D&D 5E The new exploration rules, discussion

[Libramarian]

I disagree that encumbrance should replace the pace choice. Instead, encumbrance should supplement that choice by affecting it. Namely, if encumbrance slows down the party's rate of speed, then their encumbered speed becomes the base speed from which they pick to move faster or slower. Thus, the choices multiply even more. Instead of drop the treasure and move fast or keep the treasure and move slow, it becomes more complicated. Drop the treasure and move normally which is now a pretty good clip? Keep the treasure but move recklessly to compensate and hope for the best? And so on.

Premature collapsing of choices has been the problem in D&D design from the get go. I'd prefer they avoid that as much as possible.

Eh, more complex choices are not always more fun. The different options need to have clear consequences that make sense. I want it to be clear what this is supposed to be like--are you like a burglar who wants to hurry because the more time you spend in the area the greater you risk being discovered? Or are you like the police officer making your way through the place, where you know you're going to have the same encounter eventually so moving more cautiously allows you to be better prepared when it occurs?

Because wandering monsters don't exist until they're rolled, and the number of checks made depends on how long you're in the area, moving quickly is not really reckless.

I want to trade one clear consequence for another--more treasure vs. more danger. I don't want to choose between number of fights and proportion of fights that begin with surprise.

 

[jhunton]

WOW I wil not be using thouse rules. at lest not as writen they need work.

 

[Argyle King]

-- The rules work fine for a 4-5 person party, but they start to break down with a small party (or if a lone PC gets isolated). What happens if nobody tries to navigate? Does the party/character automatically get lost? A rogue or ranger exploring by herself should be able to use stealth (to avoid encounters) without getting lost or running into every trap in the wilderness. Maybe navigation should be something that one leader gets to do for free instead of being a task?
-KS

Interesting observations

While I understand the idea that multi-tasking is difficult, there do seem to be some unusual rules interactions going on there.

 

[Blackwarder]

-- The rules work fine for a 4-5 person party, but they start to break down with a small party (or if a lone PC gets isolated). What happens if nobody tries to navigate? Does the party/character automatically get lost? A rogue or ranger exploring by herself should be able to use stealth (to avoid encounters) without getting lost or running into every trap in the wilderness. Maybe navigation should be something that one leader gets to do for free instead of being a task?

I think that it's a feature, if you want to sneak and search for traps at the same time your movement rate will be slower so your DC will be low.
Right now the DC for doing to actions in a turn while using the cautious rate is 5 and moderate is 10.

But I think that there should be more interaction between the exploration rules and the rest of the game mechanics, from feats through class features to background traits.

Warder

 

[Gargoyle]

NVM, the question I had wasn't in the DM guidelines for Exploration in Detail, and really doesn't belong in this thread.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Has anyone in this thread played The One Ring?

Aspects of this exploration system reminded me of that, and in a good way.

I still don't see a reason for a donkeyhorse here...

 

[Blackwarder]

I updated the OP with a list of things I think that need to be addressed\added, feel free to add more, I'll definitely add them later.

Kamikaze Midget I agree, but while TOR journey mechanics is baked into the system in all the levels, the current exploration mechanic feels like it need some more work. For example I would love to have some sort of fatigue test for wilderness exploration.

Warder

 

[Stalker0]

Overall I like the idea. I especially like that you no longer have a party of searches where its 4 search or 4 spot checks vs everything. Now your searcher is searching while other characters do other things.

I will say I think the rules are a bit too wordy and complex right now. I think there is a lot of room to streamline the current rules, and probably place a summary at the end to tidy it up. But I definitely like the direction.

 

[Dausuul]

This is a very cool system and I quite like it. It needs some polishing, of course, but it's certainly headed in the right direction.

Also, it gives me warm old-school fuzzies.

 

[1of3]

Has anyone in this thread played The One Ring?

Aspects of this exploration system reminded me of that, and in a good way.

TOR works a bit differently. An encounter only happens, when someone botches the roll. In this system the monsters keep coming by themselves. That makes the integration of the travel rules very simple: You leave "travel mode" as soon as a botch happens (or when you arrive at your chosen destination). The system here isn't so clean.

Also in TOR there is another job: Hunting.