make sure it's not showing signs of damage, and be repaired if it was starting to show sign of damage. Boots/shoes would be checked for wear in the sole and upper, straps for backpacks, saddlebags (if mounted), and saddles for mounts would be inspected for wear, harnesses for beast of burden pulling carts would need inspection, the list of gear needing inspection is essentially the same as the list of anything that was used that day in any capacity.

5) Stretching out muscles.

Most modern-day backpackers will spend some time at the end of the hiking day stretching their legs, and rolling the muscles in their legs on something round, so that they can keep traveling the same distance every day. If you fail to stretch out muscles, you can cramp up during the night, and you won't be able to travel as far, if at all, the next day.

6) Keeping in practice with class skills.

This varies depending on the class, but all classes would have things they need to do to keep combat-ready. A cleric might spend some of the time praying to their god and preparing their spells for the next day, while a fighter would be practicing with their weapons.

7) Tending to any injuries/illnesses.

This could include having to find medicinal herbs in the local area to help stop bleeding or settle an upset stomach, cleansing an wound, checking on a older wound to make sure it's healing well, and many other things like that. Never discount how much even a simple blister can make a difference to an adventurer's ability to travel, and how valuable making sure it heals is.

Most of this can be found in far more detail by looking for backpacker, bushcraft, and reenactor videos on YouTube.