Level Up (A5E) Will a Druid ruin my exploration heavy game?

[Gandalf970]

As Timespike and others have said, let the players shine! When I make a campaign, I write down all the abilities players have and then let players use them abilities. It's about the players having fun and you creating encounters that they enjoy. You created a world where as Morrus said, let druids and rangers shine in the exploration pillar. Unless you are into the min/max and need to reel in your players, let them have fun.

 

[Stalker0]

As Timespike and others have said, let the players shine! When I make a campaign, I write down all the abilities players have and then let players use them abilities.

That's my conumdrum though. If the druid decided to go off and scout by themselves, I basically have a few options:

1) Gloss over the exploration parts to give equal time to the other players, but then greatly diminishing the exploration part I had planned.
2) Give the exploration its full due, meaning the druid shines but now the rest of the party has highly diminished screen time, as i describe all of the things the druid finds, and the druid tells me where they go, what they look at, how they avoid danger, etc etc.
3) Thwart the druid only exploration through attacks, jungle canopies to hide things etc, diminishing the specialness of the druid abilities but ensuring more balanced screentime amongst the players.

This is my issue, if one character is significantly better at exploration than the other characters, I am not sure how to ensure all characters get balanced screen time while still making exploration an important part of the campaign. It seems that one thing or another has to be diminished.

 

[Timespike]

That's my conumdrum though. If the druid decided to go off and scout by themselves, I basically have a few options:

1) Gloss over the exploration parts to give equal time to the other players, but then greatly diminishing the exploration part I had planned.
2) Give the exploration its full due, meaning the druid shines but now the rest of the party has highly diminished screen time, as i describe all of the things the druid finds, and the druid tells me where they go, what they look at, how they avoid danger, etc etc.
3) Thwart the druid only exploration through attacks, jungle canopies to hide things etc, diminishing the specialness of the druid abilities but ensuring more balanced screentime amongst the players.

This is my issue, if one character is significantly better at exploration than the other characters, I am not sure how to ensure all characters get balanced screen time while still making exploration an important part of the campaign. It seems that one thing or another has to be diminished.

You actually have another option:

4. Give the exploration its full due, but do periodic "scene switches" back to the rest of the party and have something happen where they are. You said the plan was for them to escort a column of refugees, right? Let those people have personalities, agendas, needs, wants, and things they can contribute that will keep the other PC occupied.

Do a little of the druid's thing, hit "pause" on that, go back to the rest of the party, let them do their thing for a bit, hit "pause" there, lather, rinse, repeat. Ideally, both parts of the party will have something to the other part when they're reunited.

 

[Stalker0]

You actually have another option:

4. Give the exploration its full due, but do periodic "scene switches" back to the rest of the party and have something happen where they are. You said the plan was for them to escort a column of refugees, right? Let those people have personalities, agendas, needs, wants, and things they can contribute that will keep the other PC occupied.

Do a little of the druid's thing, hit "pause" on that, go back to the rest of the party, let them do their thing for a bit, hit "pause" there, lather, rinse, repeat. Ideally, both parts of the party will have something to the other part when they're reunited.

hmm, I guess that's fair. It means splitting the party and so everyone will have limited screen time and a lot of "pause time", but it does balance things out. This game will be remote which might work better with that format, since people can do other things at home and "tune in" when its time.

I might even in some extreme cases, just run a session with the druid and a session with the other party, keeping them completely seperate in times when they will not interact with each other. That wouldn't be an every session thing, but it could make sense once in a while.

 

[Timespike]

hmm, I guess that's fair. It means splitting the party and so everyone will have limited screen time and a lot of "pause time", but it does balance things out. This game will be remote which might work better with that format, since people can do other things at home and "tune in" when its time.

I might even in some extreme cases, just run a session with the druid and a session with the other party, keeping them completely seperate in times when they will not interact with each other. That wouldn't be an every session thing, but it could make sense once in a while.

Yeah, remote gaming opens up some fun possibilities. It has its downsides, too, of course.

 

[Horwath]

@Stalker0 at 5th level, Fly spell is available, so anyone wanting to spend resource can fly around and gather info.

 

[Stalker0]

@Stalker0 at 5th level, Fly spell is available, so anyone wanting to spend resource can fly around and gather info.

Fly is 60 foot speed for 10 min, compared to wildshape at 80 foot speed for 5 hours. Also fly is concentration and if lost could result in your death. On exploration level time frames they aren’t really comparable

 

[Satirical Bard]

I think beyond running scene switches, the main answer is an out-of-character conversation with your friends about what makes a fun game for all of you, and how to avoid extended periods where one or more people aren't actually playing the game.

 

[Timespike]

I think beyond running scene switches, the main answer is an out-of-character conversation with your friends about what makes a fun game for all of you, and how to avoid extended periods where one or more people aren't actually playing the game.

Also good advice. Communication and buy-in are important building blocks of good games.

 

[MarkB]

It feels like this scenario has the party-splitting issue built into it, due to the presence of the refugees who need protection. Whatever the party make-up it would be better to have some people scouting while others remain on watch or building defenses.

A better solution would be to find a way to free up the whole party to scouting duties. Either the expedition has some strong defenders with them who, for whatever reason, aren't highly mobile and are therefore better placed to act as guards, or else they find a really good defensible position early on that even modestly-trained civilians can hold.

So long as the scenario has this split attention built into it, the issue will exist, flying druid or not.