D&D General Why Exploration Is the Worst Pillar

[iserith]

Here's an example of the exploration framework that I put in my dungeon delves, taken from the D&D 5e rules for exploration. I lay them out for the players since I sometimes run for pick-up groups and some of them might not be used to engaging in much structured exploration. I want them to be aware of the basic options, how they might be resolved, and what the risks or trade-offs are. I differentiate between moving around the dungeon and stopping to really poke around a given area.

Traveling the Dungeon
As you travel about the dungeon, you can choose to engage in an ongoing task. You cease to engage in this task when you stop to explore a given area more thoroughly. Common travel tasks include, but are not limited to the below. The associated passive check is provided, if there is a check at all.

• Keep watch for lurking monsters (passive Perception)
• Stay alert for signs of traps (passive Investigation or Perception)
• Search for secret doors (passive Perception)
• Draw a map (proficiency with cartographer's tools)

To have a chance to notice lurking monsters or signs of traps at the front of the party, you must be in the front rank of the marching order.

To draw a map, you must have both hands free and the appropriate tools. A map of an entire floor of the dungeon can be used to deduce the location of secret doors and chambers. There is no associated check to draw a map.

If you engage in any task other than keeping watch for lurking monsters, you are automatically surprised if a lurking monster is trying to sneak up on you.

Thorough Exploration
When you decide to stop traveling and explore a given area, the exploration phase begins. An area of 1000 square feet or smaller can be explored in 10 minutes by one person. Dangerous monsters wander the dungeon and can appear at any time or if you make a lot of noise as you explore.

After the DM describes the environment, take turns describing what you want to do for the next 10 minutes and how you go about that. Common tasks include, but are not limited to the below. If the option is nested beneath another option, you cannot succeed at this task unless the previous task was successful. If you choose to do anything other than keeping watch, you are automatically surprised if a stealthy wandering monster comes calling.

• Check for Traps
  • Figure Out a Trap
    • Disable a Trap
• Keep Watch
• Loot the Room
• Perform a Ritual
• Pick a Lock
• Search for Secret Doors
  • Figure Out a Secret Door

Working Together. Instead of performing a task by yourself, you can work together with someone else. By working together, you grant advantage to the character leading the effort, if there is an associated ability check. You can only provide help if the task is one that you could attempt alone and when working together would actually be productive.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I'm still a few pages behind, but the conversation between @Hussar and @iserith got me thinking.

Let me assume that we have access to Unseen Servant as a ritual. There are many ways to do this, including just being a human and taking the ritual caster feat at level 1. This is a flying, invisible servant able to lift and move anything weighing around 60 lbs.

Let us say we have a hallway in a dungeon, and I command the servant to press every stone in the hall's floor and walls.

Now, this cost me nothing except time. No spell slot, just a 10 minute ritual. And the servant might take a long time to complete the task, but any traps that we didn't spot via passive perception and that can be located by the application of 60 lbs of force are noticed. The only thing I can think of that isn't noticed is a pit trap with a false top, that the DM specifies needs more than 60 lbs of force to break. And if the trap destroys the servant, I spend 10 minutes making a new one.

Now, here is the thing I got to thinking about. What is the main tool the DM uses in this instance of the players basically saying "we detect all traps and secret passages within 60 ft over the next hour"? Wandering monsters right?

But, here is the problem, the moment you send wandering monsters... we are in the combat pillar. "Your servant raised the alarm and all the guards are preparing". Cool, that's a combat pillar issue. Not an exploration issue.

Which is a bit weird right? Because it seems to indicate that if you "solve" the exploration problems by just taking a lot of time, exploration offers no tools to increase the challenge. Instead, it becomes a combat pillar issue. So, we instead end up with the only other seemingly logical answer... a ticking clock. Which doesn't make our solution less of a solution to the exploration problems, it just means we are forced to use less efficient means of solving the problems, because we don't have time to solve them normally.

