Not sure if this has been discussed elsewhere but the search function doesn't seem to work in this forum... and after manually Ctrl F searching pages and pages for keywords, I decided to give up and create a thread.
So while going over the PHB, I came across the section where it talks about movement and falling prone. It says it requires movement equal to half your speed to stand up. Since it's not specifically mentioning your unaltered base speed, does this movement cost also take into account speed modifiers like armor penalties (without the requisite strength), Mobile feat, Monk's Unarmored Movement, etc.?
If so, it seems rather strange doesn't it? A character with heavy armor and low strength will have somewhere around 20 speed, thus requiring only 10 to stand. A normal character takes 15 movement to stand. A wood elf Mobile monk at level 18 (75 speed) requires a whopping 37 movement.
What's the rational in this? People who are overly weighed down by heavy armor have an easier time standing up, because reasons? And mobile people apparently flail about wildly before finally finding their feet?
The Athlete feat allows you to stand with specifically 5 movement, as opposed to some multiplier. This makes more sense to me than some movement cost that scales higher as you become more mobile.
And to make things even stranger, there's the Sentinel feat... what if someone was hit by an opportunity attack from a creature with the Sentinel feat? It brings their speed down to 0 for the turn. If they were also prone, does that mean standing is free?
Yes, a monk will spend more movement standing.
The rational is that it takes the same amount of time to stand up for everyone. And woodelf monks still get to stand up and move further then others.
That said, a monk feature to stand up quicker wouldn't be out of line.
And no, you cannot stand if your speed is 0. There's a rule for that somewhere...
Monks still move further than anyone else whether normally or when moving after standing. The people that are slowed in heavy armor still move slower than others after standing. No problems here.
reddaemon wrote:
It takes just as long for the heavy armor/dwarf guy to stand up and the really fast monk. It takes half your movement time per round. The fact that the monk can move fast once he is standing doesnt give him any advantage to standing up compared to any other class (it takes the same fraction of his time).
I can see both sides. On one hand, after getting up the monk still has more movement than the armored soldier getting up. On the other hand, after being knocked down, there probably is no better class in maneuvers like "getting up" than the monk.
I suppose it really gets strange when the monk is on a higher level. At 18th level the monk has a speed of 60. It's a stretch to think that the monk has to spend 30 speed units to get up! That's the entire speed of an unarmored medium creature.
In the long run it's hard because we are comparing apples to oranges. The guideline simply says half your speed, which is fair for everyone who falls down. But if you compare movement speed to "getting up" speed, it doesn't make realistic sense. Who says fantasy is realistic? :-)
If you really want to make it simple AND realistic, assign a set number to getting up. The armor factor is already weighed in the equation. The character moves slower (lower speed) in heavy armor if weak so you don't need to assign a different number to getting up in armor or unarmored. Just set a standard number. Say 10.
There are problems with both ways, but perhaps a little fewer problems with assigning a set number.
It's a very simple, streamlined rule. Is it entirely logical? Hell no, but you've already mentioned that it's easier to say "half" and be done with it. The dev's intent was to streamline things like this to reduce the amount of math and modifiers. Half is easy.
Now, introducing a feat that has a static number is another issue, because you're dealing with optional rules. You're taking a streamlined rule system (half) and adding a modifier to it that attempts to maintain simplicity while also being useful. Making it 1/3 would be needlessly complicated (what's 1/3 of 25? 8.25 how the $#@^).
I will admit that it doesn't exactly make sense, but instituting a rules fix for logic isn't my cup of tea.
Yumeii wrote:
It's because monks are contractualy obligated to jump up in a flashy kung-fu action manner.
If there's any class that ought to get a cheap kip-up ability, it's the monk. It wouldn't be the first time a class ability overlaps with a feat benefit. It wouldn't be the first time the monk has feat overlap. But that is separate from the whole half-move thing, which does a decent job of being simple (flat multiplier) without being overly punitive to smaller creatures.
Monks can spend 1 ki and a bonus action to dash. Which can be flavored as standing up faster.
