D&D General Why Exploration Is the Worst Pillar

[Hussar]

And again we’re back to the players being brain dead.

Trip wires? Hrm maybe the unseen servant carries a stick with a hook? Gee that was hard.

I don’t have my books but isn’t str 2 60 pounds, not 30? But in any case, you give the unseen servant a big bag with something heavy in it and now it trips pressure plates. Again not difficult.

I know that we’re not detailing every little thing but sheesh. This is dumgeoneering 101 stuff. I’ve seen children come up with this within ten minutes of sitting down to play.

But yeah, this is just totally unreasonable on our part.

 

[Asisreo]

And again we’re back to the players being brain dead.

Trip wires? Hrm maybe the unseen servant carries a stick with a hook? Gee that was hard.

Remember, there is no retroactive "oh, but my character would have thought of that!"

I don't consider players brain dead for having the possibility of certain types of traps alluding them. Whether they forget magical traps exist, traps that activate via sound, traps that only activate with visible creatures, or traps that aren't specifically "traps."

Why is it that having an oversight means the players are braindead? Its almost elitist how if you're not playing the correct way you must be stupid.

 

[Faolyn]

And again we’re back to the players being brain dead.

Trip wires? Hrm maybe the unseen servant carries a stick with a hook? Gee that was hard.

I don’t have my books but isn’t str 2 60 pounds, not 30? But in any case, you give the unseen servant a big bag with something heavy in it and now it trips pressure plates. Again not difficult.

I know that we’re not detailing every little thing but sheesh. This is dumgeoneering 101 stuff. I’ve seen children come up with this within ten minutes of sitting down to play.

But yeah, this is just totally unreasonable on our part.

Strength 2 is 30 pounds. It’s 15 pounds per point of Strength.

Since the servant is mindless, you have to direct it to push the tripwire. That means you have to know where it and/or actually see it. Which likely means you have to be closer than 60 feet. How far away would you let a person be before they saw a thin, camouflaged wire? Especially if it’s not in a brightly lit area.

You also have to hope that Strength 2 is enough to trigger a pressure plate or pull a lever or do whatever else is needed to trigger the trap.

You also have to hope that you have a spellcaster who knows unseen servant and can cast it as a ritual (and you have 10 minutes to spare), and that it doesn’t take any damage before it triggers your trap. Fun fact! The servant doesn’t fly, so a single caltrop will destroy it.

And you also have to hope that triggering the trap instead of disarming it won’t cause more damage than it’s worth—such as if the trap causes an explosion or dumps acid that destroys the trapped object that you had actually wanted to take, or causes the door to slam shut so it can’t be opened again, or summons a really powerful monster, or makes the roof cave in, or alerts the person you were hoping to sneak up on, thus causing you to lose the element of surprise, or that the trap works so it actually affects everyone who isn’t right next to the trapped object

But yeah, only a brain-dead person wouldn’t trigger a trap from afar.

 

[Aldarc]

The servant is definitely is not a creature. This has been established in a couple of different Sage Advice answers.

And that's very true. The rules may not be always clear, but they're often clear enough.

"Established"? Is "Sage Advice" canon? Does it reflect a rule or a ruling? Is the author dead? Here I'd like to draw attention to @Charlaquin's brilliant "On rulings, rules, and Twitter, or: How Sage Advice Changed" thread, which draws attention to the tension between Sage Advice and the whole DIY rulings of 5e. I don't particularly care if the Unseen Servant is a creature or not, but, rather, my point here is that I don't necessarily think that we should presume that your average GM knows what Jeremy Crawford said about it on Twitter.

 

[TheSword]

If combat is the meat, and roleplay is the butter, then exploration is the bread. It is far more substantial than mere connective tissue. It supports and binds the combat and roleplay encounters making them more flavorful as a result. Though it can also be enjoyed on its own or with a smattering of roleplay or a dash of combat.

My group had a thoroughly enjoyable session in the opening manor of Saltmarsh exploring a supposedly haunted house. We fought a couple of spider swarms and a weasel, but that was it. That majority of the sessions was spent exploring. It was a lot of fun.

The exploration pillar works just fine, but it does require some thought, preparation and a DM capable of bringing the exploration to life. For me it’s by far the most wonderful pillar and far more exciting than combat or roleplay!

 

[TheSword]

Strength 2 is 30 pounds. It’s 15 pounds per point of Strength.

