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Swimming across a rushing river, sneaking down a dungeon corridor, scaling a treacherous mountain slope—all sorts of movement play a key role in fantasy gaming adventures. The GM can summarize the adventurers’ movement without calculating exact distances or travel times: “You travel through the forest and find the dungeon entrance late in the evening of the third day.” Even in a dungeon, particularly a large dungeon or a cave network, the GM can summarize movement between encounters: “After killing the guardian at the entrance to the ancient dwarven stronghold, you consult your map, which leads you through miles of echoing corridors to a chasm bridged by a narrow stone arch.” Sometimes it’s important, though, to know how long it takes to get from one spot to another, whether the answer is in days, hours, or minutes. The rules for determining travel time depend on two factors: the speed and travel pace of the creatures moving and the terrain they’re moving over.

Travel Pace

Difficult terrain, special types of movement, climbing, swimming, and crawling.

Travel and Pace

Travel and pacing.

Other movement penalties may apply, if the party has some movement restrictions (due to swimming, climbing, crawling and difficult terrain)

Travel (Map Pace)

Pace modifiers.

Climbing , Swimming and Crawling are at half speed (quarter for difficult terrain). Might require Str (Athletic) or Dex (Acrobatics) checks.

Forced March : Traveling more than 8 hrs in day risks Exhaustion. Each character must make a Con save throw at the end of each additional hr. DC 10+1 for each hr past 8 hrs. On a failed save, a character suffers one level of Exhaustion.

Mounts : Double travel distance for one hour (or more if fresh mounts available every 10 miles).

Vehicles : Wagons and carriages move at normal pace. Waterborne vessel have their own speed, and don't suffer pace penalties/benefits. Depending on a vessel (and crew), ships may be able to travel 24 hours a day.

Activities While Traveling : Characters performing activities while traveling (such as navigating, drawing a map, tracking or foraging) do not get a Passive Perception check.

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Dnd 5e overland travel: 7 proven methods.

All the Best Methods for Role-Playing DnD 5e Long Distance Travel

By Riley Rath 

Table of Contents 

- we need several methods for our dnd 5e campaigns , - summary if dnd 5e long distance travel rules as written , - 7 different methods for running travel in dnd 5e, - dnd 5e overland travel dm tips , - conclusion: put it all together.

(This post is part of a series on "travel DnD 5e." Read the first post here . For more on exploration, start here ). 

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In a previous post , I talked about how travel is usually necessary for a  Dungeons and Dragons (or similar TTRPG) adventure, but the rules-as-written make it confusing and boring, so most tables skip it... so we skip it. 

But that doesn't solve the problem... we need better Dnd 5e overland travel. 

Cuz while the original 1974 version may not have had expansive homebrew and overland travel modules (like  Storm King's Thunder ) — you had to get a 3rd party supplement — worlds demand it... today's DnD is about so much more than getting from point A to point B. 

Like, you know how there is "no WRONG way to eat a Reese's"?  Well... in a similar way... there is no RIGHT way to travel in DnD 5e . 

Fun 5e travel is situational... it depends on your players, where you are in the story, and the destination up ahead... if you try to shoe-horn in a single method for every situation, you only continue the stereotype that DnD travel sucks. 

How you get there often  (though not always) matters. 

There are a lot of different ways to run travel in DnD 5e, and this post goes through them all and helps you choose which one is best for you. This post is part 2 of our travel series, the goal being: 

• To make travel a REAL option in your campaigns.
• Add a different, fun flavor of adventure into your DnD campaign.
• Add something you and your players will look forward to.

Summary of 5th Edition Overland Travel Rules as Written 

So in our other post, we covered the DnD 5e overland travel rules and why they suck. Not pulling punches here: WOTC rules and nonexistent guidelines are hot garbage and the reason no one enjoys traveling during adventures or runs it in their campaigns. 

Here is a summary of the rules: 

• When traveling, the players choose a travel pace. This dictates their movement speed. 
• Different travel speeds mean players cover a certain number of miles/hexes in a day, and each have different consequences.
• If the travel pace of the creatures in your party are different, then you will move at the rate of the slowest creature (so be aware of the races of your party composition).
• If you travel at a fast pace, you take levels of exhaustion that require you to take a long rest in order to return to normal.
• Traveling at a normal pace results in no penalties or benefits.
• But if you move at a slow pace, you can move stealthily by moving at half speed. 
• Rangers can travel easier through difficult terrain.
• Pages 111 of the DMG detail how players need to keep track of rations and foraging. 
• Travel often includes wilderness survival encounters, such as sinking swaps, rushing rivers, and avalanches.

7 Different Methods for Running DnD 5e Long Distance Travel

(Note: While many different DnD content creators offer multiple travel methods, the Dungeon Dude was, imo, the most comprehensive. Watch it here ). 

Solution 1: Narrate and "Hand Wave" Travel

I know... this post is about making dnd 5e overland travel fun... but a sure-fire way to make it NOT fun is to ALWAYS role-play travel every time the players go anywhere! I insist... DO NOT RUN TRAVEL JUST FOR THE SAKE OF TRAVELING!

Ginny D comically elaborates on this. Watch the whole thing here , but here's a summary: most of our attempts to spice up travel just ends up as filler. Which is a boring waste of time for you and everyone at the table.

Sometimes the distance is too short... or too safe... or too boring to justify spending the time. Sometimes the narrative will suffer too much if you take all the time to travel somewhere. And sometimes the mood of the players or tone at the table demands you get to the point. Regardless, at some point in your adventure, you will discover that narrating the journey is the best choice in that particular moment. 

For example, unless there is bad weather or a threat waiting for them  (due to their decisions, of course) , I usually skip travel if my party is backtracking the same route. There is an argument to be made that the party's familiarity with the route would make it much harder for them to run into dangerous encounters. 

This is the "Dnd Fast Travel" method... plot armor for player characters. 

Another reason to skip traveling is if the destination is guaranteed to be 1,000% more interesting than the journey... you don't want travel to distract a highly-immersed and engaged table. Maybe after many sessions of investigating, they JUST discovered the location of an ancient dwarven stronghold... you are probably going to want to carry their excitement straight to the entrance to the cave network rather than waste it on a slog of goblin ambushes on the road. 

When skipping dnd 5e overland travel, just have three or four sentences describing what the characters see, how fast they travel , etc. and then have them arrive at the destination. No dice rolls... no random encounters... no supplies... no nothing. Just get there!

Solution 2: Roll Every Hour

This is straight from page 106 of the DMG. Have players roll survival and perception checks every hour and roll some sort of random encounter every hour. The "random encounter" does NOT equal combat... it can be an NPC, a pretty view, a discovery... etc. 

This is surely going to result in the 6 encounters for which the DnD 5e rest system was designed . It will certainly drain the PCs hit points, spell slots, and other resources. Which is great... and very much like video game RPGs. However, it will also make dnd 5e long distance travel take FOREVER!!!!!

Don't do this unless you are hella hardcore and want to have your adventure be as realistic as possible, measuring exact distances. It is maaaaaybe an option if your entire adventure is just one long travel session (like in  Lord of the Rings )... but even that has plenty of narration. 

I believe this isn't travel at all... it's a mock  Final Fantasy RPG mechanic!

It's just standard DnD! It, like solution 1, gets rid of long distance dnd travel, but does so by stretching it out so much that it becomes the game itself. 

In my opinion, the fact that the  Dungeon Master's Guide only offers these two solutions shows how much WOTC dropped the ball. It's been 9 years, everyone... you are professionals... come on. 

Solution 3: DnD 5e Overland Travel Takes One Hour of Playtime

This is the most popular suggestion for fixing dnd 5e overland travel. Luke at the DM Lair makes the case that DMs should set aside 1 hour for travel. This is an hour of real-world activity. This hour would be enough for a short, 30-minute combat encounter, maybe a 10-minute discovery, some role-playing, and narration. He also points out that random encounters like these provide an opportunity to use fun monsters and creatures that won't otherwise come up in your game/plot. 

And while I love the DM Lair... what he does... and understand where he is coming from... and agree that this is sometimes great... I respectfully disagree with this method. I think that any of the other methods would result in both a better game experience and better story. 

Admittedly, if the party is traveling through a mountain pass or a single forest, then it works fine. But if they are traveling across continents or oceans? Or across wildly different climates? Or for so long that the seasons change? The "one single encounter" method is rarely the right way to run dnd 5e overland travel. As stated previously , the "random encounter" just makes traveling take much longer than it needs to. 

Order of the Stick has a great comic that makes fun of this... and points out how weird it is. It is one of the only times players KNOW they will get a long rest as soon as the battle ends. Which means... they will throw everything they got. Hold nothing back. After all, why not? They will just long rest and get it all back just before they reach the dungeon entrance. No stakes... no consequences... no choice... no fun... because it is a meaningless encounter that does not impact the players, the story, or their state as they arrive. 

However, if you  insist on sticking to this method, the Dungeon Dudes make an amazing point that you must heed. They suggest you treat the single travel encounter as a "dungeon room 0" that foreshadows what lies in wait at the destination. This method builds anticipation, creates a sense of the passage of time, while also getting the party quickly to the action. 

Solution 4: When All Else Fails... Run a Skill Challenge!

A skill challenge is widely considered the best thing 4e gave to us. Here is how it basically works: 

• DM says the players will resolve an encounter more cinematically rather than with a social or combat encounter.
• The DM sets an appropriate DC (difficulty class). 
• The DM sets the scene, describing the threats and obstacles the player characters have to overcome.
• Each "round," players select a skill check (or saving throw) to make. 
• If the player succeed a certain number of times, they win the skill challenge and continue their journey. 
• If the players fail a certain number of times, then they fail the skill challenge and a new scene begins.

