Nov 19, 2015 7:47 am
In a game I'm playing here, it abruptly became clear that Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition (abbreviated as D&D5, or sometimes just 5e) has no rules for faster travel over long distances with mounts.
This was probably a conscious decision, to avoid earlier editions' pitfalls of making a rule for every circumstance. The problem I have with it, though, is that the rules already do contain rules for mounts, with varying movement rates when in combat or over short periods of time (see references to "galloping" on page 181 of the Player's Handbook). But when it comes to traveling long distances, mounts provide no benefit in distance traveled over days or weeks of travel. Instead, for long distances, mounts are treated solely as increased carrying capacity, which hearkens entirely too much back to D&D4's emulation of World of Warcraft for my liking.
So!
Here I present an additional rule, which I humbly call:
SPACESEEKER 19'S TRAVEL RULE WITH MOUNTS
When riding a mount over multiple days of travel, the base distance traveled for the travel pace you select (Fast, Normal, or Slow) is increased in proportion to the ratio of the mount's speed to normal human speed.
Thus, with a riding horse, the distances traveled at each pace are doubled per day, because a riding horse's speed (60) is double that of a human's speed (30). With a pony, the distances are increased by 1/3, because a pony's speed (40) is one-third greater than a human's speed (30).
Here is a table that shows the distances traveled PER DAY at different paces with the various mounts listed in the Player's Handbook:
* Unmounted:
Fast: 30 miles
Normal: 24 miles
Slow: 18 miles
* Donkey, Draft Horse, Elephant, Mastiff, Mule, Pony (speed 40):
Fast: 40 miles
Normal: 32 miles
Slow: 24 miles
* Camel (speed 50):
Fast: 50 miles
Normal: 40 miles
Slow: 30 miles
* Riding horse, warhorse (speed 60):
Fast: 60 miles
Normal: 48 miles
Slow: 36 miles
This was probably a conscious decision, to avoid earlier editions' pitfalls of making a rule for every circumstance. The problem I have with it, though, is that the rules already do contain rules for mounts, with varying movement rates when in combat or over short periods of time (see references to "galloping" on page 181 of the Player's Handbook). But when it comes to traveling long distances, mounts provide no benefit in distance traveled over days or weeks of travel. Instead, for long distances, mounts are treated solely as increased carrying capacity, which hearkens entirely too much back to D&D4's emulation of World of Warcraft for my liking.
So!
Here I present an additional rule, which I humbly call:
SPACESEEKER 19'S TRAVEL RULE WITH MOUNTS
When riding a mount over multiple days of travel, the base distance traveled for the travel pace you select (Fast, Normal, or Slow) is increased in proportion to the ratio of the mount's speed to normal human speed.
Thus, with a riding horse, the distances traveled at each pace are doubled per day, because a riding horse's speed (60) is double that of a human's speed (30). With a pony, the distances are increased by 1/3, because a pony's speed (40) is one-third greater than a human's speed (30).
Here is a table that shows the distances traveled PER DAY at different paces with the various mounts listed in the Player's Handbook:
* Unmounted:
Fast: 30 miles
Normal: 24 miles
Slow: 18 miles
* Donkey, Draft Horse, Elephant, Mastiff, Mule, Pony (speed 40):
Fast: 40 miles
Normal: 32 miles
Slow: 24 miles
* Camel (speed 50):
Fast: 50 miles
Normal: 40 miles
Slow: 30 miles
* Riding horse, warhorse (speed 60):
Fast: 60 miles
Normal: 48 miles
Slow: 36 miles
Last edited November 19, 2015 7:50 am
