D&D 5E Exploration: What are the benefits of drawing a map?

[Prakriti]

For those who don't handwave exploration, what benefits do players get out of drawing a map? (As mentioned in "Other Activities" in Ch. 8 of the PHB.)

Unlike foraging and navigating, drawing a map doesn't seem to have any mechanical benefits mentioned in the core books. In the old days, however, drawing a map meant that the players literally drew a map for themselves on graph paper which they could then refer to throughout the session. But with VTTs, it's pretty much a given these days that players have access to a map. I've considered withholding the map from the players if their characters aren't actively engaged in mapping, but that just leads to the usual TOTM frustrations.

So, what are some benefits of drawing a map?

 

[Iry]

Deducing where secret locations are based on missing parts of the map, and having stories to tell people many years later. I have some fond memories of drawing maps back in the day, but I wouldn't go back to it. It's just not a huge increase in fun for the amount of time it takes to draw the thing.

Plus, I always messed them up.

 

[Prakriti]

Deducing where secret locations are based on missing parts of the map, and having stories to tell people many years later. I have some fond memories of drawing maps back in the day, but I wouldn't go back to it. It's just not a huge increase in fun for the amount of time it takes to draw the thing.

I mean, what are the benefits to the characters? Mapping is something a character can do (along with navigating and foraging) in lieu of contributing their passive Perception score to the group's chance of noticing threats, but there's no corresponding benefit to make up for it, at least within the core rules.

Yes, the PHB says that a map "helps the characters get back on course if they get lost," but there's nothing in the DMG to expand on this. Becoming "lost" just wastes 1d6 hours of the party's time. I guess you could rule that a map reduces the lost time to 1d3 hours, but that's not much of a benefit.

 

[Quickleaf]

For those who don't handwave exploration, what benefits do players get out of drawing a map? (As mentioned in "Other Activities" in Ch. 8 of the PHB.)

Unlike foraging and navigating, drawing a map doesn't seem to have any mechanical benefits mentioned in the core books. In the old days, however, drawing a map meant that the players literally drew a map for themselves on graph paper which they could then refer to throughout the session. But with VTTs, it's pretty much a given these days that players have access to a map. I've considered withholding the map from the players if their characters aren't actively engaged in mapping, but that just leads to the usual TOTM frustrations.

So, what are some benefits of drawing a map?

When I ran Omu the Forbidden City from Tomb of Annihilation, I adapted those mapping rules thusly. I knew the PCs had magical flight and a wizard PC who often cast arcane eye, so I just gave them a partially marked up map of Omu.

• The Mapper handles annotating your map of Omu; the DM may call for checks to deduce locations. When entering a new hex without keyed areas, there’s a 50% chance of finding an interesting ruined structure (d12).

 

[iserith]

See "Becoming Lost" in the DMG, page 111: "If the party has an accurate map of the region... the navigator has advantage on the check." Mapping would allow you to create a map of the region as you go. If the party goes back through an area you've mapped, then they have advantage on the check to navigate.

Getting lost can be quite bad, particularly if you are making wandering monster checks at set intervals. It may also cause the PCs to have to forced march to get to a destination, which risks exhaustion.

In my games, source maps are also worth gold. If they want to copy maps to sell, that falls under a downtown activity that lets them earn their lifestyle expenses or something like that. But the source map is usually worth a nice chunk of change.

I require that a character who is mapping during a journey have the cartographer's tools proficiency, the corresponding tools and supplies, have both hands free while traveling (no weapons, shields, etc.) and there can be no precipitation or strong wind.

 

[Prakriti]

See "Becoming Lost" in the DMG, page 111: "If the party has an accurate map of the region... the navigator has advantage on the check." Mapping would allow you to create a map of the region as you go. If the party goes back through an area you've mapped, then they have advantage on the check to navigate.

Woops, I did forget that part.

In my games, source maps are also worth gold. If they want to copy maps to sell, that falls under a downtown activity that lets them earn their lifestyle expenses or something like that. But the source map is usually worth a nice chunk of change.

Yes, making money was one of the few benefits I could come up with. But then I remembered that I play in Forgotten Realms, where every square mile is already mapped, settled, and civilized. I'm getting kind of tired of that, and longing for something more untamed, but that's a story for another thread...

I require that a character who is mapping during a journey have the cartographer's tools proficiency, the corresponding tools and supplies, have both hands free while traveling (no weapons, shields, etc.) and there can be no precipitation or strong wind.

I like that a lot (I've been brainstorming the effects of strong wind and rain the past few days), but I have to wonder: What is the downside to missing a day or two of mapping to poor weather? I don't want to get so granular in mapping that I have to track which hexes were and weren't mapped, so that just leaves the map's value, which would of course go down.

 

[tetrasodium]

It depends. Back in the day I seem to remember it was because that allowed the gm to save some brain load by making one of the players draw what was usually then a pretty basic x' long hall #x#' room with a door on the north wall that was Z feet from the west corner & stuff while managing the m&ms/skittles/coins/etc. I've seen groups try to do that with more modern design & battlemaps though & us usually it doesn't save much if any work & doesn't seem to really have any benefits.

Also these days you have online vtt's & meatspace vtt's running to a tv box like the one I use with arkenforge

Just happens to be a picture I had with a fancy map without my player tokens on it, I've used everything from premade images to manually assembled dungeons & simple room outlines.

 

[Hriston]

Yep, what @iserith said. Having a map (assumed to be accurate) grants advantage on navigation checks to travel through the mapped area and to become un-lost, provided that someone is taking on that role. In my games, I run “lost” a bit differently than what’s described in the DMG, so I don’t ask for a check to become un-lost after the party becomes lost. Navigation checks in my games are used to resolve uncertainty about whether the party moves in the intended direction. This can apply equally to exploration of dungeon environments as well as overland travel.

 

[Coroc]

For those who don't handwave exploration, what benefits do players get out of drawing a map? (As mentioned in "Other Activities" in Ch. 8 of the PHB.)

Unlike foraging and navigating, drawing a map doesn't seem to have any mechanical benefits mentioned in the core books. In the old days, however, drawing a map meant that the players literally drew a map for themselves on graph paper which they could then refer to throughout the session. But with VTTs, it's pretty much a given these days that players have access to a map. I've considered withholding the map from the players if their characters aren't actively engaged in mapping, but that just leads to the usual TOTM frustrations.

So, what are some benefits of drawing a map?

You can have endless discussions with the DM how far that gnome three hexes away could have run I na round and whether the orc could have targeted him with an arrow or if he was hidden by the standard marching order ;P

Nah, drawing a map is cool. The DM should have an accurate map anyway, and at some point when the "fog of war" is lifted mostly, it does not hurt to put the map on the table for the players to see.
Here it is a good idea to have rooms numbered, so exact content is only known to the DM but all the time each side is knowing about what room the talk is atm.

 

[Coroc]

See "Becoming Lost" in the DMG, page 111: "If the party has an accurate map of the region... the navigator has advantage on the check." Mapping would allow you to create a map of the region as you go. If the party goes back through an area you've mapped, then they have advantage on the check to navigate.

Another question comes up on your becoming lost topic:

Is the DM obligated to correct the players if they have mapped wrongly, because they did not pay attention, and become lost even though they had a map?