D&D 5E What do you do when players say "we go north" but their characters don't have the "Keen Mind" Feat or Navigation Equipment?

[LegionError121]

As the title asks what do you when players ask to go a direction when their characters are unaware of which way said direction is?

 

[Prakriti]

Ask them, "What do you mean by 'north?'"

If they genuinely mean the cardinal direction (and not just "up" on a dungeon map), then, "How do you know which way is north? How are you getting your bearings?"

Depending on the answer, I might ask for a Survival or Nature check to see if they can get their bearings.

 

[iserith]

If the outcome of their action declaration is uncertain, I ask for an ability check appropriate to the approach they used to try to achieve the goal.

 

[Dausuul]

If the sun is visible and they know the season and time of day: They go north... ish.

Otherwise, make a Nature check. Also make a Nature check if it's important to go precisely north, instead of ...ish.

If the check fails, or if there is no possible way for them to know which way is north, roll dice in secret to see which way they go.

 

[ccs]

I'd ask for a survival check.
Depending on the result they may or may not get lost/head in the general right direction/etc

 

[mellored]

Survival check

<5 = they go south.
5-10 = they don't go south, but not really north either.
10-15= they go a little north.
15-20 = they go mostly north.
20+ = they go straight north.

 

[Demetrios1453]

If the sun is visible and they know the season and time of day: They go north... ish.

Otherwise, make a Nature check. Also make a Nature check if it's important to go precisely north, instead of ...ish.

If the check fails, or if there is no possible way for them to know which way is north, roll dice in secret to see which way they go.

If it's at night, and the campaign world has a reasonably bright star near the North Celestial Pole, like we do here on Earth, then a Nature check to go north when the skies are reasonably clear at night would probably only have a DC 5 or so, since everyone in a lower-technology world would be familiar with the night sky, and especially with something incredibly useful like that. In the real world, I, along with anyone else with even a rudimentary knowledge of astronomy, would, if in the Northern Hemisphere, easily be able to make a bee-line due north on a night with clear skies, even in the city (I can easily make out Polaris even from here in the middle of the Phoenix metro area; granted, the north-south running streets would make that meaningless).

Even if the campaign world doesn't have a bright pole-star, like Earth's Southern Hemisphere, knowledge of what stars are near the celestial pole would still be wide-spread. That would mean that the DC would likely be 10 - 15 to go in hoped-for direction, depending on just how barren the area around the celestial pole is. And of course, on cloudy nights, all this would be useless...

 

[Sunseeker]

If they have no locating devices, I ask for a skill check (usually Survival) if there are discernible signs of direction (such as moss, stars or landmarks). If there are none of those things and no alternatives, I simply tell them "At this time, you are unable to tell which direction is North." If they fail the skill check, I don't send them in a random direction, they are still free to choose which direction they think is north and go that way, they just don't know if they have chosen correctly.

 

[Hussar]

Survival check

<5 = they go south.
5-10 = they don't go south, but not really north either.
10-15= they go a little north.
15-20 = they go mostly north.
20+ = they go straight north.

I'd knock about 7 off those numbers. IOW, a 13+ lets you go north. It's not like it's really that hard. OTOH, I'd probably ask for checks every hour or two to see if they can stay on course.

 

[5ekyu]

Honestly, for something as simple as "north" i would go with an easy DC check using survival (Team up for advantage) but also i could allow other proficiencies to apply as well - possibly religion if the setting uses constellations tied to divines etc.

i tend to prefer to assume a decent degree of competence for what would be fairly routine aspects of daily life.

I mean, if you were IRL in a town and had to get "downtown" in many cases you could drive a bit and spot enough clues to get in the general direction of "downtown" vs "outskirts" and i like to assume that in ye olde setting that those who do any amount of travelling develop similar sorts of skills and common knowledge.