This is like saying that you would make combat more interesting by saying that the player's have two rounds to kill all the bad guys, or a death curse kills them all instead. It may be interesting for a combat or two, but it isn't really offering a solution if the problem is "we can't lose a normal fight"

 

[Lanefan]

If you engage in any task other than keeping watch for lurking monsters, you are automatically surprised if a lurking monster is trying to sneak up on you.

This seems a bit harsh, somehow. I can see being at a penalty (or disadvantage, whatever) on the chance of being surprised, but automatic surprise seems like perhaps a too-strong discouragement from doing anything other than watch for monsters.

 

[Yora]

This assumes that searching the environment and encountering creatures are two distinct things. But they are not. Ideally, they are elements of a unified system and the designers of the mechanics should approach them as such.
"Exploration" in the original D&D concept wasn't meant to be archeology. It was raiding hostile environments that can kill you if you are not both smart and quick. The judgement between the careful options and the swift options is the key tension of that style of game and the momentum that keeps the gameplay loop going. Doing everthing carefully and optimally doesn't work. Charging in blindly also doesn't work. That's the conundrum the players have to deal with on every turn. That what makes exploration exciting.

 

[iserith]

I'm still a few pages behind, but the conversation between @Hussar and @iserith got me thinking.

Let me assume that we have access to Unseen Servant as a ritual. There are many ways to do this, including just being a human and taking the ritual caster feat at level 1. This is a flying, invisible servant able to lift and move anything weighing around 60 lbs.

Let us say we have a hallway in a dungeon, and I command the servant to press every stone in the hall's floor and walls.

Now, this cost me nothing except time. No spell slot, just a 10 minute ritual. And the servant might take a long time to complete the task, but any traps that we didn't spot via passive perception and that can be located by the application of 60 lbs of force are noticed. The only thing I can think of that isn't noticed is a pit trap with a false top, that the DM specifies needs more than 60 lbs of force to break. And if the trap destroys the servant, I spend 10 minutes making a new one.

Now, here is the thing I got to thinking about. What is the main tool the DM uses in this instance of the players basically saying "we detect all traps and secret passages within 60 ft over the next hour"? Wandering monsters right?

But, here is the problem, the moment you send wandering monsters... we are in the combat pillar. "Your servant raised the alarm and all the guards are preparing". Cool, that's a combat pillar issue. Not an exploration issue.

Which is a bit weird right? Because it seems to indicate that if you "solve" the exploration problems by just taking a lot of time, exploration offers no tools to increase the challenge. Instead, it becomes a combat pillar issue. So, we instead end up with the only other seemingly logical answer... a ticking clock. Which doesn't make our solution less of a solution to the exploration problems, it just means we are forced to use less efficient means of solving the problems, because we don't have time to solve them normally.

This is like saying that you would make combat more interesting by saying that the player's have two rounds to kill all the bad guys, or a death curse kills them all instead. It may be interesting for a combat or two, but it isn't really offering a solution if the problem is "we can't lose a normal fight"

First, I think one has to recognize that there are a lot of traps that an unseen servant will not be able to help with, in particular complex or magical ones or anything triggered by weight or force greater than it can produce. Can you even see the parts of the trap the unseen servant needs to interact with from your position and are those things within 60 feet of you? Do you know how the trap works so you can tell it what to do? So this isn't a tool that's going to work in all or perhaps even most cases, depending on the content the DM is presenting. In the abstract, wow, unseen servant is a great trap springer! In reality, it's not the cost-free victory it's made out to be, unless the DM's exploration challenges are about an inch deep.

Next, setting off the trap isn't always desirable either. It may keep the PCs safe (then again, it might not depending on the area it affects), but what else might be negatively impacted by the trap going off that is important to the PCs? What if that pressure plate causes a huge block to drop down from the ceiling, destroying the unseen servant, and blocking further passage? Oops.

Finally, the position I have taken is not that spells or the like don't help with the exploration challenges in some cases, only that rarely are they "free." They come with risks and trade-offs just like anything else - same as combat or social interaction options - particularly if the DM has created urgency via countdowns or random encounters based on time or noise. It's here where meaningful choices are provided to the players: Do I cast this unseen servant spell and risk a wandering monster check? Do I set off the trap with the unseen servant and create a bunch of noise? Is setting off the trap actually going to help us here? And so on.

