Rules / Encounters / Movement & Space
Movement & Space
Movement and Positioning
On your turn you can move up to your Speed, or not move at all. Movement can include climbing, crawling, jumping and swimming, mixed in with ordinary movement or making up the whole move. However you move, subtract each part from your Speed until it's used up or you're done.
Your Speed comes from your Might + Reflex, on the table below; a monster's Speed is in its stat block. The table gives base Speed from 10 to 50 feet; talents, mounts and spells can take you higher.
| Might + Reflex | Speed | Long Jump | High Jump |
|---|---|---|---|
| −5 or less | 10 ft | 5 ft | 1 ft |
| −4 to −3 | 15 ft | 7 ft | 2 ft |
| −2 to −1 | 20 ft | 10 ft | 2 ft |
| 0 to 1 | 25 ft | 12 ft | 3 ft |
| 2 to 3 | 30 ft | 15 ft | 3 ft |
| 4 to 5 | 35 ft | 17 ft | 4 ft |
| 6 to 7 | 40 ft | 20 ft | 4 ft |
| 8 to 9 | 45 ft | 22 ft | 5 ft |
| 10 or more | 50 ft | 25 ft | 5 ft |
Using Different Speeds
If you have more than one speed (walking and flying, say), you can switch between them during your move. Each time you switch, subtract the distance you've already moved from the new speed; the result is how much farther you can go. If it's 0 or less, you can't use the new speed this move. Example: with Speed 30 and a climb speed of 60, you could climb 20 feet, walk 10 feet, then climb 30 feet more.
Difficult Terrain
Fights rarely happen in bare rooms or on featureless plains. Every foot of movement through difficult terrain costs 1 extra foot, even if several things in the space count as difficult terrain. Low furniture, rubble, undergrowth, steep stairs, snow and shallow bogs are all difficult terrain, and so is another creature's space, friendly or not.
Moving Around Other Creatures
You can move through a non-hostile creature's space. You can move through a hostile creature's space only if it is at least two sizes larger or smaller than you. Either way, its space is difficult terrain for you, and you can't willingly end your move in another creature's space.
Fighting Underwater
In water deeper than your knees you need a swim speed or must use the Swim action (see Athletics) to move, and if the water is over your head you must hold your breath (see Suffocation in Exploration). As well as moving with difficulty, while fighting in water you are Off-Guard and have 1 level of Disadvantage on attacks that deal bludgeoning or slashing damage.
Flying
Flying creatures are very mobile but risk falling: if a flying creature is knocked Prone, has its Speed reduced to 0, or otherwise can't move, it falls unless it can hover.
Creature Size and Space
Each size of creature controls a different amount of space in combat; objects sometimes use the same sizes. Creatures and objects of Huge size or larger have the Fortified trait (they resist non-Heavy damage).
| Size | Space |
|---|---|
| Tiny | 2½ by 2½ ft |
| Small | 5 by 5 ft |
| Medium | 5 by 5 ft |
| Large | 10 by 10 ft |
| Huge | 15 by 15 ft |
| Gargantuan | 20 by 20 ft |
| Colossal | 30 by 30 ft |
A creature's space is the area it effectively controls in a fight, not its physical size. A Medium creature isn't 5 feet wide, but it controls a space that wide: a Medium human standing in a 5-foot doorway blocks it unless they let others through. Space is also the room a creature needs to fight well, which limits how many can surround one target. Eight Medium creatures fit in a 5-foot radius around another; five Large creatures crowding a Medium one leave little room for anyone else, while as many as twenty Medium creatures can surround a Gargantuan one.
Squeezing into a Smaller Space
A creature can squeeze through a space big enough for a creature one size smaller (a Large creature can get through a 5-foot passage). While squeezing, every foot of movement costs 1 extra foot, it has 1 level of Disadvantage on attack rolls and Reflex saves, and attacks against it have 1 level of Advantage. See the Acrobatics Squeeze action.