Making it more realistic doesn't make it more fun to play.
240 feet of movement is 48 squares on a map. In one turn. How big do you want your maps to be?
Off the top of my head, the wet erase battle map my face to face group uses is about 50 squares by 30 squares (guesstimating that). Your Tabaxi can already CROSS THAT MAP in one turn. And you want characters to be faster?
One of my players is a tabaxi who also has boots of speed. But even with this ridiculous combo they aren't faster than Usain Bolt.
I think that with magic boots you'd think youd be faster than the world's fastest non-magical human :p
Laden Bolt with armour, blades, a dungeons worth of loot and a pitched battle with a group of orcs, and see if he'll cover the same ground in the same time!
I think, as others have said, movement speed is more of a rounded number to indicate, roughly, how far - in combat, during the chaos of battle - a player can move around, and attack, on their turn. With 'dash' representing covering twice that ground in the same amount of time - usually to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible, sacrificing all else.
Of course, you could quibble that Julia, the athletic fighter, should be able cover more than 30 feet in her turn, than Alfred the frail wizard; but there has to be a standard.
As an aside, it's stuff like this which is why I don't use a grid map and minis. Nothing ruins the narrative more for me, than debating how many imaginary squares that bugbear chieftain is away. Much better to say 'He's roughly 30 feet away, so you can get to him and make an attack.'
240 feet of movement is 48 squares on a map. In one turn. How big do you want your maps to be?
It's not like there's any benefit to moving 48 squares away from the action every turn. In practice, regardless of how fast a character is, they're going to stay within a certain distance of the enemies. And if they do move 1000 feet away? Just put them off the map and write down the number. Their exact position won't matter.
an average man carrying some gear can easily run about 20 km/h.
This is nowhere near true. If you took an average human and tested how fast they can run for 6 seconds, I believe you'd come a lot closer to 10 km/t than 20. If the OP can run at 24 km/t for more than 1-2 seconds they are either a fantastic runner or they're wrong. Usain bolt's average speed (for about 10s) is under 40 km/t. If you think "an average man carrying some gear" can easily run at well over half Usain Bolt's 100m-speed, then you're just flat out wrong. Well-trained people with well above average stats, perhaps.
All THAT being said, there are situations where the lack of a "heedless sprint" move in 5e is highly problematic. The fact that you're all referring to maps and squares is just limiting yourself. Do all your combats start at less than 200' range? Do you never use the longbow's 600 ft max range? Well, I do, and when you have a charging group of wolves that move 80' per round (14,6 km/h) that's just a bit silly. A wolf should be able to sprint at 4 times that speed.
This is an abstraction that negatively influences the game. Mostly, I'd say, because it both leads DMs to almost never start encounters at range.
One of my players is a tabaxi who also has boots of speed. But even with this ridiculous combo they aren't faster than Usain Bolt.
Round 1:
base speed: 30ft.
dash: 60ft.
boots of speed: 120ft.
feline agility: 240ft.
Round 2:
120ft (cant reuse feline agility).
Therefore in 12 seconds they can run 360ft. That's 109 meters. Using maths, they can run 100 metres in 10.4 seconds. The world record is 9.58 seconds.
I think that with magic boots you'd think youd be faster than the world's fastest non-magical human :p
Even in system, that character is only faster than the fastest non-magical human for a single round, a second round will put them even with a 20 monk and anything farther than that will have them falling behind.
A creature can Sprint (x5 Spd). Each is a full round action and passive perception checks automatically fail, active Perception checks are at Disadvantage.
A creature's base speed is adjusted by their encumberance. In addition a creature in heavy armour or who is heavily encumbered cannot sprint.
This assumes the creature is moving in a more or less straight line on smooth, level terrain. Complications may require additional skill or ability checks.
A creature can Sprint for a number of rounds equal to their Constitution plus their Proficiency bonus. To continue beyond this limit requires a Constitution check each round. Failure forces the creature to stop unless they take a level of Exhaustion. They may continue in this way till they either end movement or reach 5 levels of Exhaustion (in this case the creature passes out instead of dying). A Short Rest removes all levels of Exhaustion accrued from these actions.
It makes sense that combatants wouldn't be moving at maximum pace when engaged in battle. However, the OP's house rule does count as a full round action, so no other actions (even bonus actions). Sure, armor, gear, attention to surroundings, etc. are all good reasons for slower combat move speeds, but within RAW, there's literally no difference between a naked person carrying nothing and a person who's carrying all sorts of stuff, wearing armor, etc. (provided that the latter is not encumbered). I understand that D&D is not an outright simulation of reality, but some common sense basic realism is nice to have in the game. It makes no sense that a typical D&D character, even carrying nothing, can't outrun an average real life person that you'd meet on the street. Additionally, D&D characters aren't even supposed to be average people. They're the exceptional ones.
