Travel In The Realms
Speed
Every character and creature has a speed, which is the distance in feet that the character or creature 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 creature can move in a minute, an hour, or a day.
Travel Pace
While traveling, a group of adventurers can move at a normal, fast, or slow pace, as shown on the Travel Pace 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 p182 of the PHB, Activity While Traveling section).
Forced March
The Travel Pace table assumes that characters travel for 8 hours in a 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 Saving Throw at the end of the hour. The
DC is 10+1 for each hour past 8 hours. On a failed
Saving Throw, a character suffers one level of exhaustion.
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
Caravan/Cart/Wagon's, 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 its crew, ships might be able to travel for up to 24 hours per day.
Certain special mounts, such as
Pegasi or
Griffon's, or special vehicles, such as a Carpet of Flying, allow you to travel more swiftly. The Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG) contains more information on special methods of travel.
Travel Pace
Distance Travelled per...
| Pace |
Minute |
Hour |
Day |
Effect |
| Fast |
400 Feet |
4 Miles |
30 Miles |
-5 penalty to passive
Wisdom (Perception) Scores |
|
|
|
|
|
| Normal |
300 Feet |
3 Miles |
24 Miles |
N/A |
|
|
|
|
|
| Slow |
200 Feet |
2 Miles |
18 Miles |
Able to use Stealth |
|
|
|
|
|
Difficult Terrain
The travel speeds given in the Travel Pace table above assume relatively simple terrain: roads, open plains, or clear dungeon corridors. But adventurers often face dense forests, deep swamps, rubble-filled ruins, steep mountains, and ice-covered ground-all considered difficult terrain.
You move at half speed in difficult terrain-moving 1 foot in difficult terrain costs 2 feet of speed-so you can cover only half the normal distance in a minute, an hour, or a day. (See p182 in the PHB for Special Types of Movement).
Wilderness Navigation
| Terrain |
DC |
| Forest, jungle, swamp/marshland mountains, arctic,
or open sea with overcast skies and no land in sight |
15 |
|
|
| Arctic, desert, hills, or open sea with
clear skies and no land in sight |
10 |
|
|
| Grassland, meadow, farmland |
5 |
|
|
Becoming Lost In The Wilderness
Unless they are following a path, or something like it, adventurers traveling in the wilderness run the risk of becoming lost. The party's navigator makes a
Wisdom (
Survival)
Check when you decide it's appropriate, against a
DC determined by the prevailing terrain, as shown on the Wilderness Navigation table Above. If the party is moving at a slow pace, the navigator gains a
+5 Bonus to the
Check, and a fast pace imposes a
-5 Penalty. If the party has an accurate map of the region or can see the sun or stars, the navigator has Advantage on the check.
If the
Wisdom (
Survival)
Check succeeds, the party travels in the desired direction without becoming lost. If the Check fails, the party inadvertently travels in the wrong direction and becomes lost. The party's navigator can repeat the Check after the party spends
1D6 Hours trying to get back on course.
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