Simplifying Distances for Theater of the Mind in 5E D&D

We love some fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons here at Nerdarchy, and we love streaming over on Nerdarchy Live. Part and parcel with streaming comes a need to adjust things and make them more cinematic for an audience. While minis are great they kind of bog down a stream if you’re not really skilled at multitasking or have a huge production team like Critical Role. As such we use theater of the mind, which comes with its own challenges.

Near, far and everything in between in 5E D&D

Theater of the mind is great for podcasts and streams because it immerses you and engages your imagination much like an audiobook. However, 5E D&D can be a bit sluggish even with theater of the mind. One of the most nebulous concepts for me in 5E D&D and one I have the most trouble envisioning is the concept of distance. Sure, it’s easy to know there’s a significant difference between 10 feet and 30 feet, or between 30 and 120 feet. But what if someone says a creature is 55 feet away? Is this really much different from 65 feet? This scenario marks the difference between being able to cast a sacred flame or not. But with theater of the mind, what’s saying they aren’t still close enough to do so? It’s not like we have minis in the situation.

Today, I want to talk about distance in your 5E D&D games and how we can adapt it to theater of the mind.Let’s look at how we can streamline your game and make it more cinematic and narrative when it comes to distances.

General Distances vs. Feet

Quest RPG has a mechanic involving general distances, which is really special. When we break down distance in 5E D&D there are really only a few key distance markers where things get different. Let’s break down what they are first. Bear in mind spell distances can be increased by feats and Metamagic options and these add new distances into the equation. We’ll get to how to deal with those in a bit.

• 5 feet. This is the reach of most creatures. If a creature is within 5 feet then the creature is within melee attack range.
• 10 feet. This is 5 feet beyond standard melee reach for most creatures. Some creatures like bugbears have a reach of 10 feet, which letts them keep creatures just out of melee reach while also being able to use their own melee attacks.
• 15 feet. This is used as the range for the lightning lure cantrip and a variety of other spells. It’s also the long range for nets and that’s really all at a glance.
• 20 feet. This next range is used primarily as the short range for most thrown weapons.
• 25 feet. The short range for blowguns. This is also the operating speed of shorter creatures such as dwarves, gnomes and the like.
• 30 feet. This is where we tread into short range spell territory. Thorn whip uses this range as do a number of ranged weapons for their short range.
• 60 feet. This is where a lot of your midrange spells come in. It’s also the long range for a few weapons.
• 80 feet. This is the short range for shortbows.
• 100 feet. This is short range for a heavy crossbow and long range for a blowgun.
• 120 feet. At this range we see a lot of long range cantrips like fire bolt, eldritch blast and the like. We also get long range for a hand crossbow in this range.
• 150 feet. This range is the limit of short range for a longbow.
• 320 feet. The next distance is quite the jump. It’s the long distance limit for shortbows and light crossbows.
• 400 feet. This distance is the long range of a heavy crossbow.
• 600 feet. This is the long range of a longbow
• Miles. At this juncture, we get into miles, usually used for overland travel and certain large area spells.

Simplifying Distances

Right about now you probably feel a bit overwhelmed with the different distances. As you can see we get some key gaps and leaps in distance measurements. How do we simplify distances for theater of the mind? Let’s start by thinking in terms of language rather than numbers.

One of our favorite non-D&D RPGs at Nerdarchy is Quest RPG. Doug even ran a whole Spelljammer inspired campaign using Quest over on Nerdarchy Live. Quest uses language to convey distance rather than numbers. The idea with this is a character can move within one distance category using their movement. This is a bit overly simple for 5E D&D mechanics so let’s see if I can homebrew a middle ground here.

For starters we need to ask where the important and key divisions are in distances. For example, is 5 feet really much different from 10 feet? To answer this we need to look at what the mechanical difference is between one distance and another and see how many things are affected.

In the case of 5 feet to 10 feet, yes there is a significant difference. This is because 5 feet is the standard reach for most creatures but certain races and weapons have a property that extends this range to 10 feet. So 5 feet to 10 feet is a significant difference and should be classified in two separate categories linguistically.

The next distance to look at is 10 feet to 15 feet. Is this significant? While there is a mechanical difference between using lightning lure and a halberd, it’s not incredibly significant. Plus, in lightning lure’s case it’s entire point is to draw creatures closer. We could adjust the language of spells like lightning lure and thorn whip to move a creature closer by one distance level. We’ll call this DL for short.

Back to the question of the difference between lightning lure and a reach weapon there’s not actually a significant mechanical difference presented. Obviously, we’ll continue asking questions like this through each distance pairing until we divide enough DLs to construct a chart based on language.

Rather than walk through the though process of each I’ve simply created a table below for your convenience. Each of these ranges are approximations so if a creature is, say, 35 feet away, it would still fall into the Nearby DL.

Movement using DL

What about movement? Some races and classes like the monk or the wood elf explicitly benefit from bonuses to speed, giving them a small edge. This has a relatively easy solution. Simply allow a character to move up to three DLs per 10 feet of movement, rounding up — which is different from 5E D&D’s usual rounding down rule.

To deal with things like standing after being prone, just state how without the Athletic feat a creature who stands as part of its movement can move only 1 DL this turn. A creature with the Athletic feat only spends 1 DL of movement to stand. See? Easy fix.

What do you think?

How do you deal with distances in 5E D&D when it comes to theater of the mind? What do you think of our chart? Is there something I failed to consider? Whatever your thoughts, drop something in the comments. You can also tweet @Nerdarchy or connect with us on Facebook!

*Featured image — “Near and Far” is a classic Sesame Street routine performed by Grover. This sketch involves Grover running back and forth, demonstrating the difference between “near” and “far.” To make sure the viewers understand, he repeats this to the point of exhaustion.

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