This is the method Matt Coleville uses  ( check out Matt Coleville's video here ) . A skill challenge can bring some tension and reduce an otherwise complicated and lengthy encounter into something that is quick, cinematically exciting, and allows players to shine in different ways. They can be used in DnD 5e overland travel for anything from navigating the wilderness, surviving a flood, or socializing with random passersby on the road. Like a montage in a movie, it is a great way to accomplish A LOT in a short amount of time. 

Now, personally, I believe too many people rely on skill challenges to accomplish too much in their campaigns . That said,  they firmly belong in the exploration pillar , and therefore also have their place in dnd 5e travel mechanics. In my games, they are particularly helpful to quickly backtrack across terrain the party is already familiar with. Long story short: a skill challenge can be a useful travel tool and, when done well, very fun... especially when combined with travel roles (see the next travel post... HERE ). 

Solution 5: Let Dnd 5e Overland Travel Take a Single Game Session (or Two)

**If the first few solutions are about minimizing the journey time as much as possible, then the final few are about getting the MOST out of it**

If you want to be intentional about weaving travel into your DnD campaign and table culture, then I definitely advocate setting aside at least a session to make it fun. But how do you design a whole session around getting somewhere? 

The Dungeon Dudes offer a helpful image you are probably familiar with: Design the route(s) like you would desgin a large dungeon . Give their journey a clear structure with multiple ways to go. But instead of "rooms," you have encounters and alternation between social, combat, and exploration encounters. And don't forget to narrate the areas as they travel through and in between each encounter!

This method creates 5e travel encounters, which solves the principle problem facing everything that belongs to the exploration pillar... the lack of scenes .

Oh, what was that? Worried your adventurers will have the benefits of a long rest for each encounter? BOOM... use a rest mechanic I first heard about on We Speak Common :  "It takes 24 hours to gain the benefits of a long rest an 8 hours for a short rest."

Why apply this to dnd 5e overland travel? Because when you are on a journey... whether it be by plane, sea, car, horseback, or on foot... it is TIRING. It takes it out of you! 

**I expand on this in the third travel post, which contains — in my not-so-humble opinion — the best way to play travel in most dnd campaigns.**

Solution 6: 5e Travel as an Entire Adventure Arc

This solution is similar to solutions 2 and 4. You don't roll every hour like in solution 2, but you also don't design the route like a dungeon in solution 4. It is getting every ounce of fun out of 5e travel... but it is also the most time consuming. With this method, the journey IS the destination; you'll spend anything from a handful of sessions to months or even  years on the journey. Here are some situations for which this bold strategy works best: 

• If the setting/environment the players are moving through is particularly dangerous (ex: Chult in  Tomb of Annihilation ). 
• If the party begins due to some common, basic reason and you want to reveal the plot through what they encounter along the road.
• If the party joins a caravan, or the crew aboard a boat, and you want to give them ample time to get to know the NPCs. 
• If the party is fleeing and needs to rebrand, redefine, or rediscover who they are before they dive back into the main plot again.
• If you want your campaign to have a more episodic or anthology format (like  Avatar: The Last Airbender ). You slowly build the overarching plot, but have separate mini-adventures that add variety to your campaign . 

One thing I love about this method is how much downtime there is. Players will have plenty of opportunities to track rations, forage in the forests, and interact with villagers along the road. 

And though the road may be lonely, the party can keep each other company! Periodically roll which player characters make small talk. It's a great opportunity to discuss things outside of the adventure, open up, and create more complex characters. 

Solution 7: Do a Hex Crawl! 

Hex crawls are a specific mechanic invented to marry exploration and travel together. Typically, they are best when parties are searching the wilderness, rather than traveling across roads and communities. For these reasons, it will be receiving special attention in an upcoming blog post!

"What About Planar or Sea Travel?" 

Dungeons and Dragons is a fantasy game that takes players on epic adventures across the outer and inner planes. However, planar travel in dnd 5e is all about magical settings that are different from standard Dnd 5e overland travel. They are covered in our  Travel DnD 5e Guide .

DnD 5e Overland Travel DM Tips

**There may be no "one size fits all" method... but here are some tips that always work no matter which way you choose to run it: sure-fire tips and tricks, starting with the most important...**

A) Narrate the Surroundings Well and Often 

When you travel in real life, you get out of your familiar surroundings and are thrust into the big, wide world. New settings, new cities, new peoples. And all of these different settings come with unique sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and sensations... and they are MEMORABLE. 

Guy from How to Be a Great GM points this out. He looked back on his backpacking trips and realized that what he remembers are the VIEWS from the mountain top. You know what he DOESN'T remember? Packing his food for the trip, driving to the trail, or setting up a tent. 

So DMs... you gatta regularly narrate what the characters are traveling through... like, A LOT. 

• When they enter a new area... 
• When they come across something that you need to draw their attention to... 
• And/or if 10 minutes have passed and the image in the mind's eye is fading... 

Dnd 5e Overland Travel is part of the exploration pillar ; for players to explore, they need to visualize the environment their characters are in. So always lean on over-narrating. 

And players... as the DM actively narrates, you must actively visualize . It doesn't happen passively and requires intentional effort. But trust me, it will be worth it! The adventure will feel so much more fantastic and cinematic.

B) Travel When the Player Characters Are at Lower Levels

In the previous post, I said travel can help the world feel dangerous and give it a sense a scale. That is particularly true when your players are level 1 pip-squeaks. I mean, if a Giant Rat can kill them... how are they going to fare against something as common as an Owlbear? 

On the flip side, this is particularly NOT true when they are bigger and stronger... starting around level 9. At that point, they will have access to spells like Magnificent Mansion and Teleport, which will turn arduous trekking into a walk in the park. Simply put: the tension, wonder, and experience of travel matters at lower levels. 

As your players level up and get stronger and stronger, they will find the bloodthirsty bandits that gave them such trouble are now barely an inconvenience. So much so that you can role-play a bandit encounter rather than roll it! But if you traveled at lower levels, narrating an easy battle at higher levels will reinforce just how much stronger the players have gotten! They will think  "wow... what used to take us several sessions now takes just 5 minutes!"

So if your players want to enjoy traveling in your adventure, YOU HAVE TO START EARLY. Because by level 15, players will be throwing their heads back in laughter when warned of the trek to the mountains... cuz last session they used "Gate" to magically traverse the outer planes of the cosmos... 

C) Maintain 3 Traveling Basics 

The "basics" include three things: 

• Financial/material cost
• Marching order
• Conversation 

DnD parties often adventure for potential riches... but getting there also  costs them riches. Even in the real world, long distance travel is a dangerous and expensive adventure. Ask how many taverns they stay in, what kind of food they plan on eating, what supplies they need, etc. They gold you give them is for so much more than fancy armor and magic items!

Does this mean you have to track every little thing? Heavens, no. 

• If they fall into some rapids and crash against rocks... yeah, maybe their equipment should be damaged. 
• And if they choose to stay at taverns... yeah, refer to the lifestyle expenses on page 157 – 158 of the PHB . 
• And if they choose to camp in bad weather for a week... yeah, give them a level of exhaustion until they get good sleep in a warm bed . 

The Dungeon Coach also pointed out how helpful it is to have the players decide on a "standard" marching order. Knowing who is where will come in handy when there is some sort of encounter. The DM can seamlessly transition from narration to encounter, keeping the pace of the game exciting. 

And if I may add to this point, a lot of stuff happens when the players are NOT on the road. Knowing what the characters are generally up to is better than asking them every time they break camp. So have several other "marching orders:" 

• Who keeps watch when... 
• What characters do at a tavern... 
• What they look for when they enter a town... 

Finally, just like in the real world, dnd 5e overland travel can be peaceful and uneventful. And so what do people do in those situations? They talk to one another! They catch up, ask random questions, play "I spy with my little eye," in the back of the station wagon/horse wagon!

If your table hates role-playing, then maybe this isn't for them. But my table loves it, so what I do is set up two random tables: A) characters and B) topics. If my players have nothing particularly exciting to talk about, I roll rive for characters and once for topics. And boom... in between dnd 5e overland travel encounters, those two characters have to have a conversation about that topic!

Sometimes it is just silly and fun, and other times characters learn how to fight better in combat encounters, and other times there are HUGE reveals that never would have happened!

Conclusion: Put It All Together

There you have it... seven suggestions for better dnd 5e overland travel... each of which works great with five additional tips on how to make it more fun and interesting for everyone at the table. 

In the hands of a skilled DM, each of these will work pretty well. However, each are forgetting one, crucial element... a missing piece that, until added, will leave the "travel dnd 5e puzzle" incomplete. The next post ( read it here now ) discusses that missing piece, as well as 3 super-simple mechanics you can use to make journeying across long distances truly special. 

But to wrap this up, here is a summary: 

The 7 Methods of DnD 5e Overland Travel: 

• Hand wave it away... skip to the "good part"
• Roll every hour
• One encounter/hour of play time 
• Take a single game session (or two)
• Do a skill challenge
• Spend the entire adventure arc traveling
• Run a hex crawl

3 Suggestions for Better Travel Gameplay: 

• Narrate your surroundings well and often 
• Explore when player characters are at lower levels
• Maintain the 3 basics

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Travel Calculator

Use this tool to quickly find out how long it will take your 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons party to travel a given distance, depending on their pace and other factors. Simply provide the distance to travel below, and we'll do the math for you.

