So I'm in a D&D 5e campaign and I'm curious about this because there's some debate in my current campaign about travel mounts, particularly Griffon vs Magic Carpet. A person in our group thinks that Griffons are better than magic carpets for traveling. I'm curious as to how long you can ride a Griffon or any mount for that matter, before needing for it to rest or eat?
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2 Answers
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The DMG addresses this on p. 119, under the section titled "The Sky":
Flying by spell or magic item works the same as travel on foot, as described in the Player’s Handbook. A creature that serves as a flying mount must rest 1 hour for every 3 hours it flies, and it can’t fly for more than 9 hours per day. Thus, characters mounted on griffons (which have a flying speed of 80 feet) can travel at 8 miles per hour, covering 72 miles over 9 hours with two 1-hour-long rests over the course of the day. Mounts that don’t tire (such as a flying construct) aren’t subject to this limitation.
As stated: Mounted flying creatures can fly up to 9 hours a day, plus two intervening 1-hour rests.
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2\$\begingroup\$ This answer could be improved with the inclusion of a direct comparison of a griffin and a flying carpet. \$\endgroup\$ Apr 22, 2018 at 11:21
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\$\begingroup\$ so a Griffon can fly 8mph for 9 hours per day. A carpet can fly 8mph for 24 hrs per day. Personally, I'd be added extra restrictions to speed or duration depending on the weight added to the mount - a Griffon could fly 9hrs, but once you put a mage and his books or a muscled, armour clad barbarian, or a fat cleric with his gold on top... that's going to reduce considerably, if get off the ground at all, whereas a carpet would handle it fine. \$\endgroup\$– gbjbaanbApr 22, 2018 at 13:22
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1\$\begingroup\$ The griffon has the same restrictions on carrying capacity and movement as any other creature. With the default rules, it has a carrying capacity of (Str score * 15) lbs. The variant encumbrance rules are the only thing that affect speed based on weight carried, if your DM chooses to use those - any more than (5*Str score) makes you encumbered and reduces speed by 10 feet, and more than (10*Str score) = heavily encumbered, reducing speed by 20 feet and giving disadvantage on ability checks/attack rolls/saving throws that use Str/Dex/Con. \$\endgroup\$– V2BlastApr 22, 2018 at 19:33
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\$\begingroup\$ It depends on the carpet because there are ones that fly a lot faster than that. \$\endgroup\$ Apr 24, 2018 at 2:52
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The DMG listing is slightly wrong, mathematically.
At 80'/round, you travel 48,000 feet an hour. Divide by 5,280' for mph, and that ends up being just a smidge over 9 miles an hour.
So it is 27 miles, rest, 27 miles, rest, 27 miles, done. So that is 81 miles a day, not 72.
And if you, like me, believe that number to be ridiculously slow to stay airborne for such a creature, you'd be right. I'm doubling their airspeed, as long as they are not in any combat, just traveling, to 18 miles an hour.
And that gives them 54 miles, rest, 54 miles, rest, 54 miles, final rest or 162 miles in 12 hours or 13.5 miles an hour on average in a 12 hour day.
Good enough.
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\$\begingroup\$ Welcome to RPG.SE! Take the tour if you haven't already, and check out the help center for more guidance. \$\endgroup\$– V2BlastDec 23, 2019 at 7:29
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\$\begingroup\$ To be fair griffons aren't the most aerodynamic creatures. So it makes sense that they would be significantly slower than for example eagles, which can fly about 30 mph (not in dive). That is assuming no passengers and I assume they can't keep that up for 9 hours. If they glide some parts, i think 9 mph is quite accurate. \$\endgroup\$– finduslDec 23, 2019 at 9:42