Mounts and Travel

## Rules as Written...

The PHB and it's lesser variations give us some great options for summarizing travel between the action. But let's be honest: if travel is a central part of the campaign, the RAW guidance falls flat. It goes into great depth about the tack and saddle you can buy, but doesn't differentiate travel speed between a pony and a war horse. Nor does it differentiate between the well-conditioned walking speed of a granola-eating Ranger and the ambling slouch of a Cheeto-eating Wizard.

That's why the Primal Magic campaign offers some house rules on mounts and travel...

### How to Use This Section

In campaign sequences that are focused on travel (getting there *is* half the fun), there are a dozen factors that can affect the journey. How much a DM/GM chooses to include is really up to them and the expectations of the table. If everything is about the destination, keep the focus there. Assume the party leaves, navigates and arrives where they need to go to keep the story moving.

If, however, half the story is about *getting There and Back Again*, that's when this section really shines. All of the factors, from terrain to weather, are about bringing texture to the narrative. Immerse the characters in the story, let them feel the rain on their face and give them interactions that challenge their expectations.

 Now let's factor in things like terrain and weather. Not every dungeon or lost temple is going to have a convenient highway taking the party to point of plunder. What kind of terrain did they have to work through get there? Was it clear weather or were there storms the whole way, as if nature itself were warning them away?

## Mounted Travel

The PHB specifies a variety of common land mounts, with cost, speed and carrying capacity. *Great, right?* Now add in the details of Tack, Harness, and Drawn Vehicles. Okay, now we're equipping said mounts, so we're really getting into the nitty-gritty.

## A 4-horsepower Soldier

Let's pull ourselves away from the Excel tables a moment and look at an example from actual history. On the absolute high end of mounted speed, there were a few rare tribes of Mongolian high-steppes light cavalry who could rock a 100 miles in a day. How? They had four horses, rode one for 25 miles, and switched. They were also light cav, meaning they weren't burdened by full plate, much less barding on the horse, and they certainly weren't carrying a bank worth of coin...

Surely the actual Travel Pace Chart will account for the differences in a draft horse versus a war horse, right? I mean, you *did* just drop 350 more gp for one over the other, shelled out for bit and bridle, a military saddle, and all the barding to keep 'ol Charger healthy... and you still need someplace to put your *adventurer's kit*, two swords, shield, 14,501 gp in treasury bags (because nobody in modern lore knows how to make a *Bag of Holding* anymore), tent, and... *yeah, no*.

What is a war horse anyway? How is that different from a draft horse or a riding horse? How does a war horse even hold a sword? It doesn't, of course: war horses preferred to use maces. Or maybe they just preferred apples and carrots. For a quick primer on the very valid differences in horses, check out our favorite peer-reviewed resource for it...

The Primal Magic campaign starts with the RAW source material, adds a sprinkle of real-world grit, then simplifies the travel negotiations to a few table references.

* Cost is average and may vary: rarely lower, usually higher.
* The per round/speed is for tactical measure (you've rolled for initiative).
* Daily speed is miles over a road (paved or equivalent, well-maintained trail), for the 8-hour game-standard travel period, over:
	+ Level (**1**) / Rolling (**2**) / Hilly (**3**) / Mountainous terrain (**4**)
* Offroad speed is miles over non-trail (or unkept trail) terrain types:
	+ Level/rolling (**1**) / Hilly (**2**) / Level + forest/thick scrub (**3**) / Very hilly forest (**4**) / Un-blazed mountain passes or marshlands (**5**)
* The burden cap is the on-average weight-carried limit before incurring penalties. This won't increase, but if the animal is tired, old or wounded, it'll definitely decrease.

* The party moves at the pace of the slowest member.
* This 8-hour movement bloc assumes normal brief rest stops during the stretch. Riding is easier than walking by a long shot, but it still takes work to stay in the saddle. *And the chafing...*
* For each additional hour of travel beyond 8 hours, the characters cover the 1/8th the distance shown for their pace (*see the table below*), and each character must make a Constitution saving throw at the end of the hour. The DC is 10 + 1 for each hour past 8 hours. On a failed saving throw, a character suffers one level of exhaustion.
* Penalize 50% distance for carrying or pulling a heavy load (whether that's a fully armored knight or towing a heavily laden cart).
* Penalize 50% distance (or more) for heavy weather.
* A heavy load in heavy weather is progressive stacked, so that would be a 75% distance penalty.
* Courier or trained Light Cavalry mount *and rider* could have a bonus of up to 50%, but this is specialized riding skill, and will average 25% faster unless they are traveling with multiple mounts or are otherwise swapping fresh mounts every 10 miles.

