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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hriston" data-source="post: 8198266" data-attributes="member: 6787503">Actually, I think I’m saying, at a fast pace, you can swim 15 miles in ideal conditions without having to make a save against exhaustion. Now, I admit I’m not a strong swimmer myself despite having grown up in or near the ocean, and a one mile swim would certainly be an exhausting ordeal for me, but long distance swimming and Olympic marathon swimming events are regularly 10 km or more in length. The record for a 24 hour swim (set in 1976) is 83.7 km, making the D&D rate of travel quite reasonable for swimming, and I think it’s intentional in D&D that mundane feats of prowess like this are not going to be the focus of play unless the group makes them a challenge through adventure design. A PC can just do this stuff all day long because climbing, swimming, etc. are primarily a means of transportation from one place to another.Of course, or no check at all if it’s just something being skipped over in travel. I think my point was that if climbing El Capitan were being presented as a challenge in the game, there are a number of points at which the actual climbing itself could justify a Strength (Athletics) check just based on the climbing conditions, assuming those conditions aren’t being obviated in some way by the use of rope or a climber’s kit. I think if overcoming the obstacle were to be resolved with a single check, I’d probably call for Wisdom (Survival) from the party’s navigator to see if a route is found. There’s a specific rule that climbing, swimming, and crawling cost 2 extra feet in difficult terrain. However, I think the El Cap example is too specific to draw any conclusions about whether the general rates of travel are adequate. Forty-five minutes seems like a reasonable cost in time to overcome such a barrier to travel, and it’s really left up to the group to make this more or less of a challenge for play to focus on. It’s not unlimited, as I’ve pointed out through the travel pace and forced march rules. It’s just that the limits are higher than you’d like them to be. Of course, you’re free to rule that lower limits on the PCs exist, and I think that @iserith’s suggestion to call for a Constitution check in situations where characters are trying to push past those limitations is a good solution.</blockquote>

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