Hacking 5e D&D - Travel Distances

I am admittedly an aging desk jockey, so my view of how much walking in a day is reasonable should be taken with a grain of salt, but I think I have done enough hiking (and perhaps more importantly reading about hiking) to know that the travel distances, with regards to foot travel, as spelled out in 5th edition D&D are flat out silly.

Fast travel paces laid out in the book would be attainable for more than a day or two at a time by only the most experienced and physically fit modern ultralight hiker. And I'm talking a guy/gal in excellent cardio shape carrying a water bottle, a couple of pounds of food, maybe a change of clothing (maybe not) and a few other things. I'm thinking Appalachian Trail distance hikers carrying maybe 20-25 pounds of gear, tops. No weapons and armor. No adventuring gear. Just "as little as I can carry and feed myself and stay alive." No threat of monsters attacking. No fantasy world complications; the only concern being go as far and as fast as possible. A head-down grind-it-out no-perception-check-required half sprinting.

Traveling in a fantasy world full of potential threats is different. What I use takes into account the following assumptions:

• The party will have a range of Constitution scores, meaning a variety of levels of physical fitness and endurance. A group can only travel as fast as the slowest person can travel. I assume that there will be some average fitness levels in the group. Improbably high minimum CON in the group or a catastrophically low CON would change things, for better or worse.
• The party is traveling at a normal pace. Not taking it easy but not pushing it.
• The party is taking normal precautions with regards to situational awareness. Not blindly rushing ahead but not being very cautious and stealthy.
• The party is taking advantage of normal opportunities to forage for food.

I tend to adjudicate foot travel under the above base assumptions as:

• 15 miles (2.5 hexes) is the baseline movement rate for normal (not overly difficult) terrain, everyone with at least normal fitness levels, nobody overly encumbered, and paying normal heed to scouting and foraging. [More often than not, this is the rate we use for our particular adventuring party]
• Add 3 miles each for:
• Fast travel - Not scouting (and therefore also no foraging allowed). Downside is less chance to notice anything out of the ordinary.
• Exceptionally easy terrain.
• Pushing ahead to the point of risking an exhaustion level.
• Absolutely minimally encumbered. [very difficult to claim]
• Subtract 3 miles each for:
• Moving with stealth and caution.
• Moving through difficult terrain.
• Moving through rugged terrain (additive to the penalty for difficult terrain).
• Encumbered.
• Traveling in bad weather.
• Factors that can affect actual mileage traveled, map point to point, as opposed to pure movement rates, include:
• Adhering to the path of least resistance through difficult terrain can maintain travel rate, but affect the absolute distance traveled (such as winding through lowlands around mountains, picking your way through swamps, etc...).

Cart and wagon travel is a much more steady 15 mile (2.5 hex) movement rate.

Mounted (horse) travel is roughly double the normal foot rate, at ~30 miles (5 hexes) per day. This can be increased by easy or difficult terrain, as well as the availability of swapping out fresh remounts during the trip. "Pony express" type routes where a new horse can be acquired at rest stops throughout the day can dramatically increase distance covered, but this capability would be rare.

I have given less thought to boat travel (since it hasn't been a consideration in our game yet), but based on some historical research and a review of RPG-related posts of various kinds:

• Cogs and other typical merchant sailing ships can travel 40-80 miles per day (a 60 mile day being average), affected by weather, quality of ship and load carried.
• Fast ships can travel an additional ~20 miles.
• Slow ships can travel ~20 miles less.

I will give more thought to this when and if required.

Anyway, this is not intended to be a definitive study of the subject, but is merely a codification of what I use in our current campaign.