Keepers can also specify terrain, mounts, vehicles, spell effects (Wind Walk, anyone?), activities/conditions, and ranger favored terrains to get more precise results.

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Estimated Travel Time

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With a forced march, you can travel an additional 5 miles per hour.

Movement – How to Play DnD 5e – RPGBOT

• Introduction

Dungeons and Dragons is fundamentally a game about adventuring, and adventuring typically requires movement from time to time. Even if your campaign takes place in a relatively small area, you will need to move about between various points of interest.

Table of Contents

Travel scale, tactical scale, movement types, mixing movement types, difficult terrain, marching order.

While these terms of not used in the official text, I find it helpful to think of movement on two scales: travel scale, and tactical scale. These are useful for conceptually separating movement across scales where distance doesn’t need to be precisely measured (Travel Scale) and a scale where precise location is often important for the purposes of traps, enemies, and other dangers.

Travel scale is useful for handling movement across areas larger than a room or a small building. Even if you’re just going across the street, it’s often faster and just as effective to track movement on a broader, less-specific scale. Much like Narrative Time, Travel Scale can often be abstractly tracked or tracked by measures large enough that minor amounts aren’t important. For example: If you’re travelling 10 miles, a distance of a few hundred feet isn’t important enough to track. If you’re walking from one side of a castle to the other, it will probably take a few minutes and tracking your foot-by-foot movement is both tedious and rarely important. Even if you’re just crossing a 10 by 10 room, you can often track movement on “Travel Scale” so long as there’s no chance of anything violent or dangerous happening.

Tactical Scale is typically used for combat or for exploring dangerous areas like dungeons where any given 5-foot square might set off a trap or someother hazard, and where your precise position is important in the event that you stumble upon a hostile creature and combat breaks out. At this scale movement is often slow in real-world time, but this is a scale at which you should move cautiously and deliberately, watching your surroundings constantly for signs of danger.

Nearly every creature (with some very unusual exceptions) has a Speed. This measures the creature’s ability to move during a single turn in combat, and Speed is always measured in feet at 5-foot steps, so a creature might have a Speed of 30 ft. or 35 ft., but you will never see a creature with a speed of 32 ft. or any other amount that can’t be evenly divided by 5.

Dungeons and Dragons presents four types of movement, each of which work a little bit differently, but the primary difference is how they allow a creature to move. All creatures have a land speed listed in their stat blocks, but creatures without the ability to move on land (like fish) typically have a listed land speed of 0 ft.

Land Speed is the most common type, and represents walking, crawling, slithering, or any other type of movement which takes place on a mostly horizontal surface. Humans have a land speed of 30 ft.

In many cases the official rules text will specify “speed” without specifying a type, which is often confusing. In general, if something gives you a speed (such as your character’s race) without specifying a type, it’s a land speed. If an effect modifies your existing speed (such as the haste spell or the Barian’s and Monk’s speed bonuses) it applies to any movement type which your character has naturally (such as land speed for a human or swim speed for a fish), but not to any additional movement types which you might have (such as a fly speed granted by a spell).

Burrow Speed represents a creature’s ability to move quickly underground by burrowing. This is typically limited to moving through “loose earth” such as sand or dirt, but creature’s can’t burrow through solid stone without an ability which specifically allows them to do so such as the Earth Elemental’s Earth Glide ability. Moving this way does not leave a tunnel or other passage unless the creature has an ability which causes it to do so, such as the Purple Worm’s Tunneler ability.

For more on Burrow speeds, see page 8 of the Monster Manual.

Climb Speed represents a creature’s ability to climb vertical surfaces. While nearly all creatures can climb, creatures with a climb speed are abnormally good at it. For these creatures, moving up a wall is as easy as it is for a human to walk on even ground. These creatures include creatures like monkeys and spiders.

Some creatures also have the ability to climb upside down on horizontal surfaces. This usually comes from the Spider Climb ability or from the spider climb spell.

Even if you don’t have a climb speed (most Player Characters won’t), you can still climb most of the time. Doing so costs 2 ft. of movement for each 1 ft. moved, which essentially means that you move at half of your speed while climbing. If the surface is difficult to climb, the Dungeon Master may require a Strength (Athletics) check to climb the surface. If a surface is impossible for you to climb, such as a perfectly smooth wall, the DM may simply disallow climbing it.

For more on climbing, see page 182 of the Player’s Handbook. For more on Climb speeds, see page 8 of the Monster Manual.

Fly Speed represents a creature’s ability to move through the air, by either mundane wings like wings or by magical means like spells. Creatures are free to move up or down, to change directions in place, and to hover in place regardless of real-world physical complications like momentum and thrust.

Despite the clear advantages of flight, it also has some risks: If a creature’s fly speed is reduced to 0 (such as if the creature is grappled, restrained, or paralyzed) or if it is otherwise unable to move, it falls unless it has the “Hover” ability or it flies magically. If a creature has a fly speed and the Hover ability, “(Hover)” will be displayed following the creature’s fly speed. For more on falling, see Falling, below.

For more on fly speeds, see page 191 of the Player’s Handbook and page 8 of the Monster Manual.

Swim Speed represents a creature’s ability to swim through water and other liquids. While nearly all creatures can swim, creatures with a swim speed are abnormally good at it. For these creatures, moving through water is as easy as it is for a human to walk across even ground. These creatures include creatures like fish, whales, and tritons.

Even if you don’t have a swim speed, you can still swim most of the time. Doing so costs 2 ft. of movement for each 1 ft. moved, which essentially means that you can move at half your speed while swimming. If the liquid is difficult to swim through, such as a fast-moving river, the Dungeon Master may require a Strength (Athletics) check to swim safely.

For more on swimming, see page 182 of the Player’s Handbook. For more on swim speeds, see page 8 of the Monster Manual.

Creatures with multiple movement types can use any number of them during their turn. However you’re moving, you deduct the distance of each part of your move from your speed until it is used up or until you are done moving.

If you have multiple movement types, some may allow you to move different amounts. In this case, movement of any type is still subtracted from all of your movement speeds. For example: the giant badger has 30 ft. speed and a 10 ft. burrow speed. If a giant badger walks 10 feet on its turn, it can no longer use its burrow speed, but could walk another 20 feet. If it instead burrowed 10 feet, it could then walk another 20 feet before expending its movement for the turn.

In many cases, you will encounter “difficult terrain”. Diffcult terrain costs 2 ft. of movement for every 1 ft. that you travel through it, effectively meaning that you move at half speed through difficult terrain.

Difficult terrain can take a variety of forms. At Tactical Scale, this typically means rubble, uneven ground, heavy foliage, or some other impediment which you can’t simply walk or run through. At Travel Scale, this might be marching through a forest or through rocky terrain with frequent elevation changes.

Moving long distances between locations requires travel of one kind or another. Though walking overland is common, you might also ride on horseback, in a wagon, or aboard a ship. At higher levels you might gain the ability to fly overland using spells like air walk , magic items like a flying carpet, or special mounts like griffons or pegasi.

The minutiae of traveling long distances are covered on page 181-182 of the Player’s Handbook under “Travel Pace”. You don’t need to know these rules off the top of your head, but you’ll want to reference that section whenever you’re traveling long distances. The official text also covers the mechanics for things like foraging, drawing a map as you travel, navigating to avoid getting lost.

One important things that may be helpful to know off the top of your head: all creatures travel at roughly the same pace, regardless of their speed. This requires some suspension of disbelief since creatures with 5 ft. speed move as fast as a horse as the rules are written, but it also makes it much easier for halflings in your party to keep up with everyone else.

When moving between locations, it can be helpful to establish a “Marching Order”. This is helpful for the Dungeon Master to know roughly where everyone in the party is positioned in the event of an ambush, a trap, or another hazard.

This could easily be called a “formation”, but the term “Marching Order” dates back to Dungeons and Dragons’ earliest days, where marching single-file through narrow dungeon corridors was the defining mode of travel. Now adventures take place in more diverse locales, but the term “Marching Order” has stood the test of time.

A marching order is divided into one or more “ranks”. The front and back ranks can hold as many members as can fit side-by-side, while middle ranks can fit as many members as you like. If you only have two ranks, they are by definition front and back ranks.

While you’re traveling in open areas like along a road or through a field, you have plenty of room to freely form your Marching Order, so you might choose to have a dozen characters in the front rank while leaving just one in each of several other ranks. In a narrow dungeon corridor, you are much more restricted: you might even be forced to march single-file, putting one character in the front, another in the back, and the rest of the party in any number of middle ranks.

When deciding who to place in each rank, it’s helpful to consider two factors: The characters’ Passive Perception, and their ability to survive unexpected hazards like a sudden monster attack or an unnoticed trap. Noticing a problem before it affects you can prevent a lot of trouble, but if you don’t see something coming you want whoever is in the front and back ranks to survive whatever hits them. Frail characters who have low HP or poor AC should typically be placed in the relative safety of the middle ranks.

If you’re having trouble visualising marching order, consider a group of people walking on a sidewalk. A small group may be able to stand side-by-side, forming a single rank. However, if the sidewalk is too narrow, the group may split up into multiple ranks of people standing alongside each other. A few people might form a front rank, typically choosing the direction of the group as a whole. Depending on the size of the group, one or more groups of people might form middle ranks. Finally, one or more people will form the back rank, marking the rear of the group.

You may perform either a high jump or a long jump. You may perform a long jump to move horizontally a number of feet equal to your Strength score, and you may perform a high jump to move a number of feet equal to three plus your Strength modifier (not your Strength score), provided that you move 10 ft. along the ground immediately before performing either kind of jump. If you perform a standing jump, these distances are halved.

