D&D 5E Double Dash

WaterRabbit · Jul 17, 2019

Xeviat said:
Not an existing rule, it would be a house rule.

As I said, this is mostly because I'm going to have athletics checks for increasing speed, and I need a point to build that on. Either I allow double dashing (action dash, bonus dash, move) and base "fastest human" around someone who can bonus dash who has the mobile feat ... Or I say you can't use dash twice and make those abilities about multitasking.

I'm inclined to disallow double dashing because people can jog at around 6 mph for hours, and that requires the dash action. Double dashing would require an extra endurance consideration in the rules I'm writing, and it's far easier to avoid it.

Action Surge is an interesting case. I'd be inclined to not worry about it since it is a per rest ability and not something that can be done every round like cunning action.

I think you are way too conservative on what people can do. People with long legs or a fast stride can walk at 6 mph. I walk at 5 mph and one of my buddies at 6'6" easily out paced me. People run at 10 mph jogs easily for a few hours.

BookBarbarian · Jul 17, 2019

If the rogue or monk or even fighter wants to spend all their focus on movement for one turn, I don't see a good reason to not allow that to happen.

Jer · Jul 17, 2019

Xeviat said:
I'm inclined to disallow double dashing because people can jog at around 6 mph for hours, and that requires the dash action. Double dashing would require an extra endurance consideration in the rules I'm writing, and it's far easier to avoid it.

Your game is yours, but I'd consider the kind of movement you need to be able to do in combat rounds to be very different from the kind of movement you need to do to maintain speed for hours.

I mean, I can outpace a guy on a bike for a few seconds as we both get started, and if we have to make zig-zaggy movement instead of straight line movement I can maybe even keep ahead of him for a while, but you can't extrapolate from that to a race - or even the pace that I could keep for 10 minutes let alone hours.

iserith · Jul 17, 2019

Jer said:
Your game is yours, but I'd consider the kind of movement you need to be able to do in combat rounds to be very different from the kind of movement you need to do to maintain speed for hours.

For what it's worth, the rules also specifically call out a character's or monster's speed as being "short bursts of energetic movement in the midst of a life-threatening situation."

jgsugden · Jul 17, 2019

TwoSix said:
If there's anything more fun than casting Haste on a Monk so they can triple-Dash at double speed, I don't know what it is.

A hasted monk gets double their movement on each move action and can take their normal move and dash with their bonus (using Step of the Wind), Action, and Haste Action. If it is an Aaracockra monk with a 50 base speed that has +30 movement from being a high level monk, that means they can travel ((50+30)X2)X4=640 feet in a round. That is 72 MPH, roughly. It is also not going to break anything as many characters of that level can instantaneously relocate themselves via teleportation in most situations. There are a few oddball exceptions where it becomes a huge deal (my Aaracokra spellcasting pirate that flys around with improved invisible and blasts things from a huge distance certainly gets a lot out of his high speed), but for the most part it is essentially the equivalent of what shadow monks get at 6th level - unlimited conditional teleportation.

DEFCON 1 · Jul 17, 2019

As a table rule I allow every PC to triple-move, as well as double-move with disengage. My table rules for the Dash action and Disengage action are as follows:

Full Sprint: If you use your action to Dash, you may also Dash with a bonus action.
Tactical Retreat: If you use your action to Disengage, you may also Dash with your bonus action.

When you take a PC's movement also into account, it means anyone who makes a Full Sprint moves 3 times their speed, and anyone who makes a Tactical Retreat moves 2 times their speed without generating Opportunity Attacks.

It does slightly step on the Rogue and Monk's toes... but they are still the only ones who can Dash or Disengage as bonus actions while making attacks or casting spells with their actions. So it has not caused any issues, and it stops the silliness of only rogues and monks being able to move 3 times their speed while anyone else can only move 2.

aco175 · Jul 17, 2019

I may be tempted to make a check after a certain number of rounds, maybe Con bonus. This way the PCs with the ability can use it for a round or two before needing to make an Athletics check. Kind of like a cheetah jumping out to attack vs a wolf tiring it to death.

TwoSix · Jul 17, 2019

Lidgar said:
As long as the rogue has bleach blond spiked hair, I'm a huge fan of Triple D.

If you move at 90 feet per round, precisely how long does it take to get to Flavor Town?

Esker · Jul 17, 2019

aco175 said:
I may be tempted to make a check after a certain number of rounds, maybe Con bonus. This way the PCs with the ability can use it for a round or two before needing to make an Athletics check. Kind of like a cheetah jumping out to attack vs a wolf tiring it to death.

There is actually a rule to this effect in the DMG. In a chase context, you can dash a number of times equal to 3 + your CON modifier, and after that they need to make a CON check each additional time they try to dash. Note that it doesn't say "on a number of rounds equal to your CON modifier", so that means that while a rogue or monk can most definitely dash twice in a turn, if they have a 16 CON, say, then they burn through their free dashes in three rounds. It makes the rogue and monk like sprinters; they can turn on their speed for 18 seconds, but in doing that they wear out sooner.

Esker · Jul 17, 2019

It's also useful to note (not that I think anyone in this thread is getting this wrong) that dashes don't double your speed, they just add your speed to your remaining movement. So dashing twice is a triple move, not a quadruple move.

Now if you're a hasted Tabaxi monk, your base speed is 45' doubled to 90' from haste, which you can double to 180' using Feline agility, and then dash three times, for 720' in the round. Feline agility only works in combat though, so not relevant to a chase.