Feats That Boost Your Speed in D&D 5e
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The desire for speed is a common one in Dungeons & Dragons. Whether you’re looking to outmaneuver enemies, traverse large distances quickly, or simply get into melee range faster, movement speed is a crucial aspect of any character. While class features, race, and spells often grant speed boosts, feats provide another powerful way to enhance your movement capabilities. But which feats specifically increase movement speed?
The most straightforward answer is: the Mobile feat is the primary feat that directly increases your movement speed in D&D 5e. It’s a powerful option for those seeking a significant improvement in their character’s mobility. Beyond this singular feat that grants a flat speed increase, other feats can indirectly improve your movement, such as Squat Nimbleness, which affects your ability to quickly get back to your feet, reducing downtime caused by being prone. Let’s delve deeper into these, and how you can strategically improve your character’s movement on the battlefield.
Direct Movement Speed Enhancement: The Mobile Feat
Understanding the Mobile Feat
The Mobile feat is the quintessential option for increasing your speed. This feat grants you the following benefits:
- Your speed increases by 10 feet. This is a flat increase to your base walking speed, making it a valuable addition regardless of your current speed.
- When you use the Dash action, difficult terrain doesn’t cost you extra movement for that turn. This provides an effective way to bypass obstacles and maintain your increased speed.
- When you make a melee attack against a creature, that creature can’t make opportunity attacks against you for the rest of the turn, whether or not you hit. This makes your mobility that much greater, allowing you to weave in and out of combat situations with greater ease.
Why Choose the Mobile Feat?
The Mobile feat is an excellent choice for several reasons:
- Flat Speed Increase: A 10-foot increase to your base walking speed is substantial. This stacks with any other speed bonuses you might get from class features, race, or magic items.
- Enhanced Combat Mobility: The ability to bypass difficult terrain while dashing and avoiding opportunity attacks after a melee attack makes you a slippery target on the battlefield.
- Versatility: This feat is beneficial for almost any character, but particularly for melee characters, skirmishers, and those who value tactical positioning.
Feats With Indirect Benefits
While only the Mobile feat directly increases your base speed, other feats can improve your movement in less direct ways.
Squat Nimbleness
The Squat Nimbleness feat, while not increasing your base speed, enhances your movement by making it easier and quicker to get up from being prone. The ability to stand up for less movement allows you to get back in the fight with minimal speed loss. This can be particularly useful for characters who often find themselves knocked down.
- You gain proficiency in the Acrobatics or Athletics skill.
- You gain a bonus of +5 feet to your walking speed.
- You have advantage on ability checks that involve getting through spaces of narrow width.
- The movement required to stand up from prone is reduced to 5 feet.
Feats for Climbing
Other feats like Athlete and the Tabaxi’s Feline Agility racial ability don’t necessarily increase the amount of ground you can cover in a single turn. However, they indirectly boost your mobility by allowing you to traverse difficult terrain with greater ease. For example, the Athlete feat grants a climb speed and makes standing from prone easier. The Tabaxi racial ability allows you to double your speed temporarily when you take the dash action.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Does the Mobile feat stack with other speed bonuses?
Yes, the 10-foot speed increase from the Mobile feat stacks with other sources of speed bonuses, such as racial traits, class features, and magic items. For example, a Wood Elf (35-foot speed) who takes the Mobile feat (10-foot bonus) will have a base walking speed of 45 feet.
2. Can I combine different speeds during my turn?
Yes, if you have multiple speeds (e.g., walking speed, flying speed, swimming speed), you can switch between them during your turn. However, you must subtract the distance you’ve already moved when you switch.
3. Does difficult terrain still affect movement after taking the Mobile feat?
The Mobile feat only negates the additional movement cost of difficult terrain when you use the Dash action. Otherwise, you would still move at half speed in difficult terrain.
4. Does armor affect my movement speed?
Certain types of armor can impose disadvantages on stealth and reduce speed. Characters wearing heavy armor that they’re not proficient in, suffer disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls as well as lose 10 feet of movement speed.
5. Does being prone reduce movement speed?
Yes, being prone reduces your movement speed and makes you vulnerable. You must spend half of your movement to stand up. The Squat Nimbleness feat reduces that cost to 5 feet, and the Athlete Feat helps as well.
6. Does being encumbered reduce movement speed?
Yes, wearing armor and carrying equipment can cause you to be encumbered which can reduce your movement speed and make certain actions harder to execute.
7. How does the Dash action interact with movement speed?
The Dash action allows you to move an additional distance equal to your movement speed. For instance, if you have a movement speed of 30 feet and you take the Dash action, you can move up to 60 feet.
8. Does the Haste spell increase movement speed?
Yes, the Haste spell doubles your movement speed and provides an extra action. This is a significant boost to your mobility in combat.
9. Do magic items increase movement speed?
Yes, magic items like Boots of Speed can double your walking speed for a short time or provide other enhancements, including increases to your movement.
10. What is the fastest a character can move in D&D 5e?
The fastest theoretical movement is a combination of multiple buffs. A Monk with the Mobile feat, Haste, and items like the Boots of Speed or the Tabaxi’s Feline Agility can reach incredible speeds.
11. Does the Longstrider spell increase movement speed?
Yes, the Longstrider spell increases your movement speed by 10 feet as well as the movement speed of others as long as they are in range when it is cast.
12. Can racial traits increase movement speed?
Yes, certain races like the Wood Elf (35 feet) and Tabaxi (30 feet) have a higher base walking speed than the standard 30 feet.
13. Does the Unarmored Movement feature increase movement speed?
Yes, the Monk and Barbarian classes’ Unarmored Movement features can increase their movement speed as they level up, assuming they are not wearing armor or using a shield.
14. Does jumping consume movement speed?
Yes, jumping is part of your movement and does not require an action. However, you must factor in your jump distance when calculating how much further you can move.
15. Is there a cap on movement speed?
While the game rules don’t set a hard cap, the way movement speed is typically tracked and used can make it unwieldy to go above a certain point. It can become impractical to track characters that move at extreme speeds, so Dungeon Masters (DMs) may impose unofficial limits.
Conclusion
The Mobile feat stands out as the most effective choice for those seeking a direct boost to their movement speed in D&D 5e. However, feats like Squat Nimbleness, along with racial traits, spells, magic items, and class features, contribute to your overall mobility and ability to navigate the battlefield effectively. By strategically selecting your feats and making good use of all your available options, you can create a character that can move with incredible speed and agility.