D&D 5E How much range is enough?

[Yaarel]

This thread asks an important question because the realization that all distances beyond 30 feet are about equally unimportant, is less obvious.

 

[Rya.Reisender]

Why does it not happen on land travel though? For example your adventurers travel on a plain. You roll random encounters, result is 3 Gnolls. What do you do?

What I usually do is: I tell the playes they notice some creatures at 600ft distance and ask them what they want to do. Now the result depends strongly on what my players say. If they just want to stand there and see what happens, the Gnolls will initiate combat at 600ft range (since they have longbows). If they say they start running to the creatures immediately, the combat might start at 300ft range. If at least one of them has a longbow and wants to shoot at the creatures, he initiates combat.

Of course in dungeons I agree that the main attack ranges that matter are 30ft and 60ft. But even in the most dungeon-crawlery adventure paths there are some parts with land travel.