Making it a full round action definitely keeps it from being unbalancing. This means no bonus actions, no taking the "Dash" action to supplement it, nothing. I'd say that Feline Agility would work with it, but a more balanced effect might be to simply make the sprint multiple a times five instead of four when this is done.
Melee attacks against the sprinter would be at advantage and ranged attacks would be normal. Physical (Dex) saves would be at disadvantage, but other types of saves would be unaffected. Difficult terrain would cost double movement as usual and the character must make an Athletics (Dex) check to avoid falling prone. This check must be made once in every round in which the character sprints through difficult terrain. Additionally, every round after the first, the character must succeed at an Athletics (Con) check to avoid gaining a level of exhaustion. A character with one or more levels of exhaustion cannot use the "Sprint" action.
Yes, high level monks would definitely be able to sprint at superhuman speeds and this is totally fine.
This is a lot and it's basically sprinting considering wearing combat gear etc. Doing this on a treadmill is very tiring and considered a high running pace.
This is a lot and it's basically sprinting considering wearing combat gear etc. Doing this on a treadmill is very tiring and considered a high running pace.
The highest fitness rating in the Army here is 2.4 km in 8 minutes, a speed of 18 kph. This is done while wearing gym gear and running on tarmac or concrete. You also only have to do it for 8 minutes. The minimum rating for ages 16-24 is 10 minutes 30 seconds, a speed of 13.7 kph. Again, run in gym gear on an athletics track.
The weighted march test (carrying 20+kg of gear) works out to around 7 kph (5 km in under 42 minutes).
Ten to eleven km/hr is a slow run/jog. An average real life person would be able to go considerably faster for short periods of time, although maintaining 10km/hr for any length of time would probably be very difficult for a person who does not train at all. Player characters are epic fantasy heroes, not average people on the street.
Since we're mostly talking about combat and combat normally only lasts seconds, the endurance factor won't normally be a problem. Characters can make checks to run for longer periods of time, as has been suggested in a few different formats.
For the purposes of what's being discussed, D&D doesn't really differentiate between a heavily geared human fighter and an unarmored one. Both have the default "running" speed options of base rate or dash (for double base rate). Special class or racial abilities aside, it's all very cookie cutter.
Sure, Usain Bolt would probably be moving a lot slower in a combat situation, while wearing armor and carrying gear, etc. But if we applied the reverse scenario, he and the Tabaxi speedster with boots of speed are lined up for a race on a track (both wearing no gear and with no distractions, such as combat), Bolt still wins. This just doesn't seem right.
My thought for this, at least for flavour was to make the rounds only 3 seconds long instead of 6 seconds. It makes spells with durations last twice as long in combat. But how many combats actually make it past 10 rounds anyway? And would it even be that unbalanced?
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What's your point?
Making it more realistic doesn't make it more fun to play.
240 feet of movement is 48 squares on a map. In one turn. How big do you want your maps to be?
Off the top of my head, the wet erase battle map my face to face group uses is about 50 squares by 30 squares (guesstimating that). Your Tabaxi can already CROSS THAT MAP in one turn. And you want characters to be faster?
Again, what's the point?
Laden Bolt with armour, blades, a dungeons worth of loot and a pitched battle with a group of orcs, and see if he'll cover the same ground in the same time!
I think, as others have said, movement speed is more of a rounded number to indicate, roughly, how far - in combat, during the chaos of battle - a player can move around, and attack, on their turn. With 'dash' representing covering twice that ground in the same amount of time - usually to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible, sacrificing all else.
Of course, you could quibble that Julia, the athletic fighter, should be able cover more than 30 feet in her turn, than Alfred the frail wizard; but there has to be a standard.
As an aside, it's stuff like this which is why I don't use a grid map and minis. Nothing ruins the narrative more for me, than debating how many imaginary squares that bugbear chieftain is away. Much better to say 'He's roughly 30 feet away, so you can get to him and make an attack.'
It's not like there's any benefit to moving 48 squares away from the action every turn. In practice, regardless of how fast a character is, they're going to stay within a certain distance of the enemies. And if they do move 1000 feet away? Just put them off the map and write down the number. Their exact position won't matter.
Also, not everyone plays with maps.
The speed premises in the OP are just wild.
This is nowhere near true. If you took an average human and tested how fast they can run for 6 seconds, I believe you'd come a lot closer to 10 km/t than 20. If the OP can run at 24 km/t for more than 1-2 seconds they are either a fantastic runner or they're wrong. Usain bolt's average speed (for about 10s) is under 40 km/t. If you think "an average man carrying some gear" can easily run at well over half Usain Bolt's 100m-speed, then you're just flat out wrong. Well-trained people with well above average stats, perhaps.
