In my own personal experience, I have found that the travel aspect of 5e gets swept under the rug. DMs will make a check for random encounters, or not, as they deem fit. And yet a lot of the travel situations seem to be petty in the face of certain spells and abilities.
Leomund's Tiny Hut makes most harsh environments inconsequential.
Goodberry can sustain a ten-person party for a day.
Having a Ranger in the party, even without good Skill rolls, means that Difficult Terrain doesn't slow the Party, the group cannot become lost except by magical means, you remain alert to danger even while doing something else like foraging or tracking.
I've spoken with several DMs in the past andy many say that they have two sets of travel guidelines; One for if the party has a Ranger or access to 'travel magic' and another if they don't. needless to say, traveling WITHOUT is much more hazardous.
As a DM, how do you handle travel in your games? Do you simply check for potential 'wandering monsters' and travel risks like foul weather or do you hand-wave it and move on to the rest of the adventure?
I usually throw an encounter at them traveling every day. Many of these are combat encounters on the easy scale to medium. In less "civilized" or "domesticated" areas it might be two combat encounters. Recently, while the party was traveling with a caravan, they were ambushed by scarecrow in the morning and attacked by Griffin's in the afternoon. I don't like "fast traveling."
I do both - and my travel encounters rarely involve monsters.
The first time my players had to take a long road trip, I effectively turned the environment into an NPC, and each day was like getting to know that NPC a little better. Granted, the environment is the Underdark, and my version of that is very odd, colorful, eerie, and beautiful. Ultimately, though, I wanted them to soak up the ambiance and feel like they were going far in a very alien place. Their random encounters included things like underground auroras ("aurora subternalis"), a patch of hypnotic flowers, rivers that had magical area effects, an obelisk from an ancient war, a lake of acid only crossable by jumping across levitating stones... Sometimes the encounters were just, "here's this neat thing" and sometimes they were, "how're you gonna deal with this?"
The monsters I do put on random encounter tables also tell a story about the environment: a one-winged pegasus that escaped captors trying to turn it into a nightmare (party had to fight its captors and now-evil mate). A sand creature composed of restless souls from the ancient war. A stampede of freed familiars. Xorn that are so starved they actually resort to violence. A town of zombies lobbying for political representation. They may not destroy or even meet these monsters, but if they do, they paint a picture of the territory.
That said, I also gave my players a helm of teleportation. Because sometimes, I don't need them to soak up the local color. If they already know the land, or it's not all that important, there's no need for extended reunion scenes with that particular NPC. You can just have it wave as they go by.
I always ensure that travel is relevant to story: I'll make situations and encounters that do occur, do so for story (plot, arcs, conflicts, etc.). Example: if they need to travel 7 days _____ through ______, I'd say, as a DM, "Your first 3 days of travel has been steady and uneventful..." now comes something important to the story... . NOTE: I tell players they need to keep track of supply details as the days go by.
I do both - and my travel encounters rarely involve monsters.
The first time my players had to take a long road trip, I effectively turned the environment into an NPC, and each day was like getting to know that NPC a little better. Granted, the environment is the Underdark, and my version of that is very odd, colorful, eerie, and beautiful. Ultimately, though, I wanted them to soak up the ambiance and feel like they were going far in a very alien place. Their random encounters included things like underground auroras ("aurora subternalis"), a patch of hypnotic flowers, rivers that had magical area effects, an obelisk from an ancient war, a lake of acid only crossable by jumping across levitating stones... Sometimes the encounters were just, "here's this neat thing" and sometimes they were, "how're you gonna deal with this?"
The monsters I do put on random encounter tables also tell a story about the environment: a one-winged pegasus that escaped captors trying to turn it into a nightmare (party had to fight its captors and now-evil mate). A sand creature composed of restless souls from the ancient war. A stampede of freed familiars. Xorn that are so starved they actually resort to violence. A town of zombies lobbying for political representation. They may not destroy or even meet these monsters, but if they do, they paint a picture of the territory.
