D&D 5E It's official, WOTC hates Rangers (Tasha's version of Favored Foe is GARBAGE)

[Paul Farquhar]

There is absolutely "stuff" in the wilderness.

Trees, mud, unaccountably psychopathic wildlife, more mud.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

This might be the nerdiest comment of the month. "The outdoors is just boring open mud!"

Sure. If you are not a nerd, why are you inside playing D&D and not outside doing something healthy and energetic in the mud?!

 

[CleverNickName]

Some of ya'll never played a hexcrawl and it shows.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I feel sorry that your DM can't come up with interesting wilderness encounters.

That's okay, I'm the DM, so I just load the players into an airship to transport them between the interesting places.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Some of ya'll never played a hexcrawl and it shows.

You mean, a meaningless series of random encounters with no plot?

Yeah, I've played it...

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The exploration challenges in the DMG are few. Gathering food in the forest is not a challenge for anyone over level 2. You 1d6 dys of food and water if you succeed foraging. You have to fail 4 checks in a row with 10 Wisdom to starve in a forest. It's super easy. And you can buy food and bring it with you.
Basic forgaing, tracking, and navigation are super easy. A DM has to add complications to make them even challenges. That is without dealing with other exploration challenges like poisons, diseases, natural disasters, violent weather, fey trickery, shadow/necrotic sinks, dome/devil corruption, elemental enhancements, monster liars, primal fouling, etc.

Er, yes, that's because D&D is about being heroic. And heroes don't die from starvation in the wilderness.

If the plot says "the next plot point is across the Bog of Extreme Mud" the party is going to succeed in crossing the Bog of Extreme Mud. That is irrespective of what skills they have or how they roll. Because "the party dies in the bog" does not make a good story or an entertaining game.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Exploration can easily be bypassed. Either by flying, teleporting or even plane hopping.

I'm not convinced anyone actually knows what anyone else means by exploration.

The wilderness can easily be bypassed. (why didn't Gandalf ask the eagles to fly the ringbearer to the Crack of Doom...)

Exploration still happens, whenever you kick down the door to the next room in the dungeon.

 

[Helldritch]

It's been a boring trek through the forest of Neverknewthename. The ranger Onethirddoesnothing was helping the group going through the forest at a furious pace. Then the gods decided that an easy trek was not to be. The last survivor of the group is still in an asylum muttering to himself: "Dragon, dragon, dragon". Over and over again.

So, group, are you ready to go through the forest of Neverknewthename?

Players: "We'll take the airship or even better, the Teleport spell. I'll start the scrying and once done, I'll teleport a homonculous with a stone of recall. It will be in charge of retrieving an object from our destination so we'll have a 100% chance to get there."

That is how my groups would bypass the exploration pillar. No risks at all. And there will be a permanent teleportation circle in the wizards tower so they will be able to get back and forth their adventuring zone. That is high level play.

Yes, sometimes there will be shenanigans to prevents the back and forth but at a certain point, constantly thwarting PCs' abilities is demeaning of their achievements and downright badwrongfun for them. So yes, it is very lossible to bypass the exoration pillar. Especially at high level.

 

[Helldritch]

The wilderness can easily be bypassed. (why didn't Gandalf ask the eagles to fly the ringbearer to the Crack of Doom...)

Exploration still happens, whenever you kick down the door to the next room in the dungeon.

For Gamdalf...
Sauron would have seen them comming and sent all 9 Specters on Nazgul. So Sauron would have won. That is one of the shenanigans I was talking about to force wilderness exploration on high level groups.

As for dungeon exploration. We're talking about rangers... wilderness is pretty much the only thing we are refering to here. And this is the part of the exploration pillar that can be so easilly bypassed.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Trees, mud, unaccountably psychopathic wildlife, more mud.

And a dungeon is stone, unaccountably psychopathic monsters and more stone.