Swimming across a rushing river, sneaking down a dungeon corridor, scaling a treacherous mountain slope--all sorts of movement play a key role in fantasy gaming adventures.
Adventurers come across a wide array of terrain and obstacles during their travels. For simplicity’s sake a DM is always free to summarize movement without determining exact distances or time frames: "You travel through the forest and find the dungeon entrance late in the evening of the third day." Even in a dungeon, particularly a large dungeon or a cave network, the DM can summarize movement between encounters: "After killing the guardian at the entrance to the ancient dwarven stronghold, you consult your map, which leads you through miles of echoing corridors to a chasm bridged by a narrow stone arch."
However, in some cases it’s important to know the general time frame (minutes, hours, days, and so on) that it takes to go from one area to another. When it comes to determining the time frames of movement, the most important factors are the Speed or travel pace of an individual or party and the terrain being traversed.
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. Most humanoid Ancestries have a default Speed of 30 feet. Some Ancestries, like Centaurs have a higher base movement, while others like the Tabaxi are capable of even greater bursts of speed within a 6 second round.
When it comes to determining the time frames of movement beyond a single round, the most important factors are the Speed or travel pace of an individual or party and the terrain being traversed. The following rules determine how far a character or monster can move in a minute, an hour, or a day.
While traveling, a group of adventurers can move at a normal, fast, or slow pace, as shown on the Travel Pace table. While a fast pace might shorten the time required for a journey, moving so quickly makes travelers less aware of the dangers around them. Likewise, a steadier slow pace prolongs a journey but adventurers can stay alert, cover their tracks, and move more stealthily.
The table states how far the party can move in a period of time and whether the pace has any effect. The effects from traveling faster than a slow pace are cumulative.
| Travel Pace | ||||
| Pace | Distance per Minute | Distance per Hour | Distance per Day | Effect |
| Crawl | 50 feet | 1 / 2 mile | 4 miles | Advantage on Survival checks to cover tracks |
| Slow | 200 feet | 2 miles | 18 miles | Able to use stealth |
| Normal/Wagon | 300 feet | 3 miles | 24 miles | Unable to use Stealth |
| Fast/Mounted | 400 feet | 4 miles | 30 miles | -5 penalty to passive Wisdom (Perception) scores |
| Gallop* | 800 feet | 8 miles | - | Disadvantage on Survival checks to Track and Perception Checks |
*A mount can only travel at gallop speed for 1 hour each day. Otherwise it travels at the fast/mounted pace.
Adventurers on a journey can travel for up to 8 hours in a day before requiring a long rest to reinvigorate themselves and continue — any further and they place themselves 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. For example, after traveling for 8 hours, a party decides to push themselves and continue their day's journey for another 3 hours. At the end of the first additional hour each adventurer must make a DC 11 Constitution saving throw, followed by a DC 12 Constitution saving throw at the end of the second hour, and a DC 13 Constitution saving throw at the end of the third hour, suffering a level of exhaustion if they fail any of these saving throws.
Additionally, creatures suffering from two or more levels of exhaustion cannot travel faster than a normal pace. Creatures suffering from three or more levels of exhaustion cannot travel faster than at a slow pace. Creatures suffering from four or more levels of exhaustion cannot travel faster than a crawl.
Mounts such as riding horses can typically make better time over land than an adventurer on foot. As shown above, the typical Travel Pace for healthy, well cared for mounts is Fast by default, though adventurers can choose to travel at a slower pace if they wish. Additionally, A mounted character can ride at a gallop for about an hour, covering twice the usual distance for a fast pace, as shown by the Gallop Pace in the table above. 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. Pack animals, meanwhile, are usually laden with supplies or treasure and most often going to be traveling at the Normal Pace or slower.
While mounts and pack animals may be useful on a journey, they are also a responsibility — each animal requires its own provisions, and some may have difficulty traveling in different kinds of environments, making them liability during certain exploration challenges. For example, it may be difficult to lead a mount through a swampy area or have it traverse a landslide.
Characters in wagons, carriages, or other land vehicles choose a pace as normal, with the default assumption being that the vehicle travels at the Normal Pace unless otherwise specified.
Characters in a waterborne vessel are limited to the speed of the vessel. A water-based vehicle gains no benefits from a slow pace, but has no penalties for moving at a fast pace. Depending on the vehicle and crew size, a ship can travel up to 24 hours a day.
Certain special mounts, such as a pegasus or griffon, or special vehicles, such as a broom of flying, allow you to travel more swiftly than is shown on the above Table and should be adjudicated on a case by case basis.
Movement through dangerous dungeons or wilderness areas often involves more than simply walking. Adventurers might have to climb, crawl, swim, or jump to get where they need to go, or encounter difficult and hazardous terrain.