Speed
Every character and monster has a speed, which is the distance in feet that the character or monster can walk in 1 round. This number assumes short bursts of energetic movement in the midst of a life-threatening situation. The following rules determine how far a character or monster can move in a minute, an hour, or a day.
A character’s base overland movement speed when travelling on foot is calculated as follows:
Travel Pace
While traveling, a group of adventurers can move at a normal, fast, or slow pace, as shown on the table below. The table states how far the party can move in a period of time and whether the pace has any effect. A fast pace makes characters less perceptive, while a slow pace makes it possible to sneak around and to search an area more carefully (see Activity While Traveling for more information).
| Pace | Base Overland Walking Speed |
|---|---|
| Fast | 4/3× |
| Medium | 1× |
| Slow | 2/3× |
Forced March. The Travel Pace table assumes that characters travel for 8 hours in day. They can push on beyond that limit, at the risk of exhaustion.
For each additional hour of travel beyond 8 hours, the characters cover the distance shown in the Hour column for their pace, and each character must make a Constitution (Athletics) check at the end of the hour. The DC is 10 + 1 for each hour past 8 hours. On a failed check, a character suffers one level of exhaustion.
If the party is moving at a slow pace, they gain advantage on the check. A fast pace imposes disadvantage.
Mounts and Vehicles. For short spans of time (up to an hour), many animals move much faster than humanoids. A mounted character can ride at a gallop for about an hour, covering twice the usual distance for a fast pace. If fresh mounts are available every 8 to 10 miles, characters can cover larger distances at this pace, but this is very rare except in densely populated areas.
Characters in wagons, carriages, or other land vehicles choose a pace as normal. Characters in a waterborne vessel are limited to the speed of the vessel, and they don’t suffer penalties for a fast pace or gain benefits from a slow pace, Depending on the vessel and the size of the crew, ships might be able to travel for up to 24 hours per day.
The Travel Route
Come up with a travel plan then calculate its distance in miles. Break down the full distance into smaller segments by using checkpoint locations such as towns and hamlets, wayside inns, river banks and other points of interest. Break segments when terrain type changes or roads start or end as such changes affect travel speed.
The Travelling Day
A typical day of travel consists of roughly 9 to 16 hours of activity, out of which there are 6-10 hours of actual travel. At specific times the party must rest, drink and eat.
Daily Travel Routine
| Activity | Time | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Wake up around sunrise | — | — |
| Breakfast and break up camp | — | 1/2 ration |
| First travel leg | 3-5 hours | 1 pint water |
| Midday break | 1-2 hours | 1/2 ration |
| Second travel leg | 3-5 hours | 1 pint water |
| Rest for the night | 8 hours | — |
Daylight by Season
The amount of usable daylight vastly depends on the region and/or season you are traveling in.
| Season | Sunrise | Sunset | Time Traveling |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summer | 4 am | 20 pm | 16 hours |
| Spring/Autumn | 6 am | 18 pm | 12 hours |
| Winter | 8 am | 16 pm | 8 hours |
Determine Terrain Difficulty
For each travel day, the GM determines the terrain type and calculates how much distance will be crossed without any larger disruptions (such as combat or a detour to explore unexpected locations).
Several activities during travel refer to the Navigation DC. This DC is dependent on the terrain you are traversing. The harder the terrain, the slower your group will advance during your travel, up to a point where you must concentrate on actually moving, rather than paying attention to other activities. If difficult terrain slows your pace to 0 miles or less, you can still move but at ½ a mile per hour.
| Terrain Difficulty | DC | Speed Modifier |
|---|---|---|
| Barren, wasteland | 10 | -1 mile/hour |
| Clear, farmland | 5 | — |
| Desert, rocky | 10 | -1 mile/hour |
| Desert, sand | 10 | -2 miles/hour |
| Forest, medium or heavy | 15 | -2 miles/hour |
| Forest, light | 10 | -1 mile/hour |
| Glacier | 10 | -1 mile/hour |
| Grassland, foothills | 5 | — |
| Scrub, bushland, hills | 10 | -1 mile/hour |
| Jungle, heavy | 20 | -3 miles/hour |
| Jungle, medium | 15 | -2 miles/hour |
| Marsh, swamp | 20 | -3 miles/hour |
| Moor | 15 | -2 miles/hour |
| Mountain, high | 20 | -3 miles/hour |
| Mountain, low or medium | 15 | -2 miles/hour |
| Tundra | 10 | -2 miles/hour |
| Any terrain, by trail | 0 | — |
| Any terrain, by road | -5 | +2 miles/hour |
| Fog, rain, low visibility | +2 | — |
| Storm, snowfall, dark night | +5 | -1 mile/hour |
Choose Destination and Speed
Players must choose a heading and a travel pace (fast, normal or slow) and how long they will travel for. The party can follow a natural feature of the land like a coast, river or tree line, or just head off in any of the cardinal directions.
If you travel by horse or carriage and you cross easy (DC 5) or moderate (DC 10) terrain, refer to the Mounted Travel rules for each mount’s speed and distance. If you choose to gallop by horse and you cross easy (DC 5) terrain, you can use fast pace and increase distance traveled by 33%. If you cross difficult terrain (DC 15 or higher), you can only use slow pace and decrease distance traveled by 33%.
Mounted Travel
Using mounts or vehicles (such as carts and wagons) you can significantly shorten travel time, up to maximum distance per travel leg using normal pace.
Travel Pace of Mounts
| Pace | Cost | Speed | Max.Distance | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pony | 50 gp | 5 per hour | 18 miles | 225 lb |
| Mastiff | 25 gp | 4 per hour | 12 miles | 195 lb |
| Musk Ox | 30 gp | 4 per hour | 15 miles | 700 lb |
| Donkey | 8 gp | 5 per hour | 18 miles | 420 lb |
| Riding Horse | 75 gp | 8 per hour | 30 miles | 480 lb |
| War Horse | 400 gp | 8 per hour | 30 miles | 540 lb |
| Draft Horse | 50 gp | 6 per hour | 25 miles | 540 lb |
| Mammoth | 200 gp | 4 per hour | 15 miles | 1500 lb |
| Camel | 50 gp | 4 per hour | 15 miles | 480 lb |
| Carriage | 100 gp | 4 per hour | 15 miles | 1500 lb |
| Cart, wagon | 15 gp | 4 per hour | 12 miles | 480 lb |
Animals need feed (per day) or can find some themselves with a Wisdom (Survival) check at a DC based on the Hunt & Forage table for 1 Ration. Animals who hunger or thirst for longer than 2 days suffer one level of Exhaustion per day at the end of their long rest.
Feed Costs (per day)
| Type | Cost | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Herbivores (hay, barley) | 5 cp | 10 lb. |
| Omnivore (disposed food) | 10 cp | 5 lb. |
| Carnivore (by-products, entrails) | 25 cp | 3 lb. |
Mounts can pull five times their typical carrying capacity minus the weight of the vehicle. Mounts pulling carts or wearing armour may not travel more than two travel legs in a row without rest and suffer a disadvantage to the Forced March check. Travel groups that use wagons have access to the Drive Wagon travel activity.