[RPG] Is your movement penalized underwater if you have a swimming speed but choose not to use it

dnd-5emovementunderwater

Here are the rules on underwater movement:

While climbing or swimming, each foot of movement
costs 1 extra foot (2 extra feet in difficult terrain), unless
a creature has a climbing or swimming speed.

I have a question related to the highlighted passage: if a creature has a swimming speed, but chooses not to use it, would their movement be penalized as per the above rules, or would they get the same benefit [no speed reduction] that creatures using their swimming speed have?

One case where this would be useful is if a character has a walking speed of 50 feet and a swim speed of 30 feet. Since the character has a swim speed, can it use its walking speed to move faster (since it no longer has to spend extra movement)?

Best Answer

Yes, if you don't use your swim speed then your movement is penalized

Swim Speed is not a generic rule that allows you to use your standard movement speed for Swimming, it's a specific movement rate when Swimming. All creatures that have a Swim Speed have one listed at a specific value. It's not a generic ability that enables them to use their standard speed for swimming, but a specific and different value from the other movement speeds.

Because we are talking about specific speed values, the logic here is fairly simple based on the rules regarding Swimming. WoTC released an errata that clarifies this:

Each foot of movement costs 1 extra foot (2 extra feet in difficult terrain) when you’re climbing, swimming, or crawling. You ignore this extra cost if you have a climbing speed and use it to climb or a swimming speed and use it to swim.

This now clearly gives you the option of using your swim speed and ignoring the extra cost, or using your regular speed with the penalty.

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