Travel speed and roads?

[MrFahrenheit]

The thought occurred to me that my new campaign might do well to have some house rules regarding travel speed. Considering how useful roads have been for thousands of years irl, I'm contemplating a more useful integration of them. There would be six different types of transport in this regard:
1. Difficult terrain: as per RAW
2. Regular terrain (no road or even a path) as per RAW. Becomes difficult in any amount of rain.
3. Dirt path: like regular terrain, but only becomes difficult in heavy rain.
4. Limestone road: cuts down on travel time by 10%. No encounter benefit. Becomes more akin to a dirt path (under regular circumstances) in light rain; difficult in heavy.
5. Cobblestone road: Cuts down on travel time by 10%, and adds an additional foot of movement for every ten feet moved during encounters (in a battle mat system, the players would have to count them up to then use the extra movement. I recognize the tediousness here and am open to ideas on how to fix it). In light rain, the encounter speed boost is negated; in heavy rain, the travel time benefit is negated as well.
6. Tar-paved road: Cuts down on travel time by 20%, and adds an additional foot of movement for every five feet moved during encounters. Light rain results in the encounter speed reduced to that of a cobblestone road under normal circumstances, heavy knocks the travel time benefit down to 10%.

[hymer]

I don't think you benefit that much from a road while walking or riding a horse. A good road is functional in nearly all weather, and it keeps you on the right (and ideally best) route effortlessly. But I think the main advantage of roads is how easy it is to use carts and wagons on them. Wheels are much more affected by slight roughness than various creatures who evolved to traverse it.
I guess you could justify it by saying that the better quality roads are straighter in the open and have better terrain assistance in more hilly terrain.

[Azgeroth]

roads are simple, 1:1 movement, whatever the weather (unless its a monsoon ofc)

dirt paths, 1:1 in fair weather, 1:2 in bad weather.

broken paths (i.e. big pot holes, big rocks, not flat) 1:2 fair weather, 1:3 bad weather

utter wilderness (no path to speak of) 1:3 good weather, 1:4 bad weather.

[Vogie]

I don't think you benefit that much from a road while walking or riding a horse. A good road is functional in nearly all weather, and it keeps you on the right (and ideally best) route effortlessly. But I think the main advantage of roads is how easy it is to use carts and wagons on them. Wheels are much more affected by slight roughness than various creatures who evolved to traverse it.
I guess you could justify it by saying that the better quality roads are straighter in the open and have better terrain assistance in more hilly terrain.

The Roman military will tend to disagree. While you're correct on the carts/wagon thing, but the ability to move masses of troops, at great speed, without worrying about stones in sandals, tripping over brush, and sprained ankles, was one of the things that made the Pax Romana. For both going to a location, or needing to retreat, those roads were the key.

[Sigreid]

The Roman military will tend to disagree. While you're correct on the carts/wagon thing, but the ability to move masses of troops, at great speed, without worrying about stones in sandals, tripping over brush, and sprained ankles, was one of the things that made the Pax Romana. For both going to a location, or needing to retreat, those roads were the key.

They help en-mass travel, but for an individual, a firmly packed, dry, well traveled trail is really just about as good. One of the major advantages of roads is in the area of navigation. Roads go from somewhere to somewhere. As long as you pay attention to crossroads and signs, you're not getting lost on a road. And even if you do, follow it one direction or the other and you'll hit a town sooner or later. Probably within no more than a day or two.

[Chugger]

I would probably not play in a campaign where on top of everything else I'd have to calc 10% movement reduction here or 20% bonus there - and when I go from one to another in the same turn ... please. That's not tedious. That's rpg "hell". Just because you can attempt a certain level of realism doesn't mean you should, especially when it just becomes awful. Players already have enough trouble remembering to use what they have and keeping the rules straight, as do DMs. Find a balance that works and stick with it. No need to push it til it breaks (I've seen this done - several times - it's not pretty).

As others have said, roads have many benefits. I find the PHB outdoor movement rules - and how far you can go carrying gear - a bit on the high side to a lot on the high side. Have any of you ever walked more than 20 miles in one day carrying gear - at altitude (and you live at sea level)? I have. Exhaustion does set in (and I guess can - I seem to remember it lingering somewhere in the rules). I just often wing it at this point and do what feels right - instead of encumbering the table with yet another five-minute-downtime-lookup-some-arcane-rule-written-by-people-who-never-did-it-in-real-life ..... zzzzzzzz....agh. There is already too much minutia and dice rolling as it is. Wing it, I say!

