How do you translate movement speed to MPH?

[Yqatuba]

A human (or most medium humanoid species) has a speed of 30 ft. The average walking speed for an adult human is 3-4 miles per hour according to Google. So, would dividing by 10 work? Remember, this is walking speed, you can move up to 4 times your speed (I think, correct me if I'm wrong) if your running as fast as you can.

[Sandslice]

Your sustained walking / marching movement is your speed rating in 6 seconds.

You multiply by 10 to get your feet per minute, then 60 to get your feet per hour, then divide by 5280 to get your miles per hour.

Thus, you divide by (5280/600) = 8.8 to get from ft/round to mph.

[Pizza Lord]

Like Sandslice said, according to the Overland Movement rules, your Movement Speed is how fast you move in 6 seconds (1 round). You can move further by double moving, taking two move actions, but this is what's considered Hustling in most cases and is not something easy to do over a long period. You can only hustle about an hour before you start to get tired (there are checks to keep going). You can't keep up a run for an hour of travel in most cases without some ability that lets you.

The easiest answer is that your MPH is your Movement Speed divided by 10. So, a normal humanoid (speed 30), travels at 3 miles per hour. Typically you only get about 8 hours of actual travel in a day, so you would get about 24 miles for a dedicated day of traveling with normal rest stops and such.

Overland Movement

Note, that this distance is pretty much best case scenario. That means if you're on a highway. Any other time, even with a path or over plains and fields without a trail, you're looking at only two-thirds or three-quarters of that. And it's only half-speed in poor visibility like fog or rain which could be traveling at night for most people, even with light sources (as you might take more wrong turns or not see far enough ahead to realize you veered off).
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But maybe you were just trying to figure out how fast someone is moving rather than asking about overland movement, in which case the answer is:
Divide their speed by 10 and you'll get a close approximation. If your monk is moving at 40 and runs at 160, then technically they're moving about 16 MPH on their turn, but that's just an approximation and the system isn't really meant to cover it too exactly.

[Claxon]

Sandslice you have an error somewhere in your math I believe.

Edit: Specifically your last line gives an incorrect answer of 8.8 mph, but you were correct in your second line.

30ft per 6 seconds = 5ft per second. 5ft/sec * 60 sec/min * 60 min/hr * 1mi/5280 ft = 3.4 mi/hr (mph).

This matches up with what could be considered an average walking speed.

Pizza Lord's suggestion of approximating it by diving by 10 is pretty darn close.

[Reksew_Trebla]

Claxon wrote:

Sandslice you have an error somewhere in your math I believe.

Edit: Specifically your last line gives an incorrect answer of 8.8 mph, but you were correct in your second line.

30ft per 6 seconds = 5ft per second. 5ft/sec * 60 sec/min * 60 min/hr * 1mi/5280 ft = 3.4 mi/hr (mph).

This matches up with what could be considered an average walking speed.

Pizza Lord's suggestion of approximating it by diving by 10 is pretty darn close.

I think he meant 5280/600 is the same as 8.8, since that's what you get when you do the math. So he meant it would be faster to just divide by 8.8.

[Chell Raighn]

Claxon wrote:

Sandslice you have an error somewhere in your math I believe.

Edit: Specifically your last line gives an incorrect answer of 8.8 mph, but you were correct in your second line.

30ft per 6 seconds = 5ft per second. 5ft/sec * 60 sec/min * 60 min/hr * 1mi/5280 ft = 3.4 mi/hr (mph).

This matches up with what could be considered an average walking speed.

Pizza Lord's suggestion of approximating it by diving by 10 is pretty darn close.

Their math was right... they did the calculations without a base land speed. Their result of 8.8 is what you divide the base land speed by to skip all the other steps.

30ft / 8.8 = 3.4mph

[DungeonmasterCal]

I've used the divide by 10 method from the beginning of 3.x. It was also mentioned in a Dragon Magazine article from around then, I think, and even going back to Dragon during the 1e period it was generally established that adventurers could travel on foot between 20 and 30 miles a day depending on rest, encounters, or obstacles.

[Ryze Kuja]

A Barbarian (40ft/round) with Endurance and Run (5x Move speed) could theoretically move 200ft/round, and assuming that he makes all his Constitution checks to continue running...

