Movement Rates

In a nutshell, the existing Dnd movement rates are silly. So, naturally, I've changed them. While this new system isn't perfect, it is both simple and a fairly accurate simulation of reality. It may not handle fringe cases for Olympic-level athletes perfectly, but for 99% of the scenarios in the game, it is a vast improvent. Enjoy!

The Basics

A creature has several different movement rates, all based on the number of INCHES" listed for its movement rate in the Monster Manual. The movement rates, their resulting velocities, and the amount of time they may be sustained is presented below:

The durations are cumulative, so if Joe has a 10 Con and sprints for 9 seconds, he's only going to be able to keep running for 1 minute. Once a character exceeds his Maximum Duration, he may attempt to keep going but a) must make a saving throw versus Wisdom (plus level) to be able to keep pushing himself at this speed, and b) temporarily loses a point of CON for each additional unit of time (second, minutes, turn, etc) he continues at the new rate. Characters lose hit points based on Constitution as their attribute is exhausted and can even receive penalties. A character may not lower his Con below 3 without losing the ability to continue functioning normally. Constitution is regained at a rate of one point per minute of rest.

Example One: Mike is being chased by worgs. His goal is to sprint to the cover of a building before they catch him. He has a move of 12" and a Con of 10. He sprints for 10 seconds. To continue sprinting, Mike must make a saving throw versus Wisdom to do so. If he succeeds, Mike will lose a point of Con for each additional second he sprints. The longest he can sprint is 17 seconds, since if his Constitution drops below 3 he won't be able to run or otherwise physically exert himself normally.

Example Two: Mike the mage, Rick the Ranger, and Crystal the cleric encounter a pack of worgs. The worgs are 200' away. The party decides to run off a nearby cliff 600' distant, hoping Mike can feather fall the party to safety 60' below (even worgs aren't dumb enough to leap off a cliff). As the party sprints away, the worgs spy them and give chase. Everyone in the party has a Constitution of 14. Mike is in no armor (12" move), Rick is in chain mail (9") and Crystal is in plate mail (6"). Worgs move at 18". The whole group chooses to sprint as far as they can and run the rest, since the worgs will easily eat any party members they catch.
          Round One: The initial distance between the worgs and the humans is 200'. Assuming that both groups begin running at the same time, at the end of the first round (10 seconds), Mike has traveled 240 feet, Rick 180 feet, and Crystal 120 feet. Meanwhile, the worgs, who are running to conserve their strength to fight, also cover 180 feet. So Mike has pulled ahead of the worgs by 60 feet to 260', Rick has remained 200' distant, and Crystal has lost 60' of ground so the worgs are only 140' away from her.
          Round Two: The party decides to keep keep sprinting. After four seconds (total 14 seconds), each character must make a saving throw versus Wisdom to keep sprinting. They all make it. By the end of the round (10 seconds), however, each character has lost 6 points of Con, dropping them to 8 Constitution each. Mike has pulled to 320' from the worgs, Rick is still 200' distant, and Crystal only has an 80' lead. Meanwhile, Mike has run 480', putting him 120' from the cliff. Rick has gone 360' and thus has 240' more to go. Crystal has only traveled 240' and can't possibly cover the remaining 360' before the worgs catch her. She turns to fight while she has some stamina (Con) left.
          Round Three: Two worgs stop to eat Crystal while the rest chase after Mike and Rick. Since Crystal's Con is 8, she can fight normally, for the few moments left in her life. The worgs figure that something is amiss, so they too begin to sprint, doubling their move (figure most creatures have a Con = 10 + hit dice, so in this case 14). Mike and Rick have only an 8 Con each at this point, so they can only sprint for half the round. After that, they're going to have to drop to running speed (and start invoking their patron deities). Mike travels 120' while sprinting, putting him at the edge of the cliff. He can take the remaining half round to watch Rick and time his spell and jump. Rick sprints 90' and then runs 45' more for a total of 135' in the round. He is only 105' feet from the cliff. Unfortunately, now that the worgs are sprinting, they cover 360' in the round -- covering the 200' distance between them and Rick plus the 135' he ran this round (with 15' to spare). Rick is surrounded by worgs and exhausted with a 3 Con as the round ends -- Rick is so exhausted he's lost hit points and won't be able to fight long anyway, due to fatigue. A few more worgs race after Mike, now only 80' away (320+120=440-360=80).
          Round Four: Mike jumps and casts his spell, floating to relative safety. Rick probably goes down in a frenzy of fangs while Crystal is probably being digested by this point.

