Level Up (A5E) Today I am working on Exploration Challenges

[dave2008]

from the sounds of it, think of it like trying to navigate that awful puddle between you & your car. It's not exactly hard to spend a few minutes hopping between islands & near islands to the point that even total failure probably won't be that bad just on a much larger scale. Even "lets go slow & play it safe" can leave you as the gm a ton of room to narrate tension & drama or present choices.. "how do you guys want to navigate the wagon with the provisions though this area up ahead where bit of terrain it looks like a huge stretch of irridescent.... wince like your searching for a word .... liquid up to the left & to the right is.. well... your fairly certain those were moles & your going to need to be careful getting your mule/horses across without breaking a leg in a mole hole... You guys can probably do either one but I want to hear your thoughts on how" Over time they will start realizing that they can have a lot of fun thinking up creative solutions to low stakes problems & still keep applying those beefed up braincells in ways that surprise you when it counts.

That also covers the describing things like supplies getting lost with the treants, players won't feel too bad if they were awesome at doing things to make sure it was only two supplies when it sounded like it could have been so much worse if not for how bob really leapt in there while alice & chuck were trying to slice the vines growing into them away. It doesn't say there are vines & it might not say a treant can do anything with vines, but nobody will care while being awesome. & seeming to save the day when it's past and they are clapping themselves on each other's backs

Thank for your response, but unless I missed in there, you didn't answer my questions you just expounded on that which I already understood. I had two questions:

1. Are a number of Success required to succeed (like 4e skill challenges)? Morrus answered that one. The "Success" mentioned in Slow Pace is one and only "Success" mentioned in the Survival resolution.
2. Does Slow Pace resolve both the Acidic Spray and Dissolving Provisions challenge properties? Morrus did not answer this one, but based on his answer to my first question I assume the answer is yes. I would prefer it was more explicit, but I don't think we are going to get that.

 

[Morrus]

1. Does Slow Pace resolve both the Acidic Spray and Dissolving Provisions challenge properties? Morrus did not answer this one, but based on his answer to my first question I assume the answer is yes. I would prefer it was more explicit, but I don't think we are going to get that.

I was only asked about the geysers. No, it doesn't avoid the dissolving provisions aspect; it specifically avoids the geysers. I'll make sure that's a bit clearer in the final copy. Does this help?

Acid Field​

2nd tier (terrain)
Challenge 8 (3,900 XP); DC 15
Area 2 miles (1 hour at slow pace)
Strange black spots mar the sparse ground ahead and after a few moments observation it’s clear why—acidic fluid erupts from fissures in the ground!

Adjudication. A group Survival check is made to traverse the area.

Critical Failure: The party loses 4 (1d4+2) hours of travel time, and each adventurer suffers a level of fatigue.
Failure: The party loses 2 (1d4) hours of travel time and any adventurer that failed their check suffers a level of fatigue.
Success: The adventurers make it through the area successfully.
Critical Success: The adventurers make it through the area successfully and they notice something important. Roll once on the Tier 2 Discoveries and Boons table.

Leave It Be. Bypassing the acid field is possible but takes a great deal of time—safely traveling around it costs an extra 3 (1d4+1) days of travel time. No experience is awarded to the party.

Properties
Acidic Spray. Every half hour spent traveling in this area a corrosive geyser explodes near the party sending acid in a 60-foot radius. Each creature in the area makes a Dexterity saving throw, taking 7 (2d6) acid damage on a failure.

Dissolving Provisions. Each hour spent in the area, the corrosive atmosphere eats away at and destroys 1 Supply carried by a random adventurer. An Engineering check (or a check made with tools the Narrator deems appropriate) allows each adventurer to adequately protect any Supply they are carrying.

Slow Pace. Traveling at a slow pace (2 mph) allows the adventurers to spot and avoid the acid geysers (so that the Acidic Spray property has no effect on them) and counts as a Success.

 

[tetrasodium]

Thank for your response, but unless I missed in there, you didn't answer my questions you just expounded on that which I already understood. I had two questions:

1. Are a number of Success required to succeed (like 4e skill challenges)? Morrus answered that one. The "Success" mentioned in Slow Pace is one and only "Success" mentioned in the Survival resolution.
2. Does Slow Pace resolve both the Acidic Spray and Dissolving Provisions challenge properties? Morrus did not answer this one, but based on his answer to my first question I assume the answer is yes. I would prefer it was more explicit, but I don't think we are going to get that.

I'm not sure I can definitively answer but fate uses similar wording so might be useful for some kind of :hmm I could see that to at least discuss from on the number of successes needed. At least in fate it would depend iwhich of a couple things that you are doing.

In one you have a completely impossible task ie dc9000)and the players need to tackle it in smaller chunks that are possible. Think of it like the Hollywood bomb diffusing where they carefully unscrew the case then carefully open it then carefully this that snd the other over a few minutes and maybe even fail a check or so in that stressful moment where they catch the sweat drop. In that style you need a set number of not too difficult successes (ie 3)to complete the dx9000 thing you are breaking down and failure of one might need more or thst other successes are more difficult

In the other model you are doing similar but there is another party (he a person group environment or whatever) involved. Depending on the goals this is either a straight first to x successes to win the race type thing, but the more interesting one is if the other party is working against you. When the other party is working against you it's the first to have x(ie 3) more successes than the other.

