D&D 5E Miles per day on horseback: how many?

jmartkdr · Jan 7, 2019

If you assume people in the setting use nautical miles and round those off to exactly 6000 feet, you get this precisely.

Statute miles come from roman miles, which were originally 1,000 paces. Since different races would have wildly different step sizes, it makes sense that they'd be inclined to standardize soon than real-world people did. A nautical mile is one arc-minute latitude, or 1/21,600 of the circumference of the Earth. This makes it really useful for sailors and something everyone can agree on, so it makes sense to use it as a standard once it's decided a standard should be used (meters were originally set by defining 10,000 km as 90 degrees latitude).

Satyrn · Jan 7, 2019

iserith said:
What happens if the check is failed?

Horse falls, everyone dies.

Well, everyone riding the horse.

iserith · Jan 7, 2019

Satyrn said:
Horse falls, everyone dies.

Well, everyone riding the horse.

At least that would make the choice to push the horse to a fast pace meaningful.

WhosDaDungeonMaster · Jan 7, 2019

iserith said:
What happens if the check is failed?

I would rule the horse suffers a level of exhaustion and you only move at a normal pace for the day. The Long Rest before the next morning would remove the exhaustion, of course.

Satyrn · Jan 7, 2019

James Grover said:
I would rule the horse suffers a level of exhaustion and you only move at a normal pace for the day. The Long Rest before the next morning would remove the exhaustion, of course.

That leaves no reason not to push the horse.

I was only sort of joking in my previous post. I'd be hobbling the horse, making it useless for riding. Even after it healed, it would never again be a suitable mount for adventurers.

iserith · Jan 7, 2019

James Grover said:
I would rule the horse suffers a level of exhaustion and you only move at a normal pace for the day. The Long Rest before the next morning would remove the exhaustion, of course.

[MENTION=6801204]Satyrn[/MENTION] is correct. There's no reason not to push the horse here. Even if the horse is exhausted and thus takes penalties to ability checks, that's not likely to matter.

Harzel · Jan 7, 2019

Satyrn said:
That leaves no reason not to push the horse.

I was only sort of joking in my previous post. I'd be hobbling the horse, making it useless for riding. Even after it healed, it would never again be a suitable mount for adventurers.

A less severe alternative might be that the horse could not be ridden for the rest of this day and the next. Presumably, speed is currently of value to the party, so that would still be a meaningful penalty.

LordEntrails · Jan 7, 2019

I love it when my players chose to get horses for mounts. They are so easy to startle, kill and otherwise cause the characters troubles!

"Yes, you failed your animal handling and your dexterity check and the horse was startled by the wild boar and threw you off. Yes, it did run off will all your treasure in it's saddle bags. After you get up off the ground, do you want to fight the boar or chase after your gold?"

Oofta · Jan 7, 2019

Interesting video. Having had experience backpacking in the mountains when I was younger and more energetic, walking 20 miles a day with a full pack is reasonable. So unless you're encumbered, I would say there's very little difference between walking and riding a horse.

Of course if you're an old couch potato, have a lot of gear or walk more slowly than the average human a horse would be easier. But most people in typical campaigns would be far more used to this kind of exertion on a daily basis than modern cube dwellers.

So based on personal experience, I'd say most reasonably fit adventurer types could cover roughly the same amount of distance whether afoot or on horse.

Satyrn · Jan 7, 2019

Harzel said:
A less severe alternative might be that the horse could not be ridden for the rest of this day and the next. Presumably, speed is currently of value to the party, so that would still be a meaningful penalty.

That's definitely more reasonable than what I'd do. I just don't like horses.

Though that was before reading [MENTION=6804070]LordEntrails[/MENTION]' post. Now I love horses.

D&D 5E Miles per day on horseback: how many?

jmartkdr

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Satyrn

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iserith

Magic Wordsmith

WhosDaDungeonMaster

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Satyrn

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iserith

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Harzel

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LordEntrails

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Oofta

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Satyrn

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