Enhancements

How can a character run faster or farther? Do some character classes have better movement rates? Do all player races run at the same rate?

The following skills simulate experience and skill at running.

Running (2) -- adds +3" to all jogging, running and sprinting movement rates (15+" in most cases)
Endurance Jogging (2) -- x6 jogging duration (hours instead of turns -- used to cover 45+ miles/day)
Endurance Running (2) -- x10 running duration (turns instead of minutes -- used to do short marathons)
Endurance Sprinting (2) -- x2 sprinting duration (2*CON in seconds -- used to get out of danger!)
Swimming (2) -- adds +1" to swimming rate (2.2" in most cases)
Endurance Swimming (2) -- x10 swimming duration (turns instead of minutes -- used to do ironman swims)

On a case-by-case basis, character can also purchase partial proficiencies in the skills listed. Of course, the benefits would be greatly reduced (1/2 endurance jogging would give x2 duration and 1/2 endurance running would give x3 duration -- no 1/2 endurance sprinting and 1/2 running would give +1").

The goal is NOT to allow a character to just buy a skill and have an Olympic level of skill in a field. The goal is for a character to buy a skill and have the skill of a talented amateur. If the character wants to go farther, then they must invest multiple skills, just like the real athletes have to do. Of course, this REQUIRES DM approval...

Example Three: Beulla the ranger has 18 Con. So, normally she could run at 8.18 mph for 18 minutes (plus up to 15 more if she wants to exhaust her constitution). Assuming she does so, she'd be able to cover 4.5 miles in 33 minutes, after which she'd have to fall down with a heaving bosom and catch her breath. But with endurance running, Beulla's range is ten times this, or about 45 miles or about 5.5 hours of running. She could finish a marathon (26.2 miles) in about 3 hours and 12 minutes, taking only a slight loss to her Con (-2).

Sure, Beulla might not be able to finish an "ironman" competition, but then, she's a ranger, not a triathalete. If she wanted, Beulla could still spend proficiencies buying the other skills vital to long-distance athletes (running, higher
dex, etc) or chose a more "athletic" character class (acrobat or monk).

A few character classes have superior moves to reflect training and physical prowess. These classes include: barbarian, monk, acrobat, and battle dancer. Except where specified in those character classes, members of those classes use the same rules for movement as other characters.

Not all races have the same movement rate. Below is a table of common races and their (unarmored) movements:

Fine Tuning

How fast can a character really run? Do all characters move at the same speed, based on race along? How can two characters have a race? Which character is in the back and eaten by the pack of worgs that is chasing the party?

Tunnels and Trolls solves the problem by adding another stat: Speed. Champions allows characters to "buy up" their base movement. Fantasy Trip has special skill packages to differentiate. Unfortunately, none of these solutions truly works for Dnd. I certainly do NOT want another stat. I do allow people to use character points to gain special abilities, but this doesn't address the majority. And there are skills (sprinting, running, swimming, etc) and classes (acrobat, monk, scout, mariner, etc) which gain movement advantages, but again, this leaves out the majority. How do I resolve a running race between Tyris Flare and Tetsuko?

Here comes the long explanatory...

Dnd has only three physical stats: Strength, Dexterity and Constitution. Strength is a measure of the physical power of the body, both in the arms and the legs. Dexterity is a measure of the reaction speed and agility (grace/clumsiness) of the body, both manually and bodily. Constitution is a measure of the tolerances of the body with regard to injury, fatigue, disease, stress, etc.

Strength of muscle is what makes people move. All other factors being equal, the stronger your leg muscles, the faster you go. True, there are other elements, such as high-twitch vs low-twitch muscles (which I discussed with Steven and which Elf also pointed out), but there is no game mechanic to evaluate this trait. So, for our purposes, strength is the prime requisite for determining speed.