There are a lot of ways you can tune and play with that to hone in on the effect and style you want for a given scene so I'd expect I kind of stuff to be detailed in the mechanics Morrus mentioned in summary in the op with the bullet points after "i'll add something important here -- there's a whole bunch of intro text you can't see here. But it basically says".... If my guesses are right it would be like saying the size room thst each humanoid is found in as part of their statblocks to I define the target number if successes in each ec when there are good reasons for the gm to be deciding that

 

[Morrus]

We don’t use number of successes. We make a lot of use of the group check mechanic though (more than half the party needs to succeed).

 

[dave2008]

We don’t use number of successes. We make a lot of use of the group check mechanic though (more than half the party needs to succeed).

It is a great way to handle it IMO. Everyone is involved, but it is quick and easier than a skill challenge.

 

[dave2008]

I was only asked about the geysers. No, it doesn't avoid the dissolving provisions aspect; it specifically avoids the geysers. I'll make sure that's a bit clearer in the final copy. Does this help?

Acid Field​

2nd tier (terrain)
Challenge 8 (3,900 XP); DC 15
Area 2 miles (1 hour at slow pace)
Strange black spots mar the sparse ground ahead and after a few moments observation it’s clear why—acidic fluid erupts from fissures in the ground!

Adjudication. A group Survival check is made to traverse the area.

Critical Failure: The party loses 4 (1d4+2) hours of travel time, and each adventurer suffers a level of fatigue.
Failure: The party loses 2 (1d4) hours of travel time and any adventurer that failed their check suffers a level of fatigue.
Success: The adventurers make it through the area successfully.
Critical Success: The adventurers make it through the area successfully and they notice something important. Roll once on the Tier 2 Discoveries and Boons table.

Leave It Be. Bypassing the acid field is possible but takes a great deal of time—safely traveling around it costs an extra 3 (1d4+1) days of travel time. No experience is awarded to the party.

Properties
Acidic Spray. Every half hour spent traveling in this area a corrosive geyser explodes near the party sending acid in a 60-foot radius. Each creature in the area makes a Dexterity saving throw, taking 7 (2d6) acid damage on a failure.

Dissolving Provisions. Each hour spent in the area, the corrosive atmosphere eats away at and destroys 1 Supply carried by a random adventurer. An Engineering check (or a check made with tools the Narrator deems appropriate) allows each adventurer to adequately protect any Supply they are carrying.

Slow Pace. Traveling at a slow pace (2 mph) allows the adventurers to spot and avoid the acid geysers (so that the Acidic Spray property has no effect on them) and counts as a Success.

That does help; however, it made me think of another question. Do the properties (Acidic Spray and Dissolving Provisions) take effect even on a normal success and critical success? So on a success and critical success you still suffer the effects of the geysers and corrosive atmosphere, correct? I guess, what does "make it through the area successfully" mean in a Success. I originally assumed that included avoiding the geysers and corrosive mist, but I think that is a misunderstanding on my part. A success just means you don't loose time, fatigue or additional resources (that penalties in Failure and Critical Failure), you still have to deal with the geysers (unless you Slow Pace) and Dissolving provisions. Is that correct?

 

[Morrus]

That does help; however, it made me think of another question. Do the properties (Acidic Spray and Dissolving Provisions) take effect even on a normal success and critical success? So on a success and critical success you still suffer the effects of the geysers and corrosive atmosphere, correct? I guess, what does "make it through the area successfully" mean in a Success. I originally assumed that included avoiding the geysers and corrosive mist, but I think that is a misunderstanding on my part. A success just means you don't loose time, fatigue or additional resources (that penalties in Failure and Critical Failure), you still have to deal with the geysers (unless you Slow Pace) and Dissolving provisions. Is that correct?

I couldn’t follow that at all!

 

[dave2008]

I couldn’t follow that at all!

Sorry, I will try to be more clear.

When you get a Success or Critical Success, does that mean you avoid the Acidic Spray and Dissolving Provision properties?

Based on the fact Slow Pace allows you to get a Success and avoid Acidic Spray I assume the answer is no. Therefore, a success or critical success has no effect on the Properties of the challenge area. Honestly I find this a little odd, but not a big deal.

Also, I assume that there is no way to avoid the Dissolving Provisions, correct? What if you Slow Pace and get a critical success? At the moment I think Slow Pace and Survival check are mostly divorced from each other, but I could see them working together more.

I realize you want to keep these compact, but I see additional possibilities here. I guess you can leave that to DMs to expand on the ideas presented here.

PS sorry to take up so much of your time, it is an interesting mechanic

 

[dave2008]

My DM brain though has to note one issue. 4 Treants means nothing for a CR 17 encountering group, its not even a speed bump. I honestly wouldn't even note creatures (afterall, that just means the party would have a combat right?...and who needs that in our exploring!). I would leave it generic, the grove attacks the party....removing X supply.

I was originally on your side, and I still think that is a good idea, but I have come around to the idea of treants. I like that combat is an option. Yes, it is just a speed bump, but it saves you 3 supplies to engage and it is essentially a not-so-random encounter thrown into your exploration - which I think is actually a good idea. Sometimes I do want combat to be an option in my exploring.

 

[Morrus]

When you get a Success or Critical Success, does that mean you avoid the Acidic Spray and Dissolving Provision properties?

Only if it says so! I think you're reading into these more than what's on the actual page.

Also, I assume that there is no way to avoid the Dissolving Provisions, correct?

Incorrect. The way to avoid that is the next sentence.