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Monday, May 11, 2015

Movement and Surprise

In a corner of one of the pages on the D&D 5th Edition Cheat Sheet/DM Screen at EnWorld is an area under Travel Pace. I don't know where he/she came up with the numbers or if he created them.  The numbers in distance don't match the rules from the Player's Handbook. I gather the idea is the faster the party is moving the more likely it is to be surprised. I've changed the distances to match the numbers from the PHB.

This rule will not come into effect during ambushes - Perception vs Stealth - or when one party would have a reasonable chance to hear, see, etc. the other party - Perception vs DC based on amount of noise, light, etc.

The characters make a Perception check vs the given surprise DC. Those characters that fail are surprised for the first round.

In using this, Passive Perception is not used for encounters. But it is still used when passing by something of interest. 


Travel PaceSurprise DCFeet in 1 Min
Cautious0100
Slow5200
Moderate10300
Fast15400

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