Obviously, movement is an important part of a fight. If a character is wielding a sword, he can't hurt anyone with it unless he gets very close to them. The more time a character spends moving, the less he is able to do when he gets there.
In the standard AD&D game, every character and monster has a base movement rate. Since Player's Option combat rounds are shorter than AD&D rounds, each point of that base movement rate allows a PC, NPC, or creature to move one square per combat round in melee scale. A human fighter with a movement rate of 12 can move 12 squares, or 60 feet, in one combat round. If a character moves diagonally, it costs 3 movement points for each 2 squares, rounded up. If a character moves three squares diagonally, it costs 5 movement points: 3 for the first two squares and 2 for the the third square.
Remember, this is a conservative advance. Figures can exceed their normal movement rates by charging, running, or sprinting (see Attack Options, below). The same human fighter sprints 180 feet in a combat round, which isn't bad for an untrained runner wearing sturdy boots, heavy clothes, and carrying a sword.
Characters determine their combat system movement in three steps:
- Determine the character's base movement rate from his character race;
- Adjust the base movement rate for exceptional ability scores;
- Modify the character's movement due to his encumbrance.
Base Movement[]
Every character (and monster) begins with a base movement determined by race. For monsters, this information appears in the apropriate Monstrous Manual™ accessory under Movement. For characters, the base move varies by race:
| Character Race | Movement Rate |
|---|---|
| Human | 12 |
| Elf or Half-elf | 12 |
| Dwarf | 6 |
| Gnome | 6 |
| Halfling | 6 |
Unless the DM wants to generate ability scores for every NPC in the game, it's safe to assume that any generic member of the race has the base movement rate listed. However, player characters and exceptional NPCs may be able to move faster than normal.
Exceptional Abilities and Movement[]
Characters with exceptional Strength or Dexterity scores can increase their base movement rate beyond the normal limits of their race. Similarly, characters with weaknesses in these areas are slower than others of their kind.
Strength[]
Add the character's hit probability adjustment to her base movement rate. If you are also playing with the Skills & Powers rulebook, add the hit probability adjustment based on the character's Strength/Stamina (not Strength/Muscle) instead.
Dexterity[]
Add the character's reaction adjustment to his base movement rate. If you are also playing with the Skills & Powers rules, use the adjustment for Dexterity/Balance instead.
For example, Loftos the Swift, a human fighter, has a Strength of 17 and a Dexterity of 16. His Strength gives him a hit probability bonus of +1, and his Dexterity gives him a reaction bonus of +1, too. His base movement rate, therefore, is 12+1+1, or 14.
Encumbrance
Even the fastest sprinter won't move so quickly when he's carrying 140 pounds of armor, weapons, and adventuring gear. A character's encumbrance falls into five categories: none, light, moderate, heavy, and severe. Encumbrance is described in the Player's Handbook in Chapter 6: Money and Equipment.
To determine the character's encumbrance category, find his Strength and read across the table. The numbers on the table are the breakpoints for each category. A character with a Strength of 14 is not encumbered until he has 56 pounds of gear, lightly encumbered until he has 86 pounds of gear, moderately encumbered until he carries 116 pounds of gear, and heavily encumbered up to a load of 146 pounds.
To calculate a monster's strength for this purpose, add 31/2 points per size category (rounded down) to the monster's base Hit Dice (ignoring plusses). Thus, an ogre has a generic Strength score of 18 (Large creature is size category 4, x 31/2 = 14, plus 4 Hit Dice = 18).
| Character Strength |
Encumbrance Category | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lt. | Mod. | Hvy. | Severe | |
| 3 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 10 |
| 4–5 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 20 |
| 6–7 | 21 | 20 | 39 | 47 |
| 8–9 | 36 | 51 | 66 | 81 |
| 10–11 | 41 | 59 | 77 | 97 |
| 12–13 | 46 | 70 | 94 | 118 |
| 14–15 | 56 | 86 | 116 | 146 |
| 16 | 71 | 101 | 131 | 161 |
| 17 | 86 | 122 | 158 | 194 |
| 18 | 111 | 150 | 189 | 228 |
| 18/01 | 136 | 175 | 214 | 253 |
| 18/51 | 161 | 200 | 239 | 278 |
| 18/76 | 186 | 225 | 264 | 303 |
| 18/91 | 236 | 275 | 314 | 353 |
| 18/00 | 336 | 375 | 414 | 453 |
A creature's final movement is figured by comparing current encumbrance with natural base movement.
| Base Move |
Encumbrance Category | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| None. | Lt. | Mod. | Hvy. | Severe | |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| 6 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 7 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 8 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 9 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 1 |
| 10 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 1 |
| 11 | 11 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 1 |
| 12 | 12 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 1 |
| 13 | 13 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 1 |
| 14 | 14 | 11 | 7 | 4 | 1 |
| 15 | 15 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 1 |
| 16 | 16 | 12 | 8 | 4 | 1 |
| 17 | 17 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 1 |
| 18 | 18 | 14 | 9 | 5 | 1 |
In addition to affecting how far a character can move in a combat round, encumbrance also affects how well a character can fight. Moderately encumbered characters suffer a –1 penalty to attack rolls. Heavily encumbered characters suffer a –2 attack penalty, and their Armor Class suffers a +1 penalty. If the character is severely encumbered, he suffers a –4 penalty to all attacks and a +3 penalty to his Armor Class. Fatigue may temporarily increase a character's effective encumbrance; see Fatigue for more information.
Simplified Encumbrance[]
If the standard encumbrance rules aren't worth the trouble, here's an easier way to do it. Most of the weight a character carries is in armor and weapons. To streamline things, only use the character's armor, shield, and largest weapon when figuring the total weight carried. This slightly favors PCs, but it's much faster than tracking every addition of weight.
In Chapter Seven, armor is rated with a base encumbrance. This is the typical encumbrance level of a human wearing that armor. For example, plate mail is rated as moderate encumbrance, with a movement of 6 for a typical human. These default values make it easy to eyeball NPC movement rates.
If you use the simplified encumbrance rule, make sure that it is not abused. If the DM feels that a PC is taking advantage of this rule (for example, carrying dozens of weapons or vast amounts of adventuring gear), he can insist on using the more detailed accounting of the normal encumbrance rules.