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If I use a dash action on my turn it will allow me to move 70 feet in that round, but I can only see 60 feet in the dark.

We use Roll20.net with the dynamic lighting feature. So, sometimes I can't see what's in an area until I start moving.

This brings up all sorts of questions for me, but I'll filter them down into one.

How do you handle movement when there are unknown areas that only become known during the movement phase of a PC's turn?

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3 Answers 3

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You don't need to decide on all of your movement in advance.

There is no "movement phase" in 5e. You can move, see what's around the corner, decide if you want to move further, and so on. You can attack, cast a spell, hide, or whatever else you selected as your action at any point during your turn, and you can move further afterwards. If your action includes multiple distinct activities (for example, multiple attacks), then you can separate them with movement.

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    \$\begingroup\$ So one round is supposed to be about 6 seconds in real time, if I stop and look around every 5 feet that could quickly add up to more than 6 seconds. So would I just use my action to scout? \$\endgroup\$
    – Cadaran
    Commented Feb 16, 2016 at 18:52
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    \$\begingroup\$ If you want to actually search (make Wisdom (Perception) or Investigate (Intelligence) checks), you need to take the Search action. But you don't need to use an action to see what's clearly visible to you. \$\endgroup\$
    – Marq
    Commented Feb 16, 2016 at 18:54
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    \$\begingroup\$ Correct. The DM can of course choose to only give you information about what you see that would be obvious from a quick glance in a hurried, stressful situation. \$\endgroup\$
    – Marq
    Commented Feb 16, 2016 at 19:04
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    \$\begingroup\$ The key here is that your character's eyes continue to work while he or she is walking. \$\endgroup\$
    – GMJoe
    Commented Feb 16, 2016 at 22:59
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    \$\begingroup\$ A reasonable GM will say something like "after you have only advanced 10 feet towards the bunny, you notice a fierce warlock off to your right, at the limit of your vision." - that is, if your tactical situation has obviously changed, they will assume that you won't use the remainder of your movement without confirmation. You see similar behavior in most turnbased tactical computer games with fog of war: as soon as something tactically relevant emerges from the fog, the game pauses to await further orders. That said, check with your GM: it never pays to assume reasonableness. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dewi Morgan
    Commented Feb 17, 2016 at 2:53
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You don't have to use all 70 feet at once. Your 70 feet could be broken up as small as you want. You could just start moving forward and stop after 35 feet because you noticed something in the distance. As for your comment on how stopping every 5 feet would take more than 6 seconds, your character isn't necessarily stopping. If you move your character 5 feet at a time, and after 30 feet decided to have him stop because he saw an enemy. Yes, it may have taken a bit of time outside the game, but in the game, he could just have dashed 30 feet, seen an enemy, and stopped. Out-of-game delays don't necessarily translate to in-game delays.

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In real life what happens if you are walking in the darkness using the light of your phone? You don't need to stop every few seconds, you just process the new information as it becomes visible and keeps walking.

That's exactly what your character does, you may represent that mechanically by stopping after 30', revealing more map, then moving the remaining distance (or not) but that's a mechanical representation of the fact that in the real world you are constantly updating your knowledge of the surroundings as you move.

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