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There are three movement scales, as follows.

  • Tactical, for combat, measured in feet (or squares) per round.
  • Overland, for getting from place to place, measured in miles per hour or miles per day.
Modes of MovementEdit



A walk represents unhurried but purposeful movement at 3 miles per hour for an unencumbered human.


A hustle is a jog at about 6 miles per hour for an unencumbered human. A character moving his or her speed twice in a single round, or moving that speed in the same round that he or she performs a standard action or another move action is hustling when he or she moves.

Run (×3)Edit

Moving three times speed is a running pace for a character in heavy armor. It represents about 9 miles per hour for a human in full plate.

Run (×4)Edit

Moving four times speed is a running pace for a character in light, medium, or no armor. It represents about 12 miles per hour for an unencumbered human, or 8 miles per hour for a human in chainmail.

Tactical MovementEdit

see also: Movement, Position, and Distance

Use tactical movement for combat. Characters generally don’t walk during combat—they hustle or run. A character who moves his or her speed and takes some action is hustling for about half the round and doing something else the other half.

Hampered MovementEdit

Difficult terrain, obstacles, or poor visibility can hamper movement. When movement is hampered, each square moved into usually counts as two squares, effectively reducing the distance that a character can cover in a move.

If more than one condition applies, multiply together all additional costs that apply. (This is a specific exception to the normal rule for doubling)



Local MovementEdit



A character can walk without a problem on the local scale.




A character with a Constitution score of 9 or higher can run for a minute without a problem. Generally, a character can run for a minute or two before having to rest for a minute

Overland MovementEdit








A character can’t run for an extended period of time.




Forced MarchEdit



Mounted MovementEdit



Waterborne MovementEdit

See Table: Mounts and Vehicles for speeds for water vehicles.

Table: Movement and Distance
15 feet 20 feet 30 feet 40 feet
One Round (Tactical)1
One Minute (Local)
One Hour (Overland)
Hustle 3 miles 4 miles 6 miles 8 miles
One Day (Overland)
Walk 12 miles 16 miles 24 miles 32 miles
Table: Hampered Movement
Condition Additional Movement Cost
Difficult terrain ×2
Obstacle1 ×2
Poor visibility ×2
  1. May require a skill check
Table: Terrain and Overland Movement
Terrain Highway Road or Trail Trackless
Forest ×1 ×1 ×1/2
Hills ×1 ×3/4 ×1/2
Jungle ×1 ×3/4 ×1/4
Moor ×1 ×1 ×3/4
Mountains ×3/4 ×3/4 ×1/2
Plains ×1 ×1 ×3/4
Swamp ×1 ×3/4 ×1/2
Table: Mounts and Vehicles
Mount/Vehicle Per Hour Per Day
Mount (carrying load)
Light horse or light warhorse 6 miles 48 miles
Light horse (151–450 lb.)1 4 miles 32 miles
Light warhorse (231–690 lb.)1 4 miles 32 miles
Heavy horse or heavy warhorse 5 miles 40 miles
Heavy horse (201–600 lb.)1 3-1/2 miles 28 miles
Heavy warhorse (301–900 lb.)1 3-1/2 miles 28 miles
Pony or warpony 4 miles 32 miles
Pony (76–225 lb.)1 3 miles 24 miles
Warpony (101–300 lb.)1 3 miles 24 miles
Donkey or mule 3 miles 24 miles
Donkey (51–150 lb.)1 2 miles 16 miles
Mule (231–690 lb.)1 2 miles 16 miles
Dog, riding 4 miles 32 miles
Dog, riding (101–300 lb.)1 3 miles 24 miles
Cart or wagon 2 miles 16 miles
Keelboat (rowed)2 1 mile 10 miles
Rowboat (rowed)2 1-1/2 miles 15 miles
Sailing ship (sailed) 2 miles 48 miles
Longship (sailed and rowed) 3 miles 72 miles
Galley (rowed and sailed) 4 miles 96 miles
  1. Quadrupeds, such as horses, can carry heavier loads than characters can. See Carrying Capacity, above, for more information.

Evasion and PursuitEdit

In round-by-round movement, simply counting off squares, it’s impossible for a slow character to get away from a determined fast character without mitigating circumstances. Likewise, it’s no problem for a fast character to get away from a slower one.



Moving Around in SquaresEdit

In general, when the characters aren’t engaged in round-by-round combat, they should be able to move anywhere and in any manner that you can imagine real people could. A 5-foot square, for instance, can hold several characters; they just can’t all fight effectively in that small space. The rules for movement are important for combat, but outside combat they can impose unnecessary hindrances on character activities.

See alsoEdit

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