D&D 5E In combat riding and movement

[KahlessNestor]

Responsibility to correct it? You're going to play the badwrongfun card now?

I give familiars full turns all the time, as per RAW. All DMs I have played under have, in multiple systems. I have never seen anyone pull a "railgun". (Where are you getting 200 sprite familiars anyway? ) It may be white room broken, but it isn't in play (especially since most familiars don't do a thing most of the time).

So no, don't tell me I'm wring for following the rules.

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[orderofthings]

Nobody pulls off the railgun, it's a made up scenario that is used to illustrate how the rules can be used to support the absurd. I don't know where the sprites came from, I was pulling that from a previous comment.
and it's not the "badwrongfun" card, it's the "there'snoreasonwhyphysicsshouldbehavelikethiseveninafantasysetting" card.
If you want your player and his familiar to be able to cover that much ground in a single turn, go ahead. I'd maybe throw in a random NPC in the background going "holy smokes, how did they do that!?"

You're not wrong for following the rules, and if you have never had to sit back and think "it's legal, but just doesn't make sense" then obviously you have no problems with the rules, no need for this conversation, and nothing to contribute besides "it's not an issue!" (which is true, even if only for you)

Sorry if something I said made you feel like this was a personal attack, the responsibility I mentioned was a self-imposed responsibility that only applies to DMs who are in a position where a player is trying to do something that is legal but makes no sense, and who feels that things should make sense (like, I don't know... the OP maybe). If one or all of those things don't apply to you then IT DOESN'T APPLY TO YOU AND YOU CAN PLAY HOWEVER YOU WANT. I personally feel like part of my job as DM is to interpret the rules in a way doesn't make us scratch our heads.

 

[KahlessNestor]

Nobody pulls off the railgun, it's a made up scenario that is used to illustrate how the rules can be used to support the absurd. I don't know where the sprites came from, I was pulling that from a previous comment.
and it's not the "badwrongfun" card, it's the "there'snoreasonwhyphysicsshouldbehavelikethiseveninafantasysetting" card.
If you want your player and his familiar to be able to cover that much ground in a single turn, go ahead. I'd maybe throw in a random NPC in the background going "holy smokes, how did they do that!?"

You're not wrong for following the rules, and if you have never had to sit back and think "it's legal, but just doesn't make sense" then obviously you have no problems with the rules, no need for this conversation, and nothing to contribute besides "it's not an issue!" (which is true, even if only for you)

Sorry if something I said made you feel like this was a personal attack, the responsibility I mentioned was a self-imposed responsibility that only applies to DMs who are in a position where a player is trying to do something that is legal but makes no sense, and who feels that things should make sense (like, I don't know... the OP maybe). If one or all of those things don't apply to you then IT DOESN'T APPLY TO YOU AND YOU CAN PLAY HOWEVER YOU WANT. I personally feel like part of my job as DM is to interpret the rules in a way doesn't make us scratch our heads.

Except I was contributing. My point to the OP and others is don't ne slavishly tied to "six seconds".

Turns and rounds are abstractions. The 6 second/1 minute are just guidelines, suggestions. But you don't have to conceive them strictly. We do it all the time. You can't really pock a lock in 6 secomds, but Thieves apparently can do it in 1 with a bonus action. Fighters really can't make 3 attacks in aox seconds (or less if movement and Second Wind is included ).

We already abstract the time in these situations. Why not wirh familiars? It has nothing to do with physics.

It's a game, not reality.

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[KahlessNestor]

So for giggles I looked up how fast an owl flies. A great horned owl (big species, likely bigger and slower than most familiars) has a flight speed of 40 mph. That's about 60 feet per second. So it could easily travel more than the 120 feet Dash allowed by the rules in a "6 second" turn.

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[orderofthings]

did you look it up in the MM? I ask because this is a game, not reality. The flight speed you looked up seems like it refers to the "real world"...
Also, I just watched a scene in "the princess bride" where they definitely make at least 3 attacks in six seconds...
Also, we all know how to dash I thought we were examining the plausibility of "piggybacking" movement, not really the same thing...
my point was that if I carry someone 30ft, then they walk 30ft, then the guy they were carrying walks 30ft (let's say we're small, medium, and large sized creatures who all have a walking speed of 30), could we cover that 90ft in the same amount of time it took one person to walk 30ft?
I'd say no. I'd say if I were standing in the room watching that happen either it would take three rounds or else I would think I was in the matrix or something.

 

[Harzel]

Except I was contributing. My point to the OP and others is don't ne slavishly tied to "six seconds".

You keep bringing this up, but it is a red herring. I will say this again; please try to read and understand this time: My objection to what my player attempted has nothing to do with a time of six seconds in particular. Substitute any amount of time that you want for a round -- ten seconds, a minute, five minutes -- it doesn't matter. I just don't think that the familiar (or anything else) should get to double move within one round by riding and then moving on its own.

As orderofthings notes, though, if you want to allow it at your table, that's fine. I'm not trying to talk you out of it. But since you have chosen to engage, I'd just like you to understand clearly what my point is.

 

[KahlessNestor]

You were the one that brought time into it in the first place

From the OP:

My reasoning was that the fundamental resource being expended was time

You have given no real reason why the owl couldn't move the distance in that time, especially when you also assert "verisimilitude" and I showed that "verisimilitude" indicates that a real owl can move much farther than 120 feet in that amount of time.

You don't like it, fine. You asked for opinions and I gave it (including reasoning, which you didn't give for your stance, beyond vague "verisimilitude" and "abuse"). Given that it's RAW, and likely RAI (ask Crawford), feel free to shut down any shenanigans like sprite rail guns (really?), but I think you're screwing your players over if you don't allow it, especially if you spring it on your player like it appears you did. EVERY DM in MULTIPLE systems I have played in (including an official 5 star PFS DM) has allowed it.

 

[werecorpse]

Here's another one for you. Due to the encumbrance rules an average strength gnome or halfling can carry 3 other gnomes or halflings and not be encumbered. So when your party includes 2 gnomes & needs to run away:
gnomes 2 jumps onto gnome 1 who dashes 25 feet then moves 10 feet then gnome 2 dismounts (gnome 1 mounts) and then gnome 2 dashes 25'. That way they move as fast as the dashing human.
if you don't charge movement for "mounting and dismounting" then 4 gnomes sprint 200 a round (4X50).

I would rule that if a rider wishes to gain the benefit of its superior movement it can but if it chooses to use the movement of the mount - that's it's movement. IN other words I would rule as the op did.

 

[EvanNave55]

Another thing to keep in mind for the people talking about what's possible in six seconds, and real life speeds is that the average person can sprint (dash) 135 in six seconds (15 mi/hr) which I can guarantee is possible as I've run atleast 20 mi/hr (180 ft/round)