There are some additional specifics to the rules for jumping, so if you need to know things like how high you can reach with a high jump or how high you jump with a long jump, see page 182 of the Player’s Handbook.

While in combat, you may jump as part of your normal movement during a turn. Any horizontal distance that you travel while jumping counts against your movement for the turn just like walking would. If you attempt to jump and run out of movement, your jump ends at the limit of your movement. For example, if you have a speed of 30 ft. and a Strength of 10, you can jump 10 ft. following moving 10 ft. on the ground. If you moved 25 ft. before jumping, you could only jump 5 ft. before exhausting your 30 ft. of movement. However, if you take the Dash action to gain additional movement (giving you a total of 60 ft. of movement for the turn), your jump could continue and you would still have 25 ft. of your 60 ft. of movement for the turn. You probably even have enough room to get another 10 ft. running start before performing another jump, provided that the terrain cooperates.

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T.E. "RPGBOT" Kamstra

Tyler "RPGBOT" Kamstra has been the author of RPGBOT.net since 2013. Tyler began playing tabletop RPGs with 3rd edition Dungeons and Dragons over 20 years ago. Tyler has a long-standing love for building characters and for game mechanics, and brings that enthusiasm to everything he creates.

Realistic Travel Rules

by Apostol Apostolov

Update Last: 1563899985733

In historic and fantasy campaigns, wilderness travel can take a very long time crossing through unsettled territory with neither the luxury to rest in an inn or road hut each night, nor the safety of well secured civilization. These rules simulate the resource management and perils of day to day traveling.

The Travel Route

As a DM, help your players come up with a travel plan then calculate its distance in miles. Break down the full distance into smaller segments by using checkpoint locations such as towns and hamlets, wayside inns, river banks and other points of interest. Break segments when terrain type changes or roads start or end since such changes affect travel speed.

For particularly long travels across unsafe territory, it is best that you prepare a random encounter table specific to the region. In these rules you will find advice when and how to introduce danger in your travel. If you have preplanned encounters that happen at specific locations or at a distance of the travel route, keep a handy list and consult it at the start of each daily routine. By dividing the distance to the encounter location by the speed of travel, you can identify during what travel leg the players will reach it.

Players must put great deal of their effort into management of their resources - food, water, and means of transportation (mounts or vehicles) when available. Appoint one dependable player with the role of Travel Manager, who will calculate use of resources and distribute tasks between other players.

The Traveling Day

A typical day of travel consists of roughly 9 to 16 hours of activity, out of them 6-10 hours of actual travel. At specific times the party must rest and consume water or rations.

Daily Travel Routine

Daylight by season.

The amount of usable daylight vastly depends on the region and/or season you are traveling at.

Daily Planning

During each travel day, the players must make choices.

Choose Destination and Speed. Players must choose a travel pace (fast, normal or slow) and whether they will force march despite exhaustion. The Travel Manager spends the needed resources.

Determine Terrain Difficulty. The DM determines the terrain type and calculates how much distance will be crossed without any larger disruptions (such as combat or a detour to explore unexpected locations).

Decide Travel Activities. The players distribute Travel Activities among themselves. In each of the two travel legs of the daily routine, a player may take one activity of his choice. Some activities allow several players to work as a group.

Making Camp. The players must search the environment and find proper location for setting up camp. Depending on the location, the camp can have different properties.

Decide Camp Activities. The players distribute Camp Activities among themselves. Each player can take one Camp Activity before having to rest for the night.

Choose Destination

The players must choose where they are heading and at which pace to travel at. The party can follow a natural feature of the land like a coast, river or tree line, or just head off in any of the cardinal directions. Consult the Travel Speed and Activities table to decide on the following properties.

Travel Speed.

The actual movement speed (by foot) either per hour or per day (assuming 8 hours of travel).

If you travel by horse or carriage and you cross easy or moderate terrain, increase the travel speed by 2 mile per hour. If you choose to gallop by horse and you cross easy terrain, increase the travel by 4 miles per hour instead.

Travel Activities

Your chosen pace of travel affects how easy it is to do things during your daily travel legs.

Favored Activities. Favored activities may be made with advantage when traveling at this pace.

Associated Activities. Associated activities are typical activities for the corresponding pace.

Hindered Activities. Hindered activities must be made with disadvantage when traveling at this pace.

Forbidden Activities. These activities cannot be taken when traveling at this pace.

Forced March

Players can safely travel for 8 hours in a day before risking exhaustion. For each additional hour of travel beyond that, each player or their mounts (if riding or in carriage) must make a Constitution saving throw at the end of every hour. The DC is 10 + 1 for each hour past 8 hours. On a failed saving throw, player or its mount suffers level of exhaustion.

If the party is moving at a slow pace, they gain a +5 bonus to the check, and a fast pace imposes a -5 penalty

Determine Terrain

Several activities during a travel refer to the Navigation DC. This DC is depending on the terrain you are traversing.

The harder the terrain, the slower your group will advance during your travel, up to a point where you must concentrate on actually getting forward than paying attention to other activities. This means that in order to travel through hard terrain, you must at least travel at a normal pace or a slow pace with a successful trailblazer to make any headway.

Travel Speeds and Activities

---------------------------------------------------------------------- Travel Activities ---------------------------------------------------------------------

For each travel leg, a player may choose one of the following activities in accordance with your chosen travel pace. Each activity has an associated ability check you will take to determine your success or failure during the travel leg.

Dangerous Activities

Several activities are noted as Dangerous . Performing one of these activities usually means having to separate from the group and the risk of being attacked or trapped without help.

Distracting Activities

Some activities are so demanding that you can't pay much attention to your surroundings. If you perform a Distracting activity, you suffer a -5 penalty to your passive Wisdom (Perception) score for the whole travel leg.

Exhausting Activities

Some activities are much more tiresome that simple travel. If you perform two Exhausting activities on one day, you suffer one level of exhaustion after finishing the second one, but before looking for and setting up camp.

Focused activities

Most activities can be performed by several players. However, some activities can only be performed by one or two simultaneously. These Focused activities can only be performed by a maximum of 2 players, and you only use the higher of the two check results to determine their effect.

If a player fails their check, they still suffer the consequences.

Skill: Intelligence (Cartographer's tools)

While your companions keep watch, hunt for food and guide the party, you focus on documenting your journey. Drawing a map won't help you on your journey forward, but might proof useful once you try to find your way back. Good maps are also a highly sought-after commodity.

Make an Intelligence (Cartographer's tools) check against the Navigation DC.

• If your guide succeeded on their navigation check, you gain a +5 bonus to your check.
• If they failed by less than 5, you suffer a -5 penalty.
• If you got lost, your check automatically fails.
• For each travel leg, note if you succeeded or failed your cartography check.

Once you have reached your destination, divide the number of successful cartography checks by the total number of legs traveled, and compare the result on the following table:

Hunt & Forage

Skill: Wisdom (Survival)

During your travels, you keep an eye out for nearby sources of food and water, such as roots, fruits, small game, and hidden springs. You must pick one: either plants, game or water.

Make a Wisdom (Survival) check and compare the result with the region's abundance level on the following table to determine the number of fresh rations (for 1 day) you can manage to provide, or gallons of water (8 pints) you gather.

--------- Number of Rations / Gallons ---------

Skill: Wisdom (Perception)

You keep your eyes peeled and your ears open for any sign of approaching danger, as well as signs of close by pursuers.

Make a Wisdom (Perception) check. If you roll 7 or less, you take 8 as result. The DM determines the DC for any threat or other suspicious activity along your path and compares it to the result of all watching players.

If you travel at a Fast Pace , you do not benefit from minimum result of 8 on your Keep Watch die roll.

Skill: Intelligence (Navigator's tools) or Wisdom (Survival)

More often than not, a location of interest for a group of adventurers is not situated along a well trodden path, but hidden in the wilds behind obscure hints and directions.

If you wish to find your way through the wilds towards a specific location, you need to make a Navigation check at the Navigation DC. The Navigation DC is additionally modified by the information you possess to reach your destination:

If you navigation check fails by less than 5, you roughly travel towards your target, but not in the most direct way. Your travel speed is halved (rounded down) for this travel leg.

If your navigation check fails by 5 or more, you have made a mistake. Your travel speed is halved (rounded down) for this travel leg, however, you moved away from your location.

If you rolled a total of 5 or lower, you got lost. Depending on the nature of your surroundings, getting lost might entail additional complications and dangers.

Skill: Intelligence (Investigation)

If your travel informations are rather vague, or you are simply curious to see what else is there to see, you can scout ahead of the group. Make an Intelligence (Investigation) check. The DM determines the DC for any noticeable thing in the vicinity.

You might find such things as creatures waiting in ambush, favorable paths, or hidden locations.

Skill: Dexterity (Stealth)

Sometimes you need to move quietly for a while to avert the eyes and ears of close by enemies or to cover your tracks and take detours to shake off possible pursuers. In order to do so, you don't need the whole party to perform the Sneak activity, as the party members that do, can try to keep everyone else as stealthy as possible.

Add the Dexterity (Stealth) check results of all sneaking party members together and divide the sum by the number of all players in the group (rounding down). This is the final and effective result for the group's efforts.

Sometimes you don't try to find a specific location, but follow or chase another creature or group. Instead of the Navigation activity, make a Wisdom (Survival) check against the terrain DC to find and follow the track of your quarry. If your quarry is trying to cover their tracks, use the higher of their Sneak result or the terrain DC.

If you check fails by less than 5, you are having trouble following your quarry. Your travel speed is halved (rounded down) for this travel leg.

