Speed in PF 1


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion


A question, and excuse me if this shouldn't be here, but why is speed so capped in PF? what's so broken that for example the monk's speed in enhacement (so can't stack with almost anything) but barbarian's isn't? I mean, is just going from A to B in less rounds, it doesn't give you anything to attack, defense, damage, etc, so why all the hindering?


Speed has a major impact at times:
* Any ranged attacker (bows, wizards, etc) is far more dangerous at 50+ speed than they are at 20. At 20 you can catch them and quickly neutralize the problem, at 50 you have to utilize terrain, break LOS, and maybe find a ranged way to slow them down or you'll have troubles.

* Any melee attacker can choose their target regardless of the other targets, unless everyone is bunched up. This means if there is a 50ft+ wide set of 5 meat-shield guys, you can *still* run around them and up to the wizard being guarded in a single full-round move action. The 30ft character would instead need 2-3 rounds and the wizard could see it coming.

Mobility (not the feat) is king in many games simply because choosing your battles means you *don't* choose the losing ones.

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Practically speaking, a game that encourages battle mats also puts you in a weird position because the faster people move, the bigger the encounter space. At some point you may end up just changing the scale of the battle mat just to fit it on a reasonable sized table.


I dunno, classes like Magus can teleport through the battlefield with little to no invesment.
Even in Starfinder fleet give you 10ft while in PF it gives you just 5.
I'm not asking for "free" movement from the get to go, but at least not hinder the one that is there, I don't think anyone would call a monk broken for having 10ft extra from boots. Casters might already be flying at 60ft why not allow the monk to move at 200ft by then? and maybe jump high enough to puch the flying teleporting planeshifting speaks in draconic dude?

Sorry if I sound like I'm ranting, isn't my intention.


Barbarian's Fast Movement is like one of the few untyped speed bonuses there are, and its balanced by the fact that its flat 10ft without progression through levels.


this is a question that can't be answered within RAW as it's asking for a rules analysis/rationalization rather than validity, or explanation of how it works in the game.

from a practical standpoint many rules are there to prevent stacking or a culmination of power.
Many base rules are additive or linear or at times multiplicative, such as Spell Level * Caster Level. The numbers scale up very faster with each type. The game model has to handle those scales of numbers, and at times equate them to a 3rd number. So it's the tyranny of scale, lol.
Game maps are usually 24 inches by 32 inches. It would be nice to have a creature stay on the map for 2 rounds.


Kageshira wrote:
I mean, is just going from A to B in less rounds, it doesn't give you anything to attack, defense, damage, etc, so why all the hindering?

Speed is powerful.

Superior speed means you have more potential positions on the battlefield, which means you have more tactical options. You're more likely to flank your opponents, avoid being flanked by opponents, take advantage of high ground, and get into positions where you can full-attack multiple foes.

Superior speed means you can run away if you need to but your opponents cannot.

Superior speed cuts down on travel time. This is important when plot-relevant events are happening quickly.

Don't worry about a monk's enhanced speed not stacking with other things. That just means you have the speed boost of haste essentially built in to your character. Get some nice boots that other players might not use for want of a speed boost.


These "convince me" threads are pretty pointless. No one will convince you as your mind is made up. Rejoice for you have been chosen to continue running Pathfinder after Second Edition balances the universe and you may houserule the remains as you see fit.


blahpers wrote:

Speed is powerful.

Superior speed means you have more potential positions on the battlefield, which means you have more tactical options. You're more likely to flank your opponents, avoid being flanked by opponents, take advantage of high ground, and get into positions where you can full-attack multiple foes.

Superior speed means you can run away if you need to but your opponents cannot.

Superior speed cuts down on travel time. This is important when plot-relevant events are happening quickly.

Don't worry about a monk's enhanced speed not stacking with other things. That just means you have the speed boost of haste essentially built in to your character. Get some nice boots that other players might not use for want of a speed boost.

Boots of striding? also enhacement bonus.

Also it cuts down travel if everybody is as fast, if not then you move at the speed of the lowest or at horse speed. Also is not like the wizard isn't going to cast teleport (as it happens in my group) and nullify that speed.

And I agree certain amount of speed is good, but once you are over 60ft is not actually needed unless you want to be fast just for the fun of being fast, but you can't because game pretty much doesn't let you.

As for possitioning or fleeing, lets say other stuff enters in the game like Acrobatics, and in my groups reached certain level, even if you maxed Acrobatics and have like 22-24 Dex you're going to eat the AoOs yes or yes, and be lucky if it doesn't trip/grapple you because of it. But that's another story.


Boots of striding and springing are what lesser characters would get. Get something interesting instead.

We've gotten major use out of speeds higher than 60' in our games, but YMMV I suppose. Acrobatics is a whole different ball game.

What are you hoping to get out of this thread?

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