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Is D&D Too Focused on Combat?
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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7734291" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p>This assumes, of course, that the information gathered by the familiar is still valid when the PCs get there; the odds of which in turn may greatly depend on how much time the PCs take to get from where they are to the corridor. If the PCs were waiting right around a corner at the corridor's end, for example, then the info is almost certain to remain accurate; but if the PCs are waiting outside in the garden and have to climb the wall and go in through an open window that gives more than enough time for the gathered information to (maybe) become inaccurate due to something changing (most likely, that there is now someone in the corridor).</p><p></p><p>In other words, just because the corridor's empty in the fiction at the moment the familiar sees it doesn't mean it's always going to stay empty.</p><p></p><p>Were it me DMing I'd just very quickly assign odds of something significantly changing between the time of observation by the familiar and the time of arrival by the PCs - assuming there's enough delay to make it relevant - and roll some dice*, then narrate what happens. Most likely this narration will be something like "You've made it to the end of the corridor. There's a simple wooden door in front of you across another corridor which yours is intersecting as if the stem of a 'T'. What do you do now?".</p><p></p><p>* - I'd also go through the motions of quietly rolling a stealth or move silently check regardless of whether there's any chance of their passage being heard elsewhere; if it came up really bad I'd change the narration to include "Despite your best attempts you don't think you were moving all that silently but all clear so far, no alarms or anything." after the first sentence.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 7734291, member: 29398"] This assumes, of course, that the information gathered by the familiar is still valid when the PCs get there; the odds of which in turn may greatly depend on how much time the PCs take to get from where they are to the corridor. If the PCs were waiting right around a corner at the corridor's end, for example, then the info is almost certain to remain accurate; but if the PCs are waiting outside in the garden and have to climb the wall and go in through an open window that gives more than enough time for the gathered information to (maybe) become inaccurate due to something changing (most likely, that there is now someone in the corridor). In other words, just because the corridor's empty in the fiction at the moment the familiar sees it doesn't mean it's always going to stay empty. Were it me DMing I'd just very quickly assign odds of something significantly changing between the time of observation by the familiar and the time of arrival by the PCs - assuming there's enough delay to make it relevant - and roll some dice*, then narrate what happens. Most likely this narration will be something like "You've made it to the end of the corridor. There's a simple wooden door in front of you across another corridor which yours is intersecting as if the stem of a 'T'. What do you do now?". * - I'd also go through the motions of quietly rolling a stealth or move silently check regardless of whether there's any chance of their passage being heard elsewhere; if it came up really bad I'd change the narration to include "Despite your best attempts you don't think you were moving all that silently but all clear so far, no alarms or anything." after the first sentence. [/QUOTE]
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