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

[Strider1973]

Ok, just minutiae, maybe...
Using again the RAW, for how many miles can a party travel on horseback on a daily basis, on a plain terrain?
Many thanks!

 

[Leatherhead]

If the party has access to fresh horses every 8-10 miles:
60 miles per day, or 8 miles per hour.
Otherwise it's 30 miles per day, or 4 miles per hour.

 

[Shiroiken]

I believe by RAW and RAI, the distance is the same. While a horse is capable of bursts of speed, overall they don't really add much distance per day (between the stamina of both horse and rider). If you had the ability to replace your horse every so often, you could argue for using the horses movement similar to a ship.

 

[Strider1973]

Thanks again!

 

[Horwath]

If the party has access to fresh horses every 8-10 miles:
60 miles per day, or 8 miles per hour.
Otherwise it's 30 miles per day, or 4 miles per hour.

This is true, while horse has double the speed of human and more on short burst, it cannot maintain that speed for long.

over a days journey human can cover more than a horse.

Most horses can only reach 20 km at a single run, while humans can reach 100km in a single run.

 

[Draegn]

I used these to help with planning the war portion of my campaign.

https://historum.com/threads/how-many-miles-could-a-medieval-army-move-in-a-day.50719/

http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/army/medieval_logistics.htm

 

[iserith]

I believe by RAW and RAI, the distance is the same. While a horse is capable of bursts of speed, overall they don't really add much distance per day (between the stamina of both horse and rider). If you had the ability to replace your horse every so often, you could argue for using the horses movement similar to a ship.

This is correct. Here are the rules (Basic Rules, p. 66):

"For short spans of time (up to an hour), many animals move much faster than humanoids. A mounted character can ride at a gallop for about an hour, covering twice the usual distance for a fast pace. If
fresh mounts are available every 8 to 10 miles, characters can cover larger distances at this pace, but this is very rare except in densely populated areas."

In my view, this rule argues for the DM to design the challenge such that when and where to use that burst of speed is a meaningful choice that affects some important outcome. That would be a fun little addition to an overland exploration challenge.

 

[Old One Eye]

Pretty gamey, but I like movement speed/10 per hour.

 

[Terry Herc]

In my games, I usually have the party walking at 4 miles an hour. With horses on roads, I double that. Horses travelling through wilderness, then I change it to 6 miles, which lines up well with the 6 mile hex, which you can use for expansive wilderness adventures.

 

[WhosDaDungeonMaster]

The Speed / 10 = MPH works well and is fairly realistic guideline assuming good terrain, roads, or paths. That would result in 48 miles per day. Maybe a bit high, but not unreasonable.

That being said, a typical horse walks about 4 miles per hour. But during an 8-hour day of travel, horses can trot (8-12 mph), canter (12-15 mph) and gallop (25-30 mph) even, increasing the effective distance covered. Trots can be maintained for extended periods given breaks for walking, but canters are more limited, and gallops severely so. The equivalent would be a person walking, jogging, running, and sprinting.

You might walk 3 mph, but could jog for 1 minute in 5 and increase your distance from 24 miles a day to 28 miles without extraordinary effort.

In the same light, a horse trotting (8 mph) 15 minutes and walking (4 mph) the other 45 minutes each hour would cover 40 miles in 8 hours. Horses can easily do this given periods of rest every hour or so. If you "push" the trot (12 mph), the total daily distance is 48 miles in 8 hours (as calculated more simply above).

Over good terrain, I would have a party mounted on horseback move at least 40 miles per day, and maybe 50 max. Anything more than that an you are definitely going to strain the animal.

Hope this helps. Cheers.