#### Per-Hour Travel

If a party is heading out based on smaller time or distance units rather than "a day's travel," we use the above rates broken down to per-hour increments: 1/8th or 0.125. At short-distance expectations, we're rounding up to the nearest 10th of a mile.

If this goes on and on (past 4 hours of travel), the second half rounds down (subtract all values below by a 1/10th of a mile per hour).

This holds until the 8-hour travel time mark, at which PCs begin risking exhaustion.

## Unmounted Travel

Okay, let's assume your PCs (or NPCs) are traveling by foot. *Dudes: take out the loan and buy the ponies*. What? They're allergic? *Fine*...

Regarding average foot travel, a Roman legionary trained for four months before they were ever even handed a weapon. As a fighting specimen goes, a legionary as an NPC would absolutely wipe out the average NPC "Guard" and take down the "Veteran" four times out of five. Let's keep this in mind as we delve into rucking across the countryside.

Legionary trainees were required to achieve an 18 mile/day average. Let's give our average human PC Fighters the benefit of the doubt to match that. A ranger, traveling light, can probably go faster. A paladin *carrying his gear* is going to go slower, and heaven forbid *he's actually traveling long distance while wearing full plate*... Now let's throw in the average walking speed for the slipper-footed wizard, the sorcerer who never eats their vegetables, or the warlock in goth boots, much less the bard who's still drunk from the night before.

There are some keyboard warriors who'll cite RAW foot travel as higher and on average, we'll laugh in their faces, especially if the characters (who are usually itinerant adventurers) are essentially carrying everything they own with them. *Let's assume weight and encumbrance rules apply*.

These marching rates (in miles per 8-hour travel day) are for roads or a well-maintained trail. *Anyone who tells you different has never hiked through tall grass over gopher holes while draped in iron and leather*.

* Per-hour rates travel rates: divide listed rate by 8 and account for at least a 5-minute break each hour.
* *Fast Movement special condition*: -5 penalty to passive Wisdom (Perception) scores.
* *Slow Movement special condition*: Able to use stealth. The limitation is based on awareness rather than VO2 capacity (it's more perceptual than physiological).
* The party only rucks as fast as the slowest party member.

## Livery Service

Whether PCs are hiring or being hired to get from here to there, there are average rates. Usually, these are the service rates for PC's hirelings, but they're a good starting place for PC's asking rates as well. *Escort quest, anyone?*

 Coach cab within a city
 Hireling, skilled
 Hireling, untrained
 Messenger
 Road or gate toll
 Ship's passage

## Weather... Or Not

Rain, rain go away...

Unless the DM sees an angle where weather could/would/should play a role, most of those rainy days never rises above the level of "texture." It's when the drizzle starts to really bluster that travel plans are affected. From low visibility to actually struggling against the wind, we provide a base chance for meteorological conditions to play a role in the adventure.

Note the departure and arrival times as that will affect what the PCs can accomplish on arrival (office hours at the Town Hall, etc.). The 8-hour stretch includes breaks for mounts and riders, but does not include any unscheduled delays or diversions. Travel blocks can be split without penalty assuming the PCs aren't on their mounts during interim time.

The weather percentages below are for the average non-mountainous temperate regions, which accounts for the majority of Faerûn. Certain areas, from deserts and coastal areas, to alpine highlands and mountain passes, to subarctic tundra, may have variations on these probabilities.

*How to read this:* the chance for weather change (∆) depends on current conditions.

If it is clear, chances are it will stay clear. Party sunny has a higher chance of becoming clear... or becoming partly cloudy. Cloudy WX has an even higher chance of change. Windy is a special category as windy can overlap any other WX condition, and if so, determines the chance to change over the rest of the prevailing conditions.