Now, it is totally true that both mass and grace/clumsiness play a huge factor. Two bodies that are equally strong are gonad go at vastly different speeds if one is 150lbs and the other is 300lbs. Alas, but unlike RuneQuest and ElfQuest, Dnd has no Size attribute to determine this factor for us. The only way that size is determined is by the will of the player within the constraints of the character's race (and sometimes the DM gets headaches with player's choices anyway!). Making a (potentially life-saving) game statistic hinge on a totally voluntary, personal preference of appearance is bad game design IMNSHO, but luckily, there is an alternative.

As Kari and Lori pointed out, clumsiness (or the lack thereof) plays a big role in running. If you can't avoid tripping over your feet, then you certainly can't run at a decent clip, much less escape the zillion goblins intent on eating your kidneys! So more adroit folks should gain an advantage in running, while clumsy folks should be at penalty. But no matter how agile, if the muscle ain't there, the body ain't movin'! So strength still plays the more major role.

Constitution deals with how long you can keep this all up. I've already written at length about it. I'll go into it later, but it really doesn't follow in a discussion of raw speed (although maintaining that speed over time...!).

Now, complex tables and cross-referencing height with weight a) is way too complex (let's play Aftermath instead), b) doesn't take into account the cube-square law of height vs weight, and c) ignores differences based on shape and function of the body. So, out they go. We want something simple that can resolve minor disputes, but won't turn the game on its ear, except in extreme cases (no grabbing the text book or coming up with 13' long penis**, thank you!). Bonuses here need to be minor!

For running (where I will defer to Mr Chittum), strength is a big factor, but mass is too. Big guys with bulging muscles have to schlep those massive (and useless) biceps around, whereas anorexic Calvin Klein models may have less to haul, but they also have no muscles to move their skin and bones with. As Elf pointed out, most characters described as "lithe" or "agile" have dexterities that reflect this. So, why not make dexterity a LIMITING FACTOR for strength bonuses to move? Seems to work okay. Higher dexterity people would (by definition) be more limber and therefore able to move their bodies around effectively. And high strength people have the power to get their masses in gear. So:

RUNNING: Base move (usually 12") plus damage bonus for strength/10". This bonus, however, can never be greater than one plus the character's AC adjustment for dexterity. Low dexterity (~7 or less) characters would actually get a penalty which would negate the maximum bonus or require a penalty. The same applies for low strength (~7 or less).

This way, really strong people must be at least kinda agile or the strength does the person little to no good. Now, it isn't a perfect solution, but I think it's the best we've seen so far. Personally, I knew a linebacker who sprinted for track in high school. And he was huge AND fast. Likewise, the aforementioned Mr Cobb is built like brick shithouse, but he is NOT very fast (Kari, I kicked his ass every time). And, ironically, although he had an extremely well-developed chest, he could barely swim (remember Capitola?). What I'm saying is that Chris had good strength, but no dexterity to back it up (there was a REASON we called him Danger Prone Duddly!).

What this addition will mean is that strong characters with decent dexs will be faster. It should also limit the effects of super-human strength found amongst some races (giants, centaurs, etc), who have LOTS more mass to haul around. When have you seen a non-muscular athlete? For instance:

Kalavor: 12.2" (he has 18/00 str, but only 15 dexterity)
Jessica: 12.1" (17 str but only 13 dex)
Tyris Flare: 12.3" (18/66 str, but only 16 dex)
Tetsuko: 12.2" (17 str and dex)
Solinane: 13.2" (elf plus 17 str and 18 dex)
Kate: 12.4" (18/99 str and 17 dex)
Mandar: 12.1" (18/00 str and no dex)

Example Four: Joe the Jock has 18/20 str and 10 dex (average). The most his strength can help is +.1" cuz he doesn't have any dex bonus. Heck, Moose the Massive has 18/60 str but only 7 dex. He doesn't get ANY bonus, since he has an AC penalty which negates any ads he might be due for a high strength. So, the system appears to work.

