D&D 5E 30 speed for all! Halflings, Gnomes, Dwarves were feeling left behind?

[Wulfgar76]

Is it just me or is D&D Next with its 30 speed demihumans going in the wrong direction?

It's just you. A 5 foot increase in speed for two races has a miniscule effect on gridded games. Zero effect on gridless ones.

What is going on? I'm curious if I'm the only one who thinks upping their speed to 30 is an insult to the history of the game,

An insult to the history of the game? Yeah, you're the only one.

Time to get a poll going, because Wizards of the Coast apparently doesn't think consulting the playerbase is important anymore, before they ram through such sweeping changes on a whim without being vetted by the community.

Yes, we are all just outraged by this.

Wizards, why are you tampering with such an important core stat in the game, common to every edition (AFAIK), without even posting a single survey to validate how people feel about it?

Wizards is doing it just to torment you.

 

[Obryn]

Since when is a speed of 25 considered "classic" for these D&D races?

This, basically.

There's nothing "classic" about demihuman speeds at 20, 25, or 30. I'm all for playability, and having differential movement rates for overland travel & the like was a gigantic bore.

But otherwise my give-a-poop-ometer is dangerously close to zero on this topic.

 

[Derren]

It's just you. A 5 foot increase in speed for two races has a miniscule effect on gridded games. Zero effect on gridless ones.

It has a tiny effect on game mechanics, but a big effect on verisimilitude when small races are now suddenly as fast as normal ones. As I said, a change for worse for no practical reason.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Even fourth edition recognized there was an important difference between five squares of movement during combat, and six.

"Even fourth?" Fourth is the edition that it mattered the most, since tactical combat was the centerpiece of the edition.

It makes much less difference in any other edition, including, apparently, fifth.

I'm curious if I'm the only one who thinks upping their speed to 30 is an insult to the history of the game, it's comedic picturing how fast a 3 foot gnome's legs must move to keep up to a five or six foot tall human.

"An insult to the history of the game?" Seriously?

And while little legs going fast enough to keep up with a human seems implausible, gnomes and halflings being able to use weapons and armor comparable to those used by elves and humans is far more implausible.

Time to get a poll going, because Wizards of the Coast apparently doesn't think consulting the playerbase is important anymore, before they ram through such sweeping changes on a whim without being vetted by the community.

I really don't think this is a sweeping change.

Wizards, why are you tampering with such an important core stat in the game, common to every edition (AFAIK), without even posting a single survey to validate how people feel about it?

I don't think a 20 foot movement speed is at all comparable to having six attributes, armor class, hit points and saving throws, all of which are iconic. Movement speed is a detail, and one that I suspect a lot of groups were ignoring anyway.

 

[Wulfgar76]

It has a tiny effect on game mechanics, but a big effect on verisimilitude when small races are now suddenly as fast as normal ones. As I said, a change for worse for no practical reason.

From a verisimilitude perspective, why should my 18 Dex halfling rogue be slower than the goblin he's chasing down?

I'd really like to hear an example of a 'big effect' this change would have on somebody's game.

 

[Derren]

From a verisimilitude perspective, why should my 18 Dex halfling rogue be slower than the goblin he's chasing down?

And from a verisimilitude perspective I would counter that question with "Why is the goblin so fast"? Instead of making halflings faster make goblins slower.

And there certainly is no big effect by this. But it is another drop into a bucket which has been filling since some time. At some point the bucket will overflow and this will be a tiny part of the reason why.
And to speak less metaphorically, this change will certainly not increase the interest people who complained about 4Es lack of verisimilitude have with Next.

 

[Obryn]

From a verisimilitude perspective, why should my 18 Dex halfling rogue be slower than the goblin he's chasing down?

I'd really like to hear an example of a 'big effect' this change would have on somebody's game.

Because "verisimilitude" very often means "the way 3rd Edition did it."

 

[thewok]

From a verisimilitude perspective, why should my 18 Dex halfling rogue be slower than the goblin he's chasing down?

Technically, it would depend on his Strength, as speed is more a function of strength than manual dexterity. I'm with you, though. Monsters never followed the size categories' rates. Goblins and kobolds all had 30' speeds, and they are Small. Why should halflings and gnomes be hampered by slower speeds if they're not?

 

[Wulfgar76]

And from a verisimilitude perspective I would counter that question with "Why is the goblin so fast"? Instead of making halflings faster make goblins slower.

Because he's a little agile guy that has evolved to be good at scampering about?
Because a smarmy demihuman should be at least as fast as your average farmhand?
Because its a bit ludicrous that my olympic gymnast Dexterity halfling rogue is slower than the bartender?
Because Size S and M bipeds should all have speeds of 30 for simplicity's sake?

Ultimately I really don't feel too strongly about it. And I believe that's rather the point.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I find it hard to worry about "verisimilitude" in D&D while Armor Class and Hit Points still exist.