Speedy Halflings and Sluggish Humans

[BLACKDIRGE]

One thing has always bothered me about the base movement rate for the various races. The fact that every memebr of a said race (excludin monk and barbarian characters)moves at exactly the same speed. Every halfling has a 20ft move and every human has a 30ft move. As we all know in the real world there are people that are much faster or slower than the norm. I came up with a quick house rule I would like you guys to evaluate.

In my book stronger more dextrous people should be faster than their weaker clumsier counter parts. my quick fix is that when and if your added strength and dex bonus equal five or more you get a 5 foot bonus to your move, if your bonus equals 10 or more you get a ten foot bonus to your move ans so on and so on. This means that our 20th level halfling fighter with an 18 str and a 22 dex moves 10 feet faster than the "average" halfling.
It just makes more sense to me that extraordinary physical specimens are faster.

Ofcourse the reverse of the rule would apply as well. if you have a strength and or dex penalty totaling -5 you lose 5 points to your move (you are weak and or clumsy)

The bonus or penalty would be applied to barbarian and monk characters after their class speeds are applied (i.e, the bonus does not increase as a monk goes up in level).

Any one see any problems with game balance here? I know one side effect is that magic items that boost dex and strength will become more valuable
than they already are.

Thanks
Dirge

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

"Scream if you wanna go faster"
Well, I think there is a simple reason for the standard rule. Abstraction. If you want to be faster, you can take the feat run.
You should also remember that this is "combat speed". Even if someone might be able to walk faster, it might hamper his combat (or even defense) abilities.

But do what ever you want to do.

 

[Claude Raines]

I don't think that this is a good idead because mainly stronger and more dextrous people aren't necessarily faster at all. Dexterity is both hand-eye cordination (grace) and reflex (how fast you respond to a change in situation). It has nothing to do with base movement rates at all. And if you look at strength, well, you never see Mr. Universe competeing in races. Most runners tend to be moderately muscled (sprinters a bit more than distance runners), but all of the good ones have lean forms, not overly muscled ones.

If you want to increase base movement rate then I suggest you make a feat that allows +5' to base movement. Call it something like "Increased Stride." After all, as a runner and pretty wimpy and clumsy guy, I can tell you that running is mostly a technique that you learn. A fit, healthy body is necessary, but the fastest is never the guy who can lift the most or turn a corner the quickest.

 

[jontherev]

I don't think that this is a good idead because mainly stronger and more dextrous people aren't necessarily faster at all. Dexterity is both hand-eye cordination (grace) and reflex (how fast you respond to a change in situation). It has nothing to do with base movement rates at all. And if you look at strength, well, you never see Mr. Universe competeing in races. Most runners tend to be moderately muscled (sprinters a bit more than distance runners), but all of the good ones have lean forms, not overly muscled ones.

If you want to increase base movement rate then I suggest you make a feat that allows +5' to base movement. Call it something like "Increased Stride." After all, as a runner and pretty wimpy and clumsy guy, I can tell you that running is mostly a technique that you learn. A fit, healthy body is necessary, but the fastest is never the guy who can lift the most or turn a corner the quickest.

THere already is a feat called Dash in Song and Silence that adds 5' to your base move. You can only pick the feat once though.

 

[Uller]

If having more variety to movement rates is important to you, I think this idea has some merit. I think linking it to ability scores is a good idea because in general people are either naturally fast or naturally slow and there is very little you can do about it without significant training(RL equivalent to "taking a feat"?). Yes. DEX is not specifically speed and Str is more a measure of muscle power..but let's face it, you can't sum up every human attribute into 6 "ability scores". Speed is generally affected by size, weight, muscular strenght and muscular speed(IIRC highschool health class, different people have different ratios of "fast-twitch" and "slow-twitch" muscles). So Dex and Str are as good as any abilities to base it on.


However, I do see one glaring flaw: Larger creatures tend to be stronger, but aren't necessarily less dexterous. Also, with the rules for rolling up characters(and point buys), PCs and NPCs tend to have bonuses, but no penalties. The rule would mean that, in general, creatures would be faster than the rules typically allow for.

I'd propose an alternative: Take the characters AVERAGE Dex and Str bonus as "Sprint bonus". Whenever the character does a Run action, they add this bonus(or subtract the penalty) times the number of "moves" they do during the run to the distance they can move(rounded down to the nearest 5' increment). So if you are a human with a spint bonus of 3 and are wearing light armor and run, you move 120' + 12'(actually +10') so you can run 130'.

That seems more reasonable to me.

Edit: Also...with the above proposed rule, this only effects the run action. In general, speed is combat speed and I think that should be left alone. YMMV.

Shouldn't this be in house rules?