 

[iserith]

This seems a bit harsh, somehow. I can see being at a penalty (or disadvantage, whatever) on the chance of being surprised, but automatic surprise seems like perhaps a too-strong discouragement from doing anything other than watch for monsters.

I think you have to look at it in context. First, not all monsters are sneaky, unless the DM populated the wandering monster table with all sneaky monsters. I don't tend to do that, so maybe just a third of all possible monsters may try to surprise the PCs. As well, if you know you're going to be at risk of surprise, what do you do to mitigate the issues with that? How about block the door? Or post up those who are keeping watch at the chokepoint so you're "behind the front line?" What's more, you may not have all that great a passive Perception to begin with, so you're likely to be surprised anyway, so you may as well just do something more productive than keeping watch. Finally, being surprised just means you can't act in the first round - not a big deal unless initiative happens to fall in a particularly disadvantageous order for you and you're also exposed.

 

[Asisreo]

First, I think one has to recognize that there are a lot of traps that an unseen servant will not be able to help with, in particular complex or magical ones or anything triggered by weight or force greater than it can produce. Can you even see the parts of the trap the unseen servant needs to interact with from your position and are those things within 60 feet of you? Do you know how the trap works so you can tell it what to do? So this isn't a tool that's going to work in all or perhaps even most cases, depending on the content the DM is presenting. In the abstract, wow, unseen servant is a great trap springer! In reality, it's not the cost-free victory it's made out to be, unless the DM's exploration challenges are about an inch deep.

Next, setting off the trap isn't always desirable either. It may keep the PCs safe (then again, it might not depending on the area it affects), but what else might be negatively impacted by the trap going off that is important to the PCs? What if that pressure plate causes a huge block to drop down from the ceiling, destroying the unseen servant, and blocking further passage? Oops.

Finally, the position I have taken is not that spells or the like don't help with the exploration challenges in some cases, only that rarely are they "free." They come with risks and trade-offs just like anything else - same as combat or social interaction options - particularly if the DM has created urgency via countdowns or random encounters based on time or noise. It's here where meaningful choices are provided to the players: Do I cast this unseen servant spell and risk a wandering monster check? Do I set off the trap with the unseen servant and create a bunch of noise? Is setting off the trap actually going to help us here? And so on.

Its all about certainty, true.

If I knew I every trap was a pressure plate trap, I'd feel extremely safe flying. But it takes one time for a magical sensor trap to trigger for me to realize not everything I do is a guarantee.

 

[Lanefan]

Let me assume that we have access to Unseen Servant as a ritual. There are many ways to do this, including just being a human and taking the ritual caster feat at level 1. This is a flying, invisible servant able to lift and move anything weighing around 60 lbs.

60 lbs.? Yikes - that's a big upgrade over the 1e version I'm used to.

Let us say we have a hallway in a dungeon, and I command the servant to press every stone in the hall's floor and walls.

Now, this cost me nothing except time. No spell slot, just a 10 minute ritual. And the servant might take a long time to complete the task, but any traps that we didn't spot via passive perception and that can be located by the application of 60 lbs of force are noticed. The only thing I can think of that isn't noticed is a pit trap with a false top, that the DM specifies needs more than 60 lbs of force to break. And if the trap destroys the servant, I spend 10 minutes making a new one.

Tedious; but yes, this works - for pressure-plate style traps only.

Unseen Servant wouldn't trip illusions. If the floor ahead is illusory, you won't see the Servant interact with it and so the illusion remains believable to you. It also won't trip magical traps e.g. glyphs or symbols.

Whether it sets off trip wires and the like depends on whether or not you rule the Servant has any physical form.

 

[Lanefan]

I think you have to look at it in context. First, not all monsters are sneaky, unless the DM populated the wandering monster table with all sneaky monsters. I don't tend to do that, so maybe just a third of all possible monsters may try to surprise the PCs.

Indeed. But that one-third can add up over time...

