Swimming: distinguish movement cost from rough-water checks
Swimming consumes additional movement unless the creature uses a Swim Speed. Rough water can call for a check, but that question is separate from the normal movement cost.
Use it at the table
- Without using a Swim Speed, each foot swum costs two feet of movement.
- Swimming in Difficult Terrain costs three feet per foot under the entry’s two-extra-feet rule.
- A Swim Speed removes this extra swimming cost; rough water may require DC 15 Strength (Athletics) at the GM’s option.
Make the call
A character without a Swim Speed has 30 feet of movement and swims in ordinary water with no Difficult Terrain. How far can that movement take them?
The ruling
15 feet.
Swimming adds one extra foot of movement per foot traveled, for a total cost of two. Thirty feet pays for fifteen feet of swimming. A rough-water check addresses whether the attempted swim succeeds under those conditions; passing such a check does not itself remove the movement surcharge.
Watch for this mistake
Do not require every calm-water swim to use the optional rough-water check. Read the actual conditions and any creature-specific movement feature before setting a roll.
Ask the table
Is a Swim Speed being used, what does each foot cost, and is the water rough?
The source rule
SRD 5.2.1, page 189. Read the official PDF.
While you’re swimming, each foot of movement costs 1 extra foot (2 extra feet in Difficult Terrain). You ignore this extra cost if you have a Swim Speed and use it to swim. At the GM’s option, moving any distance in rough water might require a successful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check.
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.