If your check fails by 5 or more, you have made a mistake. Your travel speed is halved (rounded down) for this travel leg, however, you moved away from your quarry.

A different use for the Track activity is to read the tracks your group crosses during their travel, in order to glean what kind of creatures are roaming nearby. Make a Wisdom (Survival) check. The DM determines the DC for any possible tracks you might find and to which creatures they might belong.

Skill: Strength (Athletics)

Traveling through difficult terrain slows you significantly. You can help your companions by clearing a clear path for them to follow. Make a Strength (Athletics) check against the terrain DC. If you succeed, the terrain's travel speed penalty is reduced by 1 mile per hour (to a minimum of 0).

If you succeed by 5 or more, the terrain's travel speed penalty is reduced by 2 miles per hour instead.

If you fail the check by less than 5, you still reduce the terrain's travel speed penalty by 1 mile per hour (to a minimum of 0), but you automatically suffer one level of exhaustion at the end of the activity.

Making Camp

When it's time to make camp for the night, the players need to start looking for a suitable camping location. If you had players Scout on the last leg, they may make an additional Intelligence (Investigation) check, while players that Kept Watch may make an additional Wisdom (Perception) check with disadvantage. Compare each check to the table below.

If none of the party took either activity, you need to spend an additional hour to find a suitable campsite.

Each campsite is defined by up to three different properties (see below), determined by the DM at random (roll d6).

If you are not content with the campsites you found, you must travel on for another hour (risking a forced march), in order to search again. Once night sets in, you can search by Scouting using Intelligence (Investigation) with disadvantage.

Comfortable

The campsite is reasonably protected against all but the harshest weather. You regain half your maximum hit dice (rounded down, minimum 1) and reduce your exhaustion level by one after completing a long rest (as usual).

In an Uncomfortable location you only regain one quarter of your maximum hit dice (rounded down, minimum 0) and don't reduce your exhaustion level.

The campsite has a natural barrier or is otherwise difficult to reach (e.g. inside the canopy of a large tree or up on a rock ledge). Approaching creatures need to succeed on a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check to enter the camp.

This property can be selected twice, increasing the DC to enter the campsite to 20.

The campsite is removed or obscured from prying eyes (e.g. a cave behind a waterfall or under the leaves of a huge willow tree). Approaching creatures need to succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) or Wisdom (Perception) check to find your camp.

This property can be selected twice, increasing the DC to find the campsite to 20.

Camp Activities

Once a party sets down to rest, players can choose one or more of the following activities. Each activity takes roughly 1 hour, i.e. each player can perform one of these activities during a short rest, or two activities during a typical long rest of 8 hours (6 hours of sleep and 2 hours of light activity).

You may always expend hit dice to regain lost hit points, but you can take a special camp activity to accelerate your recovery ( Tend to the Wounded ).

Attune Magic Item

Skill: none

Attuning to one magical item takes time and concentration. You must have identified the items magical properties before you can attune to it.

Camouflage Camp

You can use natural materials like rocks or foliage to hide your campsite. A successful DC 15 Dexterity (Stealth) check adds the Hidden property to your campsite if it doesn't have it. The DC to find your campsite is equal to the result of your Dexterity (Stealth) check.

Cook Hearty Meal

Skill: Wisdom (Cook's utensils)

A good night's rest is not guaranteed when camping in the wilds and a fine cooked meal can go a long way to remedy this fact. Make a DC 15 Wisdom (Cook's utensils) check. You need one fresh ration of food for every person that will partake of the meal, as well as a reasonable amount of seasoning. If you provide at least 50% more fresh rations than necessary, you gain advantage on this check. If you can only provide half the required amount of rations (but not less), you gain disadvantage.

If you succeed, each person partaking of your meal regains a quarter of their maximum hit dice (rounded down, min 1). If you fail, the meal is eatable, but not refreshing. If you rolled a total of 5 or lower, the whole meal is spoiled and its rations are wasted.

You can only benefit from one hearty meal per long rest.

Fortify Camp

You can use wooden spikes or large boulders to barricade your campsite or dig a ditch and build rampart. Successful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check adds the Defendable property to your campsite (if it doesn't already have it).

The DC to enter your campsite is equal to the result of your Strength (Athletics) check.

Gather food and water or hunt local game. This is the same action as the travel activity. However, since you are not traveling at this point, you may make the corresponding Wisdom (Survival) check with advantage.

Identify Magic Item

Skill: proficient Intelligence (Arcana)

If you lack the magic abilities to use the identify spell, you can try to ascertain the nature of a magic item by focusing on its aura and trying to decipher its glyphs and markings. Make an Intelligence (Arcana) check. The DC depends on the rarity of the magic item you wish to identify.

A long rest requires at least 6 hours of sleep and 2 hours of light activity. Depending on the size of the traveling party, you are advised to take shifts keeping watch while the others try to gain some sleep. Make a Wisdom (Perception) check. If your result is 7 or lower, you can take 8 instead. Players who perform one of the other camp activities (i.e. not sleeping or keeping watch) do not benefit from minimum 8 on the roll.

The DM determines the DC for any threat or approaching danger (hostile creatures or natural phenomena) and compare it to all Wisdom (Perception) results. On a success, the watchers are able to wake and warn the rest of the party, and prevent being surprised.

Set up Traps

You can set a number of small traps like caltrops, slings, and small pits around your camp. Make a Wisdom (Survival) check. The DC to find these traps with an Intelligence (Investigation) or Wisdom (Perception) check , as well as the DC for any saving throw made to resist their effects is equal to the result of your Wisdom (Survival) check.

Rest and Recuperate

Skill: Wisdom (Medicine)

You take your time to catch your breath, properly, eat and drink some, and dress well your wounds. Make a Wisdom (Medicine) check. The DC depends on the severity of your wounds (see the Dress Wounds table). If you succeed, treat any hit dice rolled to determine the hit points you regain as having rolled their maximum value, during this rest. If you suffer from a sickness or disease, you gain advantage to one related Constitution saving throw during your long rest.

Tend to the Wounded

You go around camp, making sure that the wounds of up to six creatures other than yourself are properly cleaned and dressed. Make a Wisdom (Medicine) check for each patient, in order to assess the wounds and properly dress them. The DC depends on the severity of their wounds (see the Dress Wounds table).

If you succeed, your patient can treat any hit dice rolled to determine the hit points they regain as having rolled their maximum value, during this rest. If your patient suffers from a sickness or disease, you gain advantage to one related Constitution saving throw during your long rest.

Dress Wounds Hit points above DC* Required Uses of Healer's kit 75% 5 0 50% 10 1 25% 15 2 0 20 3 The DC increases by 5 for every use of a healer's kit you cannot provide.

Mounted Travel

Using mounts and vehicles (carts and wagons) players can significantly shorten travel time.

Travel Pace of Mounts

Animals need feed (per day) or can find one themselves with Wisdom (Survival) check at DC based on the Hunt & Forage table (pg. 2) for 1 Ration. Animals who hunger or thirst for longer than 2 days suffer one level of Exhaustion per day at the end of their long rest.

Feed Costs (per day)

Mounts can pull five times their typical carrying capacity minus the weight of the vehicle. Mounts pulling carts or wearing armor may not travel more than two travel legs per day and suffer a disadvantage to the Forced March check. Travel groups that use wagons have access to the Drive Wagon travel activity, below.

Drive Wagon

Skill: Dexterity (Animal Handling)

You stay at the front of the wagon, maintaining steady pace of the animals and avoiding road obstacles that slow down or damage the carriage. Make a Dexterity(Animal Handling) check against Nativagation DC. Increase the DC by 5 if you are traveling off-road, without clear trail or road.

If your check succeeds by 5 or more, you may increase the travel pace by 1 mile per hour for the rest of the travel leg.

If your check fails by 10 or more or is a critical failure, a cart wheel breaks down. Repairing a cart is Focused activity requiring a successful DC 15 Intelligence check and takes a full travel leg. Players with proficiency in Smith, Carpenter, Woodcarver, or Tinker's tools add their proficiency bonus.

Perils of Travel

Players can survive without food for 3 + Consitution Modifier Days. At the end of a day beyond that limit, you are starving and automatically suffer one level of exhaustion. Eating food resets the count of days since starvation.

What's In A Ration? Hard tack, dried and cured meats, cheeses, and dried grains form the basis of traveller's rations. These rations last for 10 days before spoiling. Making them valuable choices for purchase compared to fresh meats which spoil after a day.

Dehydration

Hot weather and deserts doubles water intake need to 2 pints per travel leg. Players who can only drink half their daily water intake, must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or suffer two levels of exhaustion. If a player drinks no water for the whole day, they automatically suffers two levels of exhaustion.

Desperate times Water, far more important than food, tests the resourcefulness of many adventurers and nomads. For every four pounds of fresh (not cooked) meat or plants consumed, this counts as 2 pints of water. Each 4 pints of fresh blood counts as a 2 pints of water and requires a DC 15 Constitution saving throw to avoid vomiting.

At the end of each day of travel, each player makes a DC 12 Constitution saving throw. If you travel in hazardous weather (arctic or winter) or terrain (jungle or swamp), make that check at disadvantage. Remember that camp activities such as Rest and Recuperate and Tend to the Wounded helps negate this disadvantage. If you fail, record the failure. If you succeed, remove all recorded failures so far.

If you record two failures in a row, you come down with a minor sickness such as common cold. It is more of an annoyance than anything else.

If you record three failures in a row, you get sick from a regional sickness such as flu or malaria. While sickened, you suffer from disadvantage to two of the Dexterity and Wisdom saving throws until you recover. Magic such as greater restoration helps you recover immediately.