All THAT being said, there are situations where the lack of a "heedless sprint" move in 5e is highly problematic. The fact that you're all referring to maps and squares is just limiting yourself. Do all your combats start at less than 200' range? Do you never use the longbow's 600 ft max range? Well, I do, and when you have a charging group of wolves that move 80' per round (14,6 km/h) that's just a bit silly. A wolf should be able to sprint at 4 times that speed.
This is an abstraction that negatively influences the game. Mostly, I'd say, because it both leads DMs to almost never start encounters at range.
Even in system, that character is only faster than the fastest non-magical human for a single round, a second round will put them even with a 20 monk and anything farther than that will have them falling behind.
Movement speed outside of combat
A creature can Sprint (x5 Spd). Each is a full round action and passive perception checks automatically fail, active Perception checks are at Disadvantage.
A creature's base speed is adjusted by their encumberance. In addition a creature in heavy armour or who is heavily encumbered cannot sprint.
This assumes the creature is moving in a more or less straight line on smooth, level terrain. Complications may require additional skill or ability checks.
A creature can Sprint for a number of rounds equal to their Constitution plus their Proficiency bonus. To continue beyond this limit requires a Constitution check each round. Failure forces the creature to stop unless they take a level of Exhaustion. They may continue in this way till they either end movement or reach 5 levels of Exhaustion (in this case the creature passes out instead of dying). A Short Rest removes all levels of Exhaustion accrued from these actions.
I like the premise of this.
It makes sense that combatants wouldn't be moving at maximum pace when engaged in battle. However, the OP's house rule does count as a full round action, so no other actions (even bonus actions). Sure, armor, gear, attention to surroundings, etc. are all good reasons for slower combat move speeds, but within RAW, there's literally no difference between a naked person carrying nothing and a person who's carrying all sorts of stuff, wearing armor, etc. (provided that the latter is not encumbered). I understand that D&D is not an outright simulation of reality, but some common sense basic realism is nice to have in the game. It makes no sense that a typical D&D character, even carrying nothing, can't outrun an average real life person that you'd meet on the street. Additionally, D&D characters aren't even supposed to be average people. They're the exceptional ones.
Making it a full round action definitely keeps it from being unbalancing. This means no bonus actions, no taking the "Dash" action to supplement it, nothing. I'd say that Feline Agility would work with it, but a more balanced effect might be to simply make the sprint multiple a times five instead of four when this is done.
Melee attacks against the sprinter would be at advantage and ranged attacks would be normal. Physical (Dex) saves would be at disadvantage, but other types of saves would be unaffected. Difficult terrain would cost double movement as usual and the character must make an Athletics (Dex) check to avoid falling prone. This check must be made once in every round in which the character sprints through difficult terrain. Additionally, every round after the first, the character must succeed at an Athletics (Con) check to avoid gaining a level of exhaustion. A character with one or more levels of exhaustion cannot use the "Sprint" action.
Yes, high level monks would definitely be able to sprint at superhuman speeds and this is totally fine.
This is a lot and it's basically sprinting considering wearing combat gear etc. Doing this on a treadmill is very tiring and considered a high running pace.
Altrazin Aghanes - Wizard/Fighter
Varpulis Windhowl - Fighter
Skolson Demjon - Cleric/Fighter
The highest fitness rating in the Army here is 2.4 km in 8 minutes, a speed of 18 kph. This is done while wearing gym gear and running on tarmac or concrete. You also only have to do it for 8 minutes. The minimum rating for ages 16-24 is 10 minutes 30 seconds, a speed of 13.7 kph. Again, run in gym gear on an athletics track.
The weighted march test (carrying 20+kg of gear) works out to around 7 kph (5 km in under 42 minutes).
Ten to eleven km/hr is a slow run/jog. An average real life person would be able to go considerably faster for short periods of time, although maintaining 10km/hr for any length of time would probably be very difficult for a person who does not train at all. Player characters are epic fantasy heroes, not average people on the street.
Since we're mostly talking about combat and combat normally only lasts seconds, the endurance factor won't normally be a problem. Characters can make checks to run for longer periods of time, as has been suggested in a few different formats.
For the purposes of what's being discussed, D&D doesn't really differentiate between a heavily geared human fighter and an unarmored one. Both have the default "running" speed options of base rate or dash (for double base rate). Special class or racial abilities aside, it's all very cookie cutter.
Sure, Usain Bolt would probably be moving a lot slower in a combat situation, while wearing armor and carrying gear, etc. But if we applied the reverse scenario, he and the Tabaxi speedster with boots of speed are lined up for a race on a track (both wearing no gear and with no distractions, such as combat), Bolt still wins. This just doesn't seem right.
My thought for this, at least for flavour was to make the rounds only 3 seconds long instead of 6 seconds. It makes spells with durations last twice as long in combat. But how many combats actually make it past 10 rounds anyway? And would it even be that unbalanced?