That said, I also gave my players a helm of teleportation. Because sometimes, I don't need them to soak up the local color. If they already know the land, or it's not all that important, there's no need for extended reunion scenes with that particular NPC. You can just have it wave as they go by.
During an adventure earlier in their career, the Warlock had just gotten Teleport Circle. They had just finished a series of events in a captured fortress and wanted to get back to base. I had half a page of random encounters planned for the trip and when the Warlock said 'I just picked up Teleport Circle so we can get back that way' I ripped off the top half of the sheet and tossed it.
I have learned to hate most forms of travel power...
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In my own personal experience, I have found that the travel aspect of 5e gets swept under the rug. DMs will make a check for random encounters, or not, as they deem fit. And yet a lot of the travel situations seem to be petty in the face of certain spells and abilities.
Leomund's Tiny Hut makes most harsh environments inconsequential.
Goodberry can sustain a ten-person party for a day.
Having a Ranger in the party, even without good Skill rolls, means that Difficult Terrain doesn't slow the Party, the group cannot become lost except by magical means, you remain alert to danger even while doing something else like foraging or tracking.
I've spoken with several DMs in the past andy many say that they have two sets of travel guidelines; One for if the party has a Ranger or access to 'travel magic' and another if they don't. needless to say, traveling WITHOUT is much more hazardous.
As a DM, how do you handle travel in your games? Do you simply check for potential 'wandering monsters' and travel risks like foul weather or do you hand-wave it and move on to the rest of the adventure?
I usually throw an encounter at them traveling every day. Many of these are combat encounters on the easy scale to medium. In less "civilized" or "domesticated" areas it might be two combat encounters. Recently, while the party was traveling with a caravan, they were ambushed by scarecrow in the morning and attacked by Griffin's in the afternoon. I don't like "fast traveling."
I do both - and my travel encounters rarely involve monsters.
The first time my players had to take a long road trip, I effectively turned the environment into an NPC, and each day was like getting to know that NPC a little better. Granted, the environment is the Underdark, and my version of that is very odd, colorful, eerie, and beautiful. Ultimately, though, I wanted them to soak up the ambiance and feel like they were going far in a very alien place. Their random encounters included things like underground auroras ("aurora subternalis"), a patch of hypnotic flowers, rivers that had magical area effects, an obelisk from an ancient war, a lake of acid only crossable by jumping across levitating stones... Sometimes the encounters were just, "here's this neat thing" and sometimes they were, "how're you gonna deal with this?"
The monsters I do put on random encounter tables also tell a story about the environment: a one-winged pegasus that escaped captors trying to turn it into a nightmare (party had to fight its captors and now-evil mate). A sand creature composed of restless souls from the ancient war. A stampede of freed familiars. Xorn that are so starved they actually resort to violence. A town of zombies lobbying for political representation. They may not destroy or even meet these monsters, but if they do, they paint a picture of the territory.
That said, I also gave my players a helm of teleportation. Because sometimes, I don't need them to soak up the local color. If they already know the land, or it's not all that important, there's no need for extended reunion scenes with that particular NPC. You can just have it wave as they go by.
I always ensure that travel is relevant to story: I'll make situations and encounters that do occur, do so for story (plot, arcs, conflicts, etc.). Example: if they need to travel 7 days _____ through ______, I'd say, as a DM, "Your first 3 days of travel has been steady and uneventful..." now comes something important to the story... . NOTE: I tell players they need to keep track of supply details as the days go by.
During an adventure earlier in their career, the Warlock had just gotten Teleport Circle. They had just finished a series of events in a captured fortress and wanted to get back to base. I had half a page of random encounters planned for the trip and when the Warlock said 'I just picked up Teleport Circle so we can get back that way' I ripped off the top half of the sheet and tossed it.
I have learned to hate most forms of travel power...