If you record four or more failures in a row, you are really sick from a rare regional disease such as plague or dengue fever. While sickened, you suffer one permanent level of exhaustion and disadvantage to all saving throws until you recover. DM may impose other risks, including death.

Optional Detail

These tables help the DM come up with quick results to player actions based on terrain and circumstances.

Foraging - Water

When making a Hunt & Forage travel activity for water, you may apply the following modifiers:

Foraging - Plants

When making a Hunt & Forage travel activity for plants, if your result beats the DC you find specific type of plant food.

Jungle/Swamp

Hills/mountain base, tundra/sub-arctic/mountain peak.

When making a Hunt & Forage travel activity for game, DM may let the players roleplay actual hunting. If they choose to, use the following tables to identify, track and kill the prey. Make a Wisdom(Perception) check against Track DC, and then Attack Roll against Kill AC to hunt the prey with the appropriate weapon (usually, a ranged weapon). You have advantage on the Attack roll if you beat the Track DC by 5 or more prior making the killing shot.

Each terrain table has 17 safe encounters and 3 combat encounters with Monster Manual page reference. In combat encounters, players can withdraw or must fight the creature. Depending how dangerous your environment is, you may change safe encounters into appropriate combat encounters.

Hills/Mountain Base (cont.)

Tundra/sub-arctic.

Fishing is a time-consuming activity that requires a whole travel leg (3-5 hours) to be spent near bank of a river or a lake. For every travel leg fishing, the player rolls a DC 12 Survival check. If successful, the DM rolls on the following table.

Subtract 5 from the result (minimum 1) if fishing on a River, or subtract 10 from the result (minimum 1) if fishing on a Pool or a Small Lake.

Creating Hazards

The following rules let the DM quickly design and resolve blizzards, hailstorms, avalanches and earthquakes. Choose the appropriate tier of your player group and the danger level of the hazard: setback, dangerous or deadly. Each hazard has associated saving throw (usually Dexterity or Constitution) that the players must check.

If they fail, they take damage appropriate for their level tier. If they succeed, they take half of that damage. If they critical fail, they suffer vulnerability to the full damage. If they critical succeed, they have resistance to the half damage.

Hazards Save DCs and Attack Bonuses

Damage severity by level, hazard examples, avalanches, rockfalls and mudslides.

Any Level of Hazard

Any character in the area where the hazard occurs must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes bludgeoning damage and is buried by the hazard, or half as much damage on a successful one. The area is filled with snow, rubble or mud and becomes difficult terrain.

Any buried creature is considered suffocated, and it can dig through to free itself. To do so, the creature must succeed a number of Strength (Athletics) checks, as shown in the following table.

You can read more about suffocating rules in the chapter 8 of the Player's Handbook.

Setback Hazard

The area affected by a blizzard is considered difficult terrain. When a creature without proper shelter is in the area affected by the blizzard for one hour, it must make a Constitution saving throw, taking cold damage on a failed save or half as much damage on a successful one. If a creature is wearing warm clothing, it has advantage on the saving throw.

Earthquakes

A tremor shakes the area; each creature on the ground in that area must make a Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone.

The hazard level is determined by the proximity to the epicenter or the intensity of the earth tremor:

• Setback. Far from the epicenter or light earthquake.
• Dangerous. Near the epicenter or moderate earthquake.
• Deadly. Very close to the epicenter or severe earthquake.

Dangerous Hazard

Similar to a blizzard, the terrain affected by the hailstorm is considered difficult terrain. When a creature without proper shelter is in the area affected by the hailstorm for one hour, it must make a Constitution saving throw, taking cold damage on a failed save or half as much damage on a successful one.

Insect Swarm

A cloud of swarming insects fills a 20-foot-radius sphere. The swarm moves at 20 feet on each round. When a creature enters the cloud, it must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, it takes piercing damage, or half as much damage on a successful one. A creature that ends its turn in the cloud must roll another saving throw. A creature cannot be damaged by the insect swarm if it’s wielding a torch or if it is at least 5 feet from a fire.

Deadly Hazard

The lava is considered difficult terrain. Any creature that enters the lava takes fire damage. A creature that ends its turn in the lava takes fire damage.

Lightning Storms

Dangerous or Deadly Hazard

The DM rolls a d100 to determine if any creature is hit by a lightning.

This check can be made at the beginning of each turn during a combat or in any time while the party is not in combat.

The creatures hit by a lightning are determined by the DM, and any creature in the area under total cover from above cannot take damage.

Magma Eruptions

Magma erupts from a point on the ground, creating a 20-foot-high, 5-foot-radius geyser. Each creature in the geyser's area must make a Dexterity saving throw, taking fire damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one.

Poison Clouds and Spores

When a creature enters the cloud, it must make a Constitution saving throw, taking poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A creature that ends its turn in the cloud must make another saving throw.

When a Large or smaller creature enters the rapids its pushed 30 feet way in the direction of the water flow and it must succeed on a Strength saving throw or take bludgeoning damage. Any creature caught by the rapids can make a Strength (Athletics) check to swim out of the rapids.

A large and unexpected wave that can be extremely dangerous. When a creature is hit by the rogue wave, it must succeed on a Strength saving throw or take bludgeoning damage, or half as much damage on a successful save. The rogue wave, along with any creatures in it, moves in a straight line at a speed of 50 feet per turn, and any Huge or smaller creature inside the wall must succeed on a Strength saving throw or take damage. The wave damage is reduced by 1d10 on each subsequent round. When the damage is reduced to 0, the wave ends.

A creature caught by the wave can move by swimming and it can make a Strength (Athletics) check to swim out of the wave.

Any creature in the sandstorm must make a Constitution saving throw or be blinded until the sandstorm ends. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. A creature cannot be blinded by the sandstorm if it’s wearing goggles or something that protects its eyes.

Any check that relies on sight is made with disadvantage for the duration of the sandstorm.

Unsteady Ground

The floor in the area is considered difficult terrain. Any creature on the ground that starts moving on its turn while in the area must succeed on a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check or fall prone. If a creature uses a Dash action, it must make another check.

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5 DM tips for making DnD travel interesting!

Posted by Janet Forbes | Dec 17, 2021 | DM Tips & Advice | 7

Travel is a part of so many campaigns and adventure stories. After all, it’s called the Hero’s Journey for a reason! And making DnD travel interesting is a real challenge. Too often, it either feels so laborious that the party is bored by the time they get there. Or else, it’s so quickly skipped over, that it doesn’t have any impact on the players at all.

5 tips for making DnD travel interesting!

1. vary the modes of travel.

If your players always travel in the same way, it can get pretty boring pretty fast. So, your first step is to give them several options! Maybe they’ll still choose the same familiar mode, but there’s a chance they’ll pick another one. Then, make sure that traveling with a different method changes their travel speed too! You can use the DnD travel speed table as a reference for how far can characters travel on foot in a single day (assuming they walk for 8 hours):

• Slow pace: 18 miles (about 29 km)
• Normal pace: 25 miles (about 38 km)
• Fast pace: 30 miles (about 63 km)

But, of course, other methods of transportation will have different speeds. A ship will be faster, while a carriage might be slower, depending on how heavy it is and how many horses are used to pull it (news flash: horses need to rest too)! So, to sum this section up, give your players clear choices of travel modes that make sense for the location they’re going to, and calculate the travel pace from that!

2. Introduce not-so-random DnD travel encounters (but not Pokemon style!)

Random encounters are a great way to spice up travel—but be careful! They can feel random to the players at first, but make sure to tie them up with the story or the world in some way. Fighting 1d4 wolves just because they were walking in tall grass will feel pointless (and poor wolves, they were just chilling!). So, what should a good “random” encounter include?

• Themes and tone: make sure that the encounter reflects the campaign’s theme and tone. This will make it feel more consistent with the world!
• Link it to the story: sure, you can give them some wolves to fight… and then reveal that they were the pets of an important NPC they’ll meet. Whoops!
• Tactical interest: what will your players get from it? It could be some loot, new information, cool powers…
• A reason to care: why would the players engage with this encounter? Tying them to their backstories, or a cause or NPC they care about. is a sure-fire way to make them engaged.

And remember that encounters don’t have to be only combat: they could meet an NPC, find an ancient ruin, … up to you! As long as the encounter has a goal (other than “being filler”), you’re good to go!

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3. Introduce weather and geographical difficulties… with impact

There’s a basic weather table in the DM’s Guide (page 109), but remember that weather changes biome by biome, and the difficulties of the ice wastes are not those of the scorching desert. However, whether they’re ice storms or sand storms, creating days of easier and harder weather can create variation in days of travel. You can challenge the players’ initiative. Are they wise enough to shelter for the day or press on? Will they finally use that magic item they’ve been hoarding? More importantly, will they arrive in a weakened or less-prepared state?

This is something that Cubicle7’s “Adventures in Middle Earth” does very well—it creates difficulties on the journey which can put the players at an advantage or disadvantage when they arrive. This is important, as their prowess in travel then affects the major story arc too. Players may suffer from fatigue, be weakened, or may not have access to all their spells.

Another way to do this, if weather difficulties aren’t appropriate for your setting, are geographical difficulties. Here’s a quick roll table you can use with some ideas and examples.

If the players can’t think of a way to go on, they’ll need to navigate to another path. You can introduce additional difficulties, such as getting lost! This might put unexpected challenges in their way, add additional time to their journey, or introduce them to a nightmare fuelled realm they were initially trying to avoid!