[Tanarii]

They help en-mass travel, but for an individual, a firmly packed, dry, well traveled trail is really just about as good. One of the major advantages of roads is in the area of navigation. Roads go from somewhere to somewhere. As long as you pay attention to crossroads and signs, you're not getting lost on a road. And even if you do, follow it one direction or the other and you'll hit a town sooner or later. Probably within no more than a day or two.
IMX typically the worst part about navigating is it guarantees the navigator will be surprised in an ambush situation, since they don't get to use passive perception. Unless they're a Ranger in their Natural Explorer terrain. And of course, you have to succeed on the Wisdom (Survival) check or get lost.

The crazy thing is many DMs just ignore these rules. I mean, depending on your adventure they might not come into play. But even on a local wilderness map, it's easy to get lost just traveling 5 miles through a deep forest, especially if you're in a hurry. That's a DC 20 check including the fast movement penalty.

[hymer]

The Roman military will tend to disagree. While you're correct on the carts/wagon thing, but the ability to move masses of troops, at great speed, without worrying about stones in sandals, tripping over brush, and sprained ankles, was one of the things that made the Pax Romana. For both going to a location, or needing to retreat, those roads were the key.

I wasn't really thinking about that, since adventurers rarely move thousands of troops about. But even so, the speed of a Roman army on the move is the speed of the slowest element in it. And that's likely to be carts and wagons*, which would benefit noticeably on the road, speeding the whole army along. Roads also help keep an army from trampling the countryside.
I agree with what Sigreid is saying. I also find that when I walk long distances, I often find myself walking next to a road rather than on the prepared surface, weather permitting. That's much more comfortable for the feet in the long run.

* Gaius Marius achieved a marked increase in the marching speed of his legions by making the men carry more of the stuff personally. From which came the nickname Marius' Mules.

[MrFahrenheit]

Hm...I may still implement the travel time benefits to a certain degree ("you get from A to B by late afternoon, instead of nighttime the next day"), but not the combat encounter stuff after seeing the replies.

[Sigreid]

IMX typically the worst part about navigating is it guarantees the navigator will be surprised in an ambush situation, since they don't get to use passive perception. Unless they're a Ranger in their Natural Explorer terrain. And of course, you have to succeed on the Wisdom (Survival) check or get lost.

The crazy thing is many DMs just ignore these rules. I mean, depending on your adventure they might not come into play. But even on a local wilderness map, it's easy to get lost just traveling 5 miles through a deep forest, especially if you're in a hurry. That's a DC 20 check including the fast movement penalty.

That's actually one of the more realistic things in 5e. It's really easy to get lost in the woods if you leave the trails.

[mephnick]

The crazy thing is many DMs just ignore these rules. I mean, depending on your adventure they might not come into play. But even on a local wilderness map, it's easy to get lost just traveling 5 miles through a deep forest, especially if you're in a hurry. That's a DC 20 check including the fast movement penalty.

Yeah, everyone ignores the rules of D&D and hand-waves travel and exploration to the next combat or "story" point (*puke*) and then complains that rangers are useless. Huh, weird.

[MrFahrenheit]

Yeah, everyone ignores the rules of D&D and hand-waves travel and exploration to the next combat or "story" point (*puke*) and then complains that rangers are useless. Huh, weird.

This made me lol

[Tanarii]

That's actually one of the more realistic things in 5e. It's really easy to get lost in the woods if you leave the trails.And we've only got experience with modern forests. :smallwink:


Yeah, everyone ignores the rules of D&D and hand-waves travel and exploration to the next combat or "story" point (*puke*) and then complains that rangers are useless. Huh, weird.I've noticed a certain tendency to that myself. /deadpan

[Mjolnirbear]

I like the Angry GM's solution. Among other things, players have choices, being lost matters, there's a rule for whether travel is risky (enemy territory/deadly terrain) or safer (roads, pasture, well-suited forests) and it incorporates discoveries (like when you're in Zelda, you see that ruin, and wander off the path to explore it)

[Varlon]

If you wanted to keep the idea of extra movement in encounters on nice roads, just add 5 feet of movement per turn. As a player I'd happily take the extra square (even if enemies got it as well), but I would not want to be doing calculations or worrying about partial squares.