Now, swimming is more my field, and alot of what was brought up just doesn't apply. In the water, the only two real factors are power and length. Power is strength, pure and simple. Length is height where the thinner (more streamlined) the better (really surface area per crest, but let's NOT go there). This would be a NIGHTMARE to try and figure out, even WITH a table. But personal experience has taught me that upper-body muscle results in about 70+% of your speed. And again, clumsy/non-limber people are screwed where fast swimmers appear to gracefully dance through the water. So:

SWIMMING: Base move (usually 12") plus hit bonus for strength/10". This bonus, however, can never be greater than one plus the character's AC adjustment for dexterity. Low dexterity characters would actually get a penalty which would negate the maximum bonus or require a penalty. The same applies for low strength.

Again, life experience (and the previous examples) bear this out (more or less).

Kalavor: 1.2" (he has 18/00 str, but only 15 dexterity)
Jessica: 1.1" (17 str but only 13 dex)
Tyris Flare: 1.2" (18/66 str, but only 16 dex)
Tetsuko: 12.1" (sea spirit folk plus 17 str and dex)
Solinane: 1.1" (17 str and 18 dex)
Kate: 1.2" (18/99 str and 17 dex)
Mandar: 1.1" (18/00 str and no dex)

Finally, extreme cases... When the stats exceed the normal, human range, there should be some benefit. There is a reason athletes train to be really strong and fast. I've felt that high dex and strength have been underrated for some time (a decade+?). If you have more power than humanly possible, no matter how clumsy you are, you're gonna be able to do some amazing things....

Superhuman dexterity: for any dexterity score above 18 (19-25), a character gets a +1" move. This bonus applies to both running and swimming, although in the case of a swimmer, it, like all swimming bonuses, is tenthed (1.3" in most cases).

Superhuman strength: each additional point over 18/00, gains an additional bonus equal to the hit bonus/10" REGARDLESS OF DEXTERITY, to reflect paranormal power without a resultant gain in mass.

So, someone with 20 strength would have a normal run of between 12.6" and 13.1". The runner begins with a base move of 12". At the bottom end (12.6") the character has a dexterity penalty which negates any bonus for strength but gets +.3" for 19 and +.3" more for 20 to reflect amazing power. At the top end (13.1") the character has an 18 dexterity, so he gets +.5" for his "real" strength plus +.3" for 19 and +.3" more for 20.

This same figure would have a swim of 1.6" to 1.9". Again, either 1" + no normal bonus due to bad dex + .3" + .3" to 1" + .3" for human strength (and 18 dex) + .3" + .3".

Someone with 24 strength (and normal mass) would have a run of 14.5" to 15" (12"+ up to .5"+.3"+.3"+.4"+.4"+.5"+.6") and a swim of 3.5" to 3.8" (1"+ up to .3"+.3"+.3"+.4"+.4"+.5"+.6") -- or about the speed of an average dork with sprinting or a weakling in a canoe.

Suddenly, Anne Rice vampires make more sense...

Finally, constitution. You can only keep up a sprint for your constitution in seconds. Likewise, you can only keep up a full run for your constitution in minutes. After that, you either start losing CON (and the resulting hit points) or you've gotta rest. So, some of our runners and swimmers may have great moves, but still lose the race to lighter, higher-CON folks who can keep up a pace for hours.

Example Five: The aforementioned characters are running for their lives from worgs. They all sprint until they're ready to fall (Con of 3):

Kalavor: 12.2" for 14+11 rounds = 305'
Jessica: 12.1" for 16+13 rounds = 350.9'
Tyris Flare: 12.3" for 16+13 rounds = 356.7'
Tetsuko: 12.2" for 14+11 rounds = 305'
Solinane: 13.2" for 16+13 rounds = 382.8'
Kate: 12.4" for 17+14 rounds = 384.4' (despite being slower than the elf, she's most likely to escape!)
Mandar: 12.1" for 12+9 rounds = 254.1' (aka worg food)

Finally, here are a few scenarios for your track and field aficionados out there. While the system has a few flaws, it is able to simulate the vast majority of real athletic situations...:

Example Six: Vince the Varsity Guy has straight 14s for stats (no bonuses). His base move is 12" (8.18 mph running or 6 mphs "cruising"). He can do a 7 minute 20 second mile. If he wears skimpy running shorts and races on a track, he can raise his speed by a full "free" +1", giving him a 13" move, 8.86 mph, and 6:46 mile.