4. Introduce Micro Points of Interest and Scene Pieces!

Remember the non-combat encounters we talked about before? They are a great way to reinforce your world’s genre, tone, and theme (if you don’t know what that is, read about the meta !). To create a good point of interest, follow the four points we talked about for encounters. Otherwise, even if that scene piece is amazing, your players might not be interested in investigating it! Here’s a roll table of 1d6 ideas you can use to start your brain going:

As you can see, these are all pretty genre-agnostic, but also very much open to your interpretation! For example, the riddler could be magic, but maybe they could be a very skilled rogue too. An important part of this kind of encounter is to create a specific atmosphere, so preparing your descriptions in advance might be a good idea if you’re not a master of improvisation! Think about whether you want the events to be creepy, wondrous, mysterious, mystical or even funny, and tailor the details accordingly.

5. Nuke Teleport spells

Sure, magic is cool and all, but what’s the point of going the extra mile to make travel interesting if your party can just teleport wherever they want? Now, that doesn’t mean you have to outright ban all teleport spells from your game—there’s nothing wrong with short-distance teleportation! To prevent long-distance teleporting, you could add external magical elements that prevent teleportation magic from being enabled. For example, cities in your world could have a complex magitech device that creates an anti-magic bubble around them. Or maybe teleportation magic is illegal! Both options add a new layer to your campaign that will not only make travel more fun, but might also come in handy for future plot points.

Check out this blog post by Wolfgang Baur from Kobold Press talking about this exact topic!

GACUCON! Play DnD while you travel in style, on the ultimate vacation for geeks!

GACUCON is the Games, Animations, and Comic Ultra Convention Cruise! Yes, that’s a thing—sail on an amazing cruise together with fellow RPG players, cosplayers, and all-around fantastic people! They organize a cruise every year  And guess what? We’re doing Summer Camp 2022 with them! During the 6-day cruise, from July 3rd to 9th, we’ll host worldbuilding workshops, RPG sessions, quests with scavenger hunts, and more! We’re very excited, and we’d love it if you were there with us (by the way, one of the WorldEmber prizes is a free cruise for 2 people!). Check out GACUCON and start sailing the seven seas!

Sign up for the game cruise 2022!

What are your tips for making DnD travel interesting? Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments! Getting ready to start a campaign? Send your players our DnD character creator to get them prepped! 

About The Author

Janet Forbes

Janet Forbes (she/her) is a game developer, fantasy author, and (secretly) velociraptor, and has rolled dice since she was knee-high to an orc. In 2017 she co-founded World Anvil (https://www.worldanvil.com), the worldbuilding, writing and tabletop RPG platform which boasts a community of 1.5 million users. Janet was the primary author of The Dark Crystal RPG (2021) with the Henson Company and River Horse Games, and has also written for Kobold Press, Infinite Black and Tidebreaker. As a D&D performer she has played professionally for the likes of Wizards of the Coast, Modiphius and Wyrd Games, as well as being invited to moderate and speak on panels for GaryCon, TraCon, GenCon, Dragonmeet and more. Janet is also a fantasy author, and has published short fiction in several collections. You can shoot her a message @Janet_DB_Forbes on Twitter, and she’ll probably reply with rainbows and dinosaur emojis.

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The distances mentioned under 1 are frankly, purely imaginary. As a former infantry man I can tell you that you may make a walking speed of 6km per hour but after a full day you would need at least a days rest, even if you are fit. And that is with modern equipment, shoes, backpack etc. So when calculation realistically you want to think about 2 things first. 1. What will be the task of the next day? 2. Might there be combat? A march of 60+km in 10 hours is possible but the next day at least will need to be rest. If you are really fit and used to it, you could even manage 10 hours at 6 km/h for a second day. Provided good equipment, especially on your feet. Realistically the prolonged (several days) travel distances for a 8h hike on maintained roads and easy paths should be around 4 km/h for a grown male with a load of about 15kg. Provided, again that he is adequately fit and used to such activity. So ~32 km (20 miles) is realistic. You could adjust the speed by +/- 1km/h for fitness or smaller characters etc. and by +/- 2 km/h for a slightly more demanding terrain such as less well kept paths or heavier loads etc. IF it is only travel as fast as you can then you can calculate at 7-8 km/h but remember even adventurers will suffer exhaustion from that and would have a hard time “dungeoning” the next day.

These are the distances mentioned in the DnD official material – but it’s so interesting to learn that they’re not accurate! Have you tried incorportating yours into a system?

Another Infantryman chiming in. The Dungeon Master’s Guide in Chapter 8, Exploration Section, sets 24 miles in 1 day as a reasonable rate of travel, which is close to the 32km/20 miles limit that was mentioned earlier. Appendix A in the Player’s Handbook gives you a Condition called Exhaustion with levels of exhaustion that you could tie to miles of travel. 1 day at this rate of travel could induce 3-4 levels of exhaustion which the party would then have to rest off. Just based off my own personal experience, after 12-18 miles with a 40+ pound pack load plus armor/fighting load, I need at least a day or two to be back to normal. Using Exhaustion levels vs. Miles traveled would be my recommendation for a system. It is certainly possible that a character could reach 6 levels of exhaustion and die from walking too far with no rest. Its been done in real life.

Thank you for sharing your experience as well :D! Have you played a game with these kinds of rules for realism? How did they make the game more fun for you?

I have not played a game with rules like that but I might try it at some point. I tend to gloss over travel most of the time with “You travel from A->B” which may not be the most fun and interesting way to handle it. The article has provided some inspiration for me to try different things out in future games though. Just thought I’d chime in with an easy solution to the realism issue if it helps somebody else out.

Oh, yeah definitely~. I really appreciated you chiming in :D. I’ve always found the rules for meticulous travel interesting, but I’ve never calculated these sorts of things myself. I think it’s more interesting to do your method “Travel A -> B” when the point of the adventure isn’t the journey and we’re instead focusing on set pieces. 🙂 What do you think?

Yeah absolutely. I was kind of mulling over where I might try using a more meticulous system for travel, or what fun could be had out of it, and a few things I thought of were that you could use it as a motivator for the party to spend some of that sweet dungeon gold finding transportation for the next time they want to travel a long distance. Buying horses and a cart because the last time they traveled halfway across fantasy country those 1d4 random bears that ambushed them from the woods with a plot device were a lot more challenging with 3 levels of exhaustion.

You could use it as part of a chase scene with a BBEG, set them against the clock and a distance, see how much they’re willing to sacrifice to get somewhere in time to save xyz. Arrive exhausted, tough fight ensues that might not have been as tough if they had more time.

Just 1 level of exhaustion makes dealing with “random” environmental/geographical challenges more challenging. It could make it feel like the stakes are higher.

I think to make meticulous travel fun, it shouldn’t be a regular part of the game but something that gets mixed in now and again in order to spice things up. Level 1-10 if you want to go way across the map somewhere the travel could make for a fun adventure in itself, but you learn from it and buy a horse drawn carriage or buy passage on an airship next time.

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Special Types of Movement

Swimming across a rushing river, sneaking down a dungeon corridor, scaling a treacherous mountain slope--all sorts of movement play a key role in fantasy gaming adventures.

The GM can summarize the adventurers' movement without calculating exact distances or travel times: "You travel through the forest and find the dungeon entrance late in the evening of the third day." Even in a dungeon, particularly a large dungeon or a cave network, the GM can summarize movement between encounters: "After killing the guardian at the entrance to the ancient dwarven stronghold, you consult your map, which leads you through miles of echoing corridors to a chasm bridged by a narrow stone arch."

Sometimes it's important, though, to know how long it takes to get from one spot to another, whether the answer is in days, hours, or minutes. The rules for determining travel time depend on two factors: the speed and travel pace of the creatures moving and the terrain they're moving over.

Every character and monster has a speed, which is the distance in feet that the character or monster can walk in 1 round. This number assumes short bursts of energetic movement in the midst of a life-threatening situation. The following rules determine how far a character or monster can move in a minute, an hour, or a day.

Travel Pace

While traveling, a group of adventurers can move at a normal, fast, or slow pace, as shown on the Travel Pace table. The table states how far the party can move in a period of time and whether the pace has any effect. A fast pace makes characters less perceptive, while a slow pace makes it possible to sneak around and to search an area more carefully.

Forced March. The Travel Pace table assumes that characters travel for 8 hours in day. They can push on beyond that limit, at the risk of exhaustion.

For each additional hour of travel beyond 8 hours, the characters cover the distance shown in the Hour column for their pace, and each character must make a Constitution saving throw at the end of the hour. The DC is 10 + 1 for each hour past 8 hours. On a failed saving throw, a character suffers one level of exhaustion.

Mounts and Vehicles. For short spans of time (up to an hour), many animals move much faster than humanoids. A mounted character can ride at a gallop for about an hour, covering twice the usual distance for a fast pace. If fresh mounts are available every 8 to 10 miles, characters can cover larger distances at this pace, but this is very rare except in densely populated areas.

Characters in wagons, carriages, or other land vehicles choose a pace as normal. Characters in a waterborne vessel are limited to the speed of the vessel, and they don't suffer penalties for a fast pace or gain benefits from a slow pace. Depending on the vessel and the size of the crew, ships might be able to travel for up to 24 hours per day.

Certain special mounts, such as a pegasus or griffon, or special vehicles, such as a carpet of flying , allow you to travel more swiftly.

Difficult Terrain

The travel speeds given in the Travel Pace table assume relatively simple terrain: roads, open plains, or clear dungeon corridors. But adventurers often face dense forests, deep swamps, rubble-filled ruins, steep mountains, and ice-covered ground--all considered difficult terrain.