Since the servant is mindless, you have to direct it to push the tripwire. That means you have to know where it and/or actually see it. Which likely means you have to be closer than 60 feet. How far away would you let a person be before they saw a thin, camouflaged wire? Especially if it’s not in a brightly lit area.

You also have to hope that Strength 2 is enough to trigger a pressure plate or pull a lever or do whatever else is needed to trigger the trap.

You also have to hope that you have a spellcaster who knows unseen servant and can cast it as a ritual (and you have 10 minutes to spare), and that it doesn’t take any damage before it triggers your trap. Fun fact! The servant doesn’t fly, so a single caltrop will destroy it.

And you also have to hope that triggering the trap instead of disarming it won’t cause more damage than it’s worth—such as if the trap causes an explosion or dumps acid that destroys the trapped object that you had actually wanted to take, or causes the door to slam shut so it can’t be opened again, or summons a really powerful monster, or makes the roof cave in, or alerts the person you were hoping to sneak up on, thus causing you to lose the element of surprise, or that the trap works so it actually affects everyone who isn’t right next to the trapped object

But yeah, only a brain-dead person wouldn’t trigger a trap from afar.

There is a simple explanation for why players don’t use unseen servant as some sort of minesweeping service. Though I agree with you that it doesn’t work in most cases.

The simple answer is that it would be extremely dull for the other PCs to sit and wait. If I’m in the party and the wizard player says they want to take 30 minutes to summon and send their unseen servant to laboriously search a section of 20ft hallway. After the second or third time I am almost certainly going to say screw that I’ll just walk down the corridor. The risk of getting dumped in a pit of acid is better than all this waiting around.

 

[Lanefan]

There are various ways to go about it, but the point of the exercise is that there isn't anything to beat in the core of exploration.

I kind of disagree, in that during exploration you're often opposed by the environment itself in one way or another; and if you don't beat it your exploring can come to a quick halt.

I don't think the exploration pillar is even supposed to be about the challenge. Sure, you've got traps and obstacles and puzzles just like you've got monsters and terrain and spells in combat, but ultimately exploration, to its very definition, is the act of uncovering mysteries.

Its the experience of discovering something new. There is no "autowinning" exploration.

But there is "auto-winning" against the environmental challenges that try to hamper exploration. Yes you're still discovering something new, but is the process of doing so slow and challenging or is it fast, safe and easy. That's the difference auto-win makes.

In fact, doing something like teleporting past several dungeon rooms means you've probably auto-failed exploration because you've lost what could be valuable context.

Perhaps, and this one's a bit group-dependent. Some groups consider missing anything to be a failure; others consider doing anything beyond the most basic get in-achieve the goal-get out to be a waste of time.

I very much count myself in the first group, here.

Exploration is a pillar not because its identical to combat but because it shares its importance. A game with no exploration isn't just a game with no choices, its a game with no context. And once a game loses context, it becomes nothing more than just a string of mismatched talking and combat, which ultimately becomes boring for even the most mechanical players.

Agreed.

 

[Lanefan]

Strength 2 is 30 pounds. It’s 15 pounds per point of Strength.

Hypothetical anyway, as IMO an actual person with Strength 2 would be unable to stand, never mind carry anything. Keep in mind that Strength 3 (in game terms) is as weak as a Human can get and still remain functional and-or mobile.

But yeah, only a brain-dead person wouldn’t trigger a trap from afar.

In all fairness, if the choice is between triggering it from afar and triggering it from close up I'll take the far option all day long, thanks.

That said, this hypothetical party must be running without a Thief given as their primary method of trap-finding is to set 'em off rather than try to disarm them.

 

[Lanefan]

There is a simple explanation for why players don’t use unseen servant as some sort of minesweeping service. Though I agree with you that it doesn’t work in most cases.

The simple answer is that it would be extremely dull for the other PCs to sit and wait. If I’m in the party and the wizard player says they want to take 30 minutes to summon and send their unseen servant to laboriously search a section of 20ft hallway. After the second or third time I am almost certainly going to say screw that I’ll just walk down the corridor. The risk of getting dumped in a pit of acid is better than all this waiting around.

Suggest replacing the bolded bit with:

"...throw the wizard down the corridor."

Believe me, it's far more satisfying.

 

[Aldarc]

If combat is the meat, and roleplay is the butter, then exploration is the bread. It is far more substantial than mere connective tissue. It supports and binds the combat and roleplay encounters making them more flavorful as a result. Though it can also be enjoyed on its own or with a smattering of roleplay or a dash of combat.

So if I want to lose weight with my diet, then I should cut out the exploration carbs?