Vince upgrades to "Varsity Jock" by buying a skill in running for two non-weapons. His move goes up to 15" (or 16" in his nikes and shorts). He can now do 10.91 mph, and a 5:30 mile. He's getting good.

Vince goes to college on a scholarship. His strength, constitution, and dexterity are now 16. His base move goes up to 15.1" (16.1" on the track). It may not sound like much, but it shaves 2 seconds off his time. If he doesn't mind blowing some CON, he can sprint for part of the race, pushing his speed to double for those precious seconds. Keeping himself on his feet (3+ CON), Vince can do 29 seconds of sprinting, shaving that much off his time. He's now doing a 4:59 mile.

Vince starts competing. He's brought his strength to 18. His base move hops up to 16.2" and he's doing 4:57 miles. At this point, he might buy another skill in sprinting (SUBJECT TO DM APPROVAL ONLY) or maybe put a
skill into endurance sprinting or qualify for a more "athletic" character class -- I figure lots of track and field athletes would be either acrobats or their own "athlete" class.

For people who don't think this give their PCs a chance to challenge Olympic athletes, well, too bad, a) Bruce Jenner doesn't know how to handle a sword or a dragon, and b) if you want to retire from adventuring and train 6-8 hours per day, we can talk about special skills. Meanwhile, higher level acrobats and monks can challenge all the records they want

Example Seven: Asfaloth the Runner is a 6th level acrobat (base move: 16"). He has 18/75 str, 19 dex, and 17 con (17.4"). He's also a wood elf (+1") with running (+3") as well (21.4" total). This means he can run at 14.59 mph, doing a mile in 4 minutes and 7 seconds WITHOUT being seriously winded. He can push himself to the edge of his ability to stand (3 CON) and do a 3:36 mile. (The world record for 1500m is 3:32.53 by Sebastian Coe of GB at LA
-- adjusting to a mile we get 3:46.69 -- so Asfaloth would be 10 seconds FASTER even without the nikes!)

Example Eight: Shang-lung Drake is an 8th level monk (base move: 22"). With his strength of 18 and dex of 17, he winds up with a move of 22.2". This means he can do 15.14 mph or 3:58 without too much effort. Using his CON, he can get this down to 3:31.

So, high level, focused characters CAN beat Olympic level performance records.

Long Distance

Now that we've gone through all this work for a very scientific and precise measurement of running speeds over time. But traveling long distances is a little different. There are rest stops, there are questions of stamina and boredom, of terrain features and weather. So, as a general rule character traveling more than a mile or so use slightly different rules.

The general rule is that a walking, swimming, or sailing creature or transports averages 1 mph per 2" movement over calm, straight, smooth regions. So a horse does 9 miles in an hour while a caravel sails 6" (assuming a light wind). Ariel creatures move at double this speed to reflect flying speeds, gliding, and lack of terrain and course problems. So a griffon (30") flies 30 miles in an hour. As for people with our feeble legs, well, we only get to move HALF of our normal "cruising speed" as other creatures to reflect we're just not very sturdy and quick. So humans and their ilk move about 3mph over roads -- 1/4 of our 12". But because of this, various different kinds of armor really don't make a difference (the long distance speed of someone in platemail and someone in leather is about the same, barring heat exposure and stamina).

Now, different creatures can keep up these different rates for different amounts of time. As a general rule, however, humanoids can walk for 10 to 12 hours, most land or sea mounts can "cruise" for 8 to 10 hours, and most ariel creatures can fly for 6 to 8 hours.

Below is a table of various methods of transportation and their ranges per day.

There are additional modifiers for different, more difficult terrain (hills, forest, swamps, mountains, etc). I will look these up and add them later.

© 2001 buddhabear@geocities.com