As well, if you know you're going to be at risk of surprise, what do you do to mitigate the issues with that? How about block the door? Or post up those who are keeping watch at the chokepoint so you're "behind the front line?" What's more, you may not have all that great a passive Perception to begin with, so you're likely to be surprised anyway, so you may as well just do something more productive than keeping watch. Finally, being surprised just means you can't act in the first round - not a big deal unless initiative happens to fall in a particularly disadvantageous order for you and you're also exposed.

Fair enough; but in a small party of, say, four characters you're either in the front rank or the back rank, assuming typical two-wide marching. Also, in some editions being surprised can get you killed outright before you know what hit you; thus it's important not to be surprised (which is why I say auto-surprise is a bit harsh).

 

[Swarmkeeper]

I'm still a few pages behind, but the conversation between @Hussar and @iserith got me thinking.

Let me assume that we have access to Unseen Servant as a ritual. There are many ways to do this, including just being a human and taking the ritual caster feat at level 1. This is a flying, invisible servant able to lift and move anything weighing around 60 lbs.

Let us say we have a hallway in a dungeon, and I command the servant to press every stone in the hall's floor and walls.

Now, this cost me nothing except time. No spell slot, just a 10 minute ritual. And the servant might take a long time to complete the task, but any traps that we didn't spot via passive perception and that can be located by the application of 60 lbs of force are noticed. The only thing I can think of that isn't noticed is a pit trap with a false top, that the DM specifies needs more than 60 lbs of force to break. And if the trap destroys the servant, I spend 10 minutes making a new one.

Now, here is the thing I got to thinking about. What is the main tool the DM uses in this instance of the players basically saying "we detect all traps and secret passages within 60 ft over the next hour"? Wandering monsters right?

But, here is the problem, the moment you send wandering monsters... we are in the combat pillar. "Your servant raised the alarm and all the guards are preparing". Cool, that's a combat pillar issue. Not an exploration issue.

Which is a bit weird right? Because it seems to indicate that if you "solve" the exploration problems by just taking a lot of time, exploration offers no tools to increase the challenge. Instead, it becomes a combat pillar issue. So, we instead end up with the only other seemingly logical answer... a ticking clock. Which doesn't make our solution less of a solution to the exploration problems, it just means we are forced to use less efficient means of solving the problems, because we don't have time to solve them normally.

This is like saying that you would make combat more interesting by saying that the player's have two rounds to kill all the bad guys, or a death curse kills them all instead. It may be interesting for a combat or two, but it isn't really offering a solution if the problem is "we can't lose a normal fight"

I see where you are going but I have to disagree with your conclusion. Time pressure in exploration can indeed lead to a wandering monster. However, to then say that introducing a wandering monster is solving the exploration pillar "problems" with the combat pillar is presuming quite a bit, IMO. The players can choose many different courses of action when presented with a wandering monster - courses of action which may or may not flow into the other pillars of play. While some of the party is searching for traps and secret doors and/or figuring out how to disarm/activate the same, others might be watching out for trouble. If the PCs on watch perceive a wandering monster approaching they can alert the others. Sure everyone can drop everything they're doing and engage solely in the combat pillar. Or a few of the PCs could attempt to parley with said monster while the others continue to search/disarm/activate (social and exploration pillars). Or a few of the PCs could hold back the wandering monster at a pinch point while the others figure out the secret door escape route (combat and exploration pillars). Or the players could funnel (with force and/or communication) said monster towards the trap they discovered (exploration plus combat and/or social pillars) Or all the PCs could fall back to a room they passed on the way (exploration). Even if those on watch didn't notice the wandering monster until it was upon them, these options are all still viable outcomes.

All that said, the wandering monster is only one possible outcome of taking too much time. Environmental effects, timed traps, NPCs off-camera making progress in a ritual or moving captives elsewhere, etc. all could be part of the consequences for the party taking too much time. In addition to the "ticking clock", exploration offers plenty of "tools" to ratchet up difficulty: exhaustion; difficult terrain; obstacles; traps; illusions; puzzles; anything, really, that can impose conditions or drain resources.

If you are meaning that exploration often can lead to engagement with one or both of the other pillars of play, then I would agree with that conclusion.