You move at half speed in difficult terrain--moving 1 foot in difficult terrain costs 2 feet of speed--so you can cover only half the normal distance in a minute, an hour, or a day.

Movement through dangerous dungeons or wilderness areas often involves more than simply walking. Adventurers might have to climb, crawl, swim, or jump to get where they need to go.

Climbing, Swimming, and Crawling

While climbing or swimming, each foot of movement costs 1 extra foot (2 extra feet in difficult terrain), unless a creature has a climbing or swimming speed. At the GM’s option, climbing a slippery vertical surface or one with few handholds requires a successful Strength (Athletics) check. Similarly, gaining any distance in rough water might require a successful Strength (Athletics) check.

Your Strength determines how far you can jump.

Long Jump. When you make a long jump, you cover a number of feet up to your Strength score if you move at least 10 feet on foot immediately before the jump. When you make a standing long jump, you can leap only half that distance. Either way, each foot you clear on the jump costs a foot of movement.

This rule assumes that the height of your jump doesn't matter, such as a jump across a stream or chasm. At your GM's option, you must succeed on a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check to clear a low obstacle (no taller than a quarter of the jump's distance), such as a hedge or low wall. Otherwise, you hit it.

When you land in difficult terrain, you must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to land on your feet. Otherwise, you land prone.

High Jump. When you make a high jump, you leap into the air a number of feet equal to 3 + your Strength modifier if you move at least 10 feet on foot immediately before the jump. When you make a standing high jump, you can jump only half that distance. Either way, each foot you clear on the jump costs a foot of movement. In some circumstances, your GM might allow you to make a Strength (Athletics) check to jump higher than you normally can.

You can extend your arms half your height above yourself during the jump. Thus, you can reach above you a distance equal to the height of the jump plus 1 1/2 times your height.

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D&D 5E   how to run long distance travelling without it sucking

• Thread starter Sloblock
• Start date Feb 8, 2015
• Feb 8, 2015

greetings, long time reader first time poster Looking for some advice, when running long distance travel how do folks balance the travel with encounters?  

Magic Wordsmith

Sloblock said: greetings, long time reader first time poster Looking for some advice, when running long distance travel how do folks balance the travel with encounters? Click to expand...

I tend to not do many combat encounters while traveling, if the encounter doesn't move the story forward or add any new interesting twists/information they just serve as speed bumps. While traveling they know at most they will more than likely only have one or possible two encounters in a day, so there is no conservation of resources and that by itself tends to make the combats trivial. Now you can make the combat encounters have a goal besides defeating the enemy, like saving goods on a wagon that a group of goblins have set on fire that are important to the survival of a town, or the fight is a diversion so some of the enemy can take something from the party, then it becomes about stopping that or catching the thief more than just killing some guys. Noncombat traveling encounters can also be fun, meet new npc's like merchants, wise men, pilgrims, other adventuring parties and how these groups are treated will come back down the line and effect the story. You can also do heroic things like help a farmer put out a house fire, or help a dryad catch some mischievous pixie kids who got away from her care, fun stuff that heroes do besides reducing someone else's hit points. Besides general encounter building advice like using a mix of monsters, special terrain features, and alternate win conditions I am not sure what else to say.  

IMO, it's mostly RP with a little side of dice. Here's what I do: You need a general idea of how long the travel takes and if someone is guiding the party. From there on I simply make a "danger roll" against the player's checks to lead them from point A to point B per day. Traveling on a road reduces the danger and makes checks easier. Cutting a path through a haunted wood that hasn't been traversed in a 100 years if of course, more dangerous. There is a problem I've run into: Rangers. Specifically that their favored terrain ability says "you can't get lost". Which makes for a very lame walk through the dangerous woods unless you do the following, which is what I did to my rangers(there were 3 at my table!): 1: the terrain is magical, by the book this overrules the "you can't get lost" feature. 2: the ranger is an idiot; by that I mean that I make them make a survival/nature check to determine if they are making progress towards their destination, or not. 3: The party takes over; this is easy: offer something to cause the party to disagree on what direction to take. The ranger might get outvoted and off into the woods they will go!  

From here: http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.co...-how-hell-do-you-run.html?zx=fa2a057717b2454d This is specifically about moving over areas with hexes ("hexcrawls") but the principles can be applied to lots of games: -The players will be either traveling overland from point to point (moving at traveling speed) and just running into stuff incidentally or carefully searching through each hex individually (moving at "mapping" or "searching" speed--which is slower). Which depends on the kind of campaign goals they have. Frodo and company were traveling, Lewis and Clark were searching. -Searching characters are trying to find all the interesting stuff in an area. Traveling characters will only note the obvious stuff (mountains, huge rivers) or things that find them (angry cultists, stirges, etc) -The key to this kind of thing is meaningful choices and choices require information. There are two traditional ways hexcrawling players can get information: A. They start with a partial map B. They look around. -In either case, these two options should be jiggered as much as possible to present players with at least two options for how to go at all times. For traveling, the simplest choice is: Fast, dangerous route or slow, easier route. Of course the slow route is also dangerous because it gives more time to run into random encounters. -If the players just look around (no map), they will see landmarks. Landmarks are super important. These are things PCs can see in different directions that indicate what kinda thing to expect in that direction--mountain? City? Monument? River? Without landmarks the players are just going "Hmm, east or west?" and that's totally arbitrary and boring because there's no information behind it. -You can see 3 miles to the horizon over flat ground. If you or the landmark are higher up than flat ground and your view is unobstructed you'll see things that are farther away. -Players walk (or ride) and you keep track of time (figure out movement speeds per hour and per day for whatever method the PCs are using). When you get to a new area figure out what's obvious and (if your players are searching) what's hidden. Tell them about the obvious thing right off "So you ride for an hour and then you see a huge rock shaped like a weasel". -If there's an encounter, figure out whether the thing sees them or they see it first or whether they see each other simultaneously (just like a dungeon). Remember that since most hex products or maps you make are, of necessity, sketchy, you can and should embroider the hell out of what the PCs see. You do not have to stick to the description. "1047 River, Demon" can be turned into..."You see a bridge with an insect demon eating a giant pink ooze on it, there appears to be no other crossing here". -Build up the setting around the players as they move. They meet a random cleric? If you can figure out who this is a cleric of and where the cleric's going and what temple the cleric is from you've just added lots of obstacles and resources for the players and added a layer to what's going on. -At the end of a session, ask the players what they intend to do next session. You can prep more detail around their likely routes. The key to making a hexcrawl more than a bunch of random encounters is building relationships between locations on the map --a good hex map will have these seeded in to begin with, but there's always room for more. -If your players are searching, remember there's lots of room in a hex for stuff no matter how small. Don't have any ideas? That's what random tables are for. -A lotta times, if they're just traveling, the PCs will come upon nothing special in a given hex, that's ok.  

Some good ideas here. I think this may be an area where leveraging Group Check mechanics is a good idea: a) Pick some standard roles that would apply to such a travel. Dungeon World uses Quartermaster, Scout, Trailblazer. Those are quite good I find. Perhaps if more than one person is managing provisions, navigation, or recon, you could have the highest person roll with advantage. b) Pick relevant DCs for the group to roll against. c) If 50 % or more pass, they arrive and expend the normal amount of expected provisions, etc (that might be just ticking off some gold from each player's stash). or d) If 50 % fail, an interesting, dangerous setback occurs along the way. This could be: * a geographical hazard * an encounter with relevant monsters or a lair creature * the PCs getting separated * the PCs getting lost * weather or climate related exposure * you might take this opportunity to introduce an ominous new threat or escalate an existing one Regarding tangible fallout on the PCs mechanically, this would be a good area to introduce the Exhaustion Track and/or charge them n number of Hit Dice apiece. Then they would have to roll their Group Check again to get to their destination (or incur more complications if they fail again!). You may want to impose the condition of no Long Rests until they reach civilization or make them earn a Long Rest mechanically.  

Manbearcat said: Some good ideas here. I think this may be an area where leveraging Group Check mechanics is a good idea: a) Pick some standard roles that would apply to such a travel. Dungeon World uses Quartermaster, Scout, Trailblazer. Those are quite good I find. Perhaps if more than one person is managing provisions, navigation, or recon, you could have the highest person roll with advantage. b) Pick relevant DCs for the group to roll against. c) If 50 % or more pass, they arrive and expend the normal amount of expected provisions, etc (that might be just ticking off some gold from each player's stash). or d) If 50 % fail, an interesting, dangerous setback occurs along the way. This could be: * a geographical hazard * an encounter with relevant monsters or a lair creature * the PCs getting separated * the PCs getting lost * weather or climate related exposure * you might take this opportunity to introduce an ominous new threat or escalate an existing one Regarding tangible fallout on the PCs mechanically, this would be a good area to introduce the Exhaustion Track and/or charge them n number of Hit Dice apiece. Then they would have to roll their Group Check again to get to their destination (or incur more complications if they fail again!). You may want to impose the condition of no Long Rests until they reach civilization or make them earn a Long Rest mechanically. Click to expand...

Very good ideas. My last random encounter with a hostile manticore, while logical, was a boring speed bump the dice decided. But neither do I want dangerous overland routes threat free. It's a fine line to balance and I don't want to spend time dev3loping campaign appropriate random encounters. I have the Toolbox DM book and should use it more for elaborate encounters. But it's fun rolling encounter dice. There's tension. The players know some4hing really nasty might pop up.  

Sloblock said: How to run long distance travelling without it sucking Click to expand...

many thanks for the replies you have all been incredibly helpful time to plan out the trip  

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