200ft/round x 10 rounds = 2000ft/minute, or 120,000ft/hour, which is 22.7272 MPH

A mile is 5280ft, so that's a full mile in 2 minutes 38.4 seconds.

For reference, Usain Bolt is the fastest human on record, and his top speed was 27.33 MPH. So, Usain Bolt is a Barbarian IRL (probably enchanted with permanent Haste too).

[Claxon]

Chell Raighn wrote:

Claxon wrote:

Sandslice you have an error somewhere in your math I believe.

Edit: Specifically your last line gives an incorrect answer of 8.8 mph, but you were correct in your second line.

30ft per 6 seconds = 5ft per second. 5ft/sec * 60 sec/min * 60 min/hr * 1mi/5280 ft = 3.4 mi/hr (mph).

This matches up with what could be considered an average walking speed.

Pizza Lord's suggestion of approximating it by diving by 10 is pretty darn close.

Their math was right... they did the calculations without a base land speed. Their result of 8.8 is what you divide the base land speed by to skip all the other steps.

30ft / 8.8 = 3.4mph

I see now. Unfortunately that is not the way it read on my end.

I personally think it's better to either give a rough estimate (divide by 10) or show someone the entire series of steps to arrive at the answer (so they can hopefully understand unit conversions if they don't already).

When I read their previous post I thought the were saying the answer was 8.8 mph.

[Claxon]

Ryze Kuja wrote:

So, a Barbarian (40ft/round) with Endurance and Run (5x Move speed) could theoretically move 200ft/round, and assuming that he makes all his Constitution checks to continue running...

200ft/round x 10 rounds = 2000ft/minute, or 120,000ft/hour, which is 22.7272 MPH

A mile is 5280ft, so that's a full mile in 2 minutes 38.4 seconds.

For reference, Usain Bolt is the fastest human on record, and his top speed was 27.33 MPH. So, Usain Bolt is a Barbarian IRL (probably enchanted with permanent Haste too).

It's important to remember that even Usain bolt can't maintain that kind of speed for a long time. His top speed is in a sprint. Doing some quick searching seems to indicate he's never done any sort of competitive long distance races, so we have no idea what his mile time is.

My guess is that he can't keep up that same pace for a mile.

[Ryze Kuja]

Claxon wrote:

Ryze Kuja wrote:

So, a Barbarian (40ft/round) with Endurance and Run (5x Move speed) could theoretically move 200ft/round, and assuming that he makes all his Constitution checks to continue running...

200ft/round x 10 rounds = 2000ft/minute, or 120,000ft/hour, which is 22.7272 MPH

A mile is 5280ft, so that's a full mile in 2 minutes 38.4 seconds.

For reference, Usain Bolt is the fastest human on record, and his top speed was 27.33 MPH. So, Usain Bolt is a Barbarian IRL (probably enchanted with permanent Haste too).

It's important to remember that even Usain bolt can't maintain that kind of speed for a long time. His top speed is in a sprint. Doing some quick searching seems to indicate he's never done any sort of competitive long distance races, so we have no idea what his mile time is.

My guess is that he can't keep up that same pace for a mile.

Yeah that's true. Usain probably just used a Scroll of Haste, not a permanent Haste enchant. That's still cheating tho, imo.

[Derklord]

Maybe he's a 4th level unMonk using the Sudden Speed ki power! I mean, have you ever seen him wear armor?

[Reksew_Trebla]

I actually calculated Usain Bolt’s speed the other day. His average run speed in a round is 205 ft (rounded down after decimal point), and his top speed, which he maintained for a little more than 1 second, was 244 ft (after rounding down).

This means he has a base land speed of 41 ft, the Run feat, and a Quick Runner’s Shirt.

How do I know he has a Quick Runner’s Shirt? The fact that he doesn’t do his top speed more than once a day, his top speed lasts about the estimated time of a swift action, and it is ~1.2 times his average run speed, which assuming he has the Run feat, which he obviously does, would be approximately an increase of one full move action.

Making it conform more to Pathfinder, he would have the Fleet feat either 2x, (for a 40 ft speed) or 3x, (to have the minimum 41 ft speed, but rounded up to 45 ft), the Run feat, and a Quick Runner’s Shirt.