This is strange. Because "half" isn't the cost - the cost is the number of feet of movement you lose and it does seem that you lose more for being faster. Why is it costlier for faster PC's to stand up than slower PC's? Additionally, you suffer a lesser cost if your speed has been punished! So if your speed is reduced from 30' to 20', standing up now only costs you 10' instead of 15'? Why is standing up easier after getting hit with a freezing ray? lol
My house rule would be either a flat 15' or "half the base speed of your race". In either case we should have a number that isn't affected by modifications to your speed from class features, spell effects and so on.
mellored wrote:
As several people have pointed out, this is only peculiar if you think of "standing up" as having to cost a specific number of "movement points."
If you think of it as taking time, then it makes perfect sense that faster characters would lose more from starting prone than slower characters. If standing up takes three seconds, what's left is the distance you can travel in three seconds, which is half the distance you can travel in six seconds.
If Usain Bolt and I had to do a hundred meter sprint from a lying start (that is, we both start lying down on our backs) I suspect that his time would be impacted far more than mine. I suspect we'd both get up at roughly the same speed (he is, after all, a sprinter, not a proffessional-fast-up-getter), and as a result both of our times for the hundred meters would be increased by a second or so. This would reduce my speed by a smaller fraction than it would reduce his.
Thoughts_My_Aim wrote:
Monks always leap to their feat in the most dramatic manner possible,
Like throwing a spoon into the air, leaping onto it, hovering in midair for a split second before dramtically landing to their feat.
And then you realise there was no spoon all along.
It takes a little extra time, but it's worth it.
Luke-Lightning wrote:
BookooHundo wrote:
2Chlorobutanal wrote:
Toshi wrote:
you are right, they do. Not a lot, but they do.
2Chlorobutanal wrote:
Yes, the Monk is being penalised fr having to stand up by only being able to move as far (or further) as the guy in Chainmail who wasn't prone this turn. But then so is the Rogue who's classical forte' in the D&D concept is the tumbling, acrobatics and agility too, surely they could roll to their feet with little effort. What about the Fighter? Surely someone who makes a profession out of combat so universally as the Fighter has had some learning when it comes to getting knocked over and recovering in a combat situation? The Ranger is also getting a raw deal here because anyone who knows the wilds like a Ranger (and probably Druid for that matter) learns first hand about unstable footings and how to regain that stability quickly when it's lost so they totally shouldn't have to spend as much movement standing up.
Really my answer is obviously NO. A larger speed eliminates much of the penalty numerically compared to the other classes. They'd only be getting a raw deal if the rule was "Move 10' after standing".
Moirdryd2 wrote:
BookooHundo wrote:
What's the rational in this?
What I was referring to Toshi is that high speed characters would only be being penalised directly by the system if instead of the rule as is "standing costs 50% of speed" the rule was "after standing you can only move 10feet" .
I know it doesn't get around the oddity in the rules, but is there an acrobatics skill check you can use to stand up quickly?
The other option, is maybe Monks need the Athlete feat
Ahhh I have it!
High speed characters by virtue of moving faster smack into the ground harder and are there for more stunned by falling thus taking longer to recover! 
A turn is 6 seconds.
A heavily armored fighter can travel 20 feet in that time, meaning he runs at about 33.3 feet per second.
An elven monk can travel 60 feet in that time, meaning he runs at about about 10 feet per second.
It takes most people 3 seconds to stand up, regardless of how fast they can run. That leaves 3 seconds in the round.
The fighter can run 10 feet in that time at his speed (3.33*3~10).
The monk can run 30 feet in that time at his speed (10*3=30).
Athletes are specially trained to be able to utilize their athletic skills when standing up. In this way, athletes who can run faster don't take as long to stand up as slower athletes do for some reason. It admittedly doesn't make much sense, but it's a problem with the Athlete feat, not with the standing from Prone rules.
Luke-Lightning wrote:
We do a flat 15 foot movement cost to stand up
Moirdryd2 wrote:
Noon wrote:
Luke-Lightning wrote:
Yumeii wrote:
Yumeii wrote:
Yumeii wrote:
Einstein discovered that standing from prone takes the same amount of time no matter your encumbrance. It's a universal constant like the speed of light.
The Egyptians used this to their advantage when building the pyramids.
Yumeii wrote:
The only thing that possibly might be construed as strange is the fact that everyone takes roughly 3 seconds to get up (half a round), The fact that everyone can move half as far in 3 seconds as they can in 6 seconds iis far from strange.