Burrow Speed: distinguish earth from solid rock
A Burrow Speed allows movement through particular materials. It does not automatically turn every wall, floor or mountain into a traversable surface.
Use it at the table
- Read the creature’s Burrow Speed and the material of the proposed route.
- The general permission covers sand, earth, mud and ice.
- For solid rock, find an additional trait that explicitly permits burrowing through it.
Make the call
A creature with a Burrow Speed reaches a continuous solid-rock barrier. Its traits say nothing about burrowing through rock. Can the speed alone carry it through?
The ruling
No; solid rock requires a permitting trait.
Solid rock is expressly excluded unless a trait allows it. The creature can seek a route through a permitted material, use another capability, or stop at the barrier. A numerical speed describes how fast permitted movement occurs; it does not remove the material restriction.
Watch for this mistake
The rule also does not state that every burrowing creature leaves an open tunnel usable by others. Check its actual trait before describing a persistent passage.
Ask the table
What material is on the route, and does the creature have any special tunneling permission?
The source rule
SRD 5.2.1, page 178. Read the official PDF.
A creature that has a Burrow Speed can use that speed to move through sand, earth, mud, or ice. The creature can’t burrow through solid rock unless the creature has a trait that allows it to do so. See also “Speed.”
Source and reuse
This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 (“SRD 5.2.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.
The explanation, example and table prompt are Table Ready adaptations; source text has been reflowed. This guide and its printable card are available under the same CC BY 4.0 license. Independent reference; no official affiliation. These rules are optional for our system-neutral adventures.