D&D 5E movement rate per day

[crusaderbard]

Ok, so I have my maps from my campaign I've ran for 20 years. I use a transparency sheet with hexes on it to determine distance traveled per day and how much time it will take to get there. (The old Forgotten Realms box used to come with a similar sheet). In the past, each hex represented 24 miles. This was for ease of use, because a party generally could march 24 miles in a day. Therefore each hex was one days travel. My problem now is that in the 5th edition rules we have 3 modes of travel. At fast speeds one can move 30 miles a day, while slow is 18 miles. Anyone have any tips about how to adjust my hex scale for these speeds? Yes I suck at math. lol

 

[Ravenheart87]

All of them can be divided by six, so I would go with smaller, six mile hexes.

You might also find this little tool useful: http://rechneronline.de/pi/hexagon.php

 

[Undertaker Sheep]

Slightly off topic: there are movement rates in 5e?

Where are they described? In the basic pdf and/or the Starter Set? Currently away from books so I can't check.

I'm asking because I'm running Lost Mine of Phandelver and I handwaved cross-country movement to "You can move one hex per day," because that made sense to me.

On topic: using smaller six-miles hexed works.

But you could also keep it at 24 miles per day and say that a mile in your campaign world isn't the same as in our world. Traveling at a fast speed gets you one hex further, while traveling at slow speed only gets you .5 hexes further. Or if there's also a medium movement speed:

At a fast pace, it takes you one day to travel the distance of a hex.
At a normal pace, it takes you two days.
At a slow pace, three.

Yours truly,

Someone who apparently has no idea how traveling works.

 

[Aloïsius]

I recently did some trekking... 30 miles a day by foot ? In a medieval setting ? This is absolutely silly.

Unless you have very good roads in a mostly flat land, it's somewhat absurd. Well, the average PC may have 100 pounds in his backpack without any problem as well...

 

[cpendlet]

Basic rules, page 64 (Chapter 8, Adventuring Section). It does mention this is for traveling on flat terrain (road, open plains, etc).

 

[Ravenheart87]

I recently did some trekking... 30 miles a day by foot ? In a medieval setting ? This is absolutely silly.

Unless you have very good roads in a mostly flat land, it's somewhat absurd. Well, the average PC may have 100 pounds in his backpack without any problem as well...

"The travel speeds given in the Travel Pace table assume relatively simple terrain: roads, open plains, or clear dungeon corridors."

Difficult terrain halves the speed, plus the 30 miles is the fast travel, with no sneaking and perception penalty.

 

[Nemio]

Slightly off topic: there are movement rates in 5e?

Where are they described? In the basic pdf and/or the Starter Set? Currently away from books so I can't check.

I'm asking because I'm running Lost Mine of Phandelver and I handwaved cross-country movement to "You can move one hex per day," because that made sense to me.

On topic: using smaller six-miles hexed works.

But you could also keep it at 24 miles per day and say that a mile in your campaign world isn't the same as in our world. Traveling at a fast speed gets you one hex further, while traveling at slow speed only gets you .5 hexes further. Or if there's also a medium movement speed:

At a fast pace, it takes you one day to travel the distance of a hex.
At a normal pace, it takes you two days.
At a slow pace, three.

Yours truly,

Someone who apparently has no idea how traveling works.

In the Starter Set Rulebook you can find it on page 15 "Travel"
"Characters can walk about 24 miles in a day"

No mention of fast or slow travel & difficult terrain here, to keep it simple I imagine.

Moving one hex per day is a bit low.
Looking at the top right of the map on page 5 of the "Lost Mine of Phandelver book" you can see that "One hex = 5 miles"

So that makes about 5 hexes per day.

It's not completely clear to me since the text about the ambush also says.
"When they're a half-day's march from Phandalin, they run into trouble with Goblin Raiders from the Cragmaw Tribe"
but if you count the hexes you're about 5 road hexes away (one day)

The read aloud text also says
"You've spent the last few days following the High Road south from Neverwinter, and you've just recently veered east along the Triboar trail."
Before the road goes east there's about 10 hexes (2 days) so that seems right.

Perhaps you're moving a bit slower because of the oxen and the wagon?

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Apparently hexes will generally be either 1 mile, 5 miles, or 50 miles, based on the map scale. I see two pretty good ways of doing it.

1. Fuzzy rounding. For five mile hexes, normal pace gets you 5 hexes (or 3 over difficult terrain), fast pace gets you 6 hexes (3 over difficult terrain), and slow pace gets you 4 hexes (2 over difficult terrain). For fifty mile hexes, normal pace takes 2 days to cross (4 for difficult terrain), fast pace takes 1 1/2 days (3 for difficult terrain), and slow pace takes 3 days (6 over difficult terrain). It's not precisely accurate, but it allows you to make a simple chart and keep to the relative intent of the rules. Some of those numbers are arbitrary, and it's possible to set them up a bit differently.
2. Hexes are an overlay, not a unit of land. Don't travel by hexes. Just travel what looks to be the right distance, and hexes are there just to help you estimate. Takes a bit more work, but is a bit more accurate.

I'm asking because I'm running Lost Mine of Phandelver and I handwaved cross-country movement to "You can move one hex per day," because that made sense to me.

Whoa! Those are only 5 mile hexes! That's a slow party