recently I was building a character and as I built it I realized the character was gonna be fast. As I was picturing it moving around the battle field at huge speeds I realized that speed really doesn't do much besides lets you move around the field. this character had a speed of 70 at level 14, 140 if hasted, 280 if hasted and dashing. but what's the point. is there something to having a speed like that? if you were moving that fast in real life and you punched someone not only would you k o the person (more then likely you'd kill them) but you'd likely brake your arm. so honestly I don't see a reason to move that fast. Please bring me some positive insight
It matters a lot. Speed can give you a tactical advantage when you can get to places others can't. It can kind of give you a first choice of where you want to position yourself and therefore force others to respond to you instead of you reacting to them.
It lets you close the distance with a ranged combatant or caster who's trying to to their thing from 45 or 50 feet away, or heck, from 35 feet away.
If you punched someone in real life while moving at about 30 miles per hour, (280 speed) it would roughly double the speed of your fist. That's significant, but that only brings it up to roughly the same speed as the sword you're swinging.
As for tactical uses, if you're faster than someone and have more range than them, you automatically win any encounter where they can't force you to get closer. As for how fast you need to be to actually be able to dictate range like that, a dragon using dash and wing attack to move faster will have a round speed of 200. Other flying creatures will typically be 160-240 per round.
With some fairly innocent rulings (a creature doesn’t “fall” when it comes down on its own high jump; a creature that is dragged by a jumping creature doing a high jump DOES “fall”), movement can be translated directly to damage versus grappled enemies… as long as you can jump 20+ feet high (because dragging enemies makes movement cost double, and a creature needs to fall at least 10 feet before it takes any falling damage).
Figuring out the best ways to squeeze out jumping distance to jump 10, 20, 30… even 50 feet high with an enemy in tow? It’s a fun puzzle, feel out your DM first before getting too committed, but luchadore grappling is one of my favorite builds, and does decent damage against tiny-large enemies without being TOO effective and worth nerfing.
With high speed and a way to disengage, you can get adjacent attack and leave far away enought for your enemy to not be able to get within melee reach of you. It may be forced to use its action to close on your, may be not even if your speed is still too high.
I don't see a reason to move that fast. Please bring me some positive insight
Adding to the comments of the others about speed giving a tactical advantage...
Yes, there is a break point where going faster really does not change most of the battlefields a character are on. This is why I, as a DM, have never worried when players build a speedster character. It's a valid investment, fun for them, and doesn't break the game in my experience. It's just one character who can look at the entire battlemap and choose where they want to be with precision each round.
Basically, I support your conclusion: After a certain point, more Speed for a character changes very little at all.
I play a Wood Elf Monk with the mobile feat. This means my current base speed at level 11 is 65ft. Our wizard often tosses Haste at me as well. The additional part of the mobile feat means that if I make an attack against an opponent, hit or miss, they cannot take an opportunity attack against me. This means I can run in, unleash my 3 - 5 attacks against the enemy and run out again, getting well out of their range.
While playing Dragon of Icespire Peak there was a situation where villages were being attacked in a town. Initiative started when we entered town so there was a real chance of the villages being killed. due to my speed I was able to reach them fast and kite the enemies for 3 - 4 rounds until the rest of my party showed up, while barely taking a hit.
I understand this is a specific example, but I have found my speedster monk a fun character to play, the extra speed gives me lots more opportunities during combat.
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recently I was building a character and as I built it I realized the character was gonna be fast. As I was picturing it moving around the battle field at huge speeds I realized that speed really doesn't do much besides lets you move around the field. this character had a speed of 70 at level 14, 140 if hasted, 280 if hasted and dashing. but what's the point. is there something to having a speed like that? if you were moving that fast in real life and you punched someone not only would you k o the person (more then likely you'd kill them) but you'd likely brake your arm. so honestly I don't see a reason to move that fast. Please bring me some positive insight
It matters a lot. Speed can give you a tactical advantage when you can get to places others can't. It can kind of give you a first choice of where you want to position yourself and therefore force others to respond to you instead of you reacting to them.
It lets you close the distance with a ranged combatant or caster who's trying to to their thing from 45 or 50 feet away, or heck, from 35 feet away.
Also, chases are a thing.
If you punched someone in real life while moving at about 30 miles per hour, (280 speed) it would roughly double the speed of your fist. That's significant, but that only brings it up to roughly the same speed as the sword you're swinging.
As for tactical uses, if you're faster than someone and have more range than them, you automatically win any encounter where they can't force you to get closer. As for how fast you need to be to actually be able to dictate range like that, a dragon using dash and wing attack to move faster will have a round speed of 200. Other flying creatures will typically be 160-240 per round.
With some fairly innocent rulings (a creature doesn’t “fall” when it comes down on its own high jump; a creature that is dragged by a jumping creature doing a high jump DOES “fall”), movement can be translated directly to damage versus grappled enemies… as long as you can jump 20+ feet high (because dragging enemies makes movement cost double, and a creature needs to fall at least 10 feet before it takes any falling damage).
Figuring out the best ways to squeeze out jumping distance to jump 10, 20, 30… even 50 feet high with an enemy in tow? It’s a fun puzzle, feel out your DM first before getting too committed, but luchadore grappling is one of my favorite builds, and does decent damage against tiny-large enemies without being TOO effective and worth nerfing.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
With high speed and a way to disengage, you can get adjacent attack and leave far away enought for your enemy to not be able to get within melee reach of you. It may be forced to use its action to close on your, may be not even if your speed is still too high.
Adding to the comments of the others about speed giving a tactical advantage...
Yes, there is a break point where going faster really does not change most of the battlefields a character are on. This is why I, as a DM, have never worried when players build a speedster character. It's a valid investment, fun for them, and doesn't break the game in my experience. It's just one character who can look at the entire battlemap and choose where they want to be with precision each round.
Basically, I support your conclusion: After a certain point, more Speed for a character changes very little at all.
thank you all for your insight
I play a Wood Elf Monk with the mobile feat. This means my current base speed at level 11 is 65ft. Our wizard often tosses Haste at me as well. The additional part of the mobile feat means that if I make an attack against an opponent, hit or miss, they cannot take an opportunity attack against me. This means I can run in, unleash my 3 - 5 attacks against the enemy and run out again, getting well out of their range.
While playing Dragon of Icespire Peak there was a situation where villages were being attacked in a town. Initiative started when we entered town so there was a real chance of the villages being killed. due to my speed I was able to reach them fast and kite the enemies for 3 - 4 rounds until the rest of my party showed up, while barely taking a hit.
I understand this is a specific example, but I have found my speedster monk a fun character to play, the extra speed gives me lots more opportunities during combat.