NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 8543818" data-attributes="member: 97077">The rules for Movement and Activities While Traveling work hand in glove with the rules for determining surprise.The rules don't say anything one way or another about adventurers being "idiots." They just say that if you're doing anything like the listed tasks, you're not watching out for danger and you don't get to apply your passive Perception. When combined with the rules for surprise in context, that means you're surprised if a monster tries to surprise you. When you're surprised, you can't act during the first round except for reactions after your turn has passed. That's it. Any editorializing about someone making a meaningful choice to risk surprise in order to undertake a useful task being an "idiot" is all you.The way you appear to run things makes Perception way stronger than may be intended. Hence the need to control "dubious uses," by way of requiring the investment in Perception to "fit the character's profile," whatever that means. That you also have most or all monsters try to surprise the PCs only makes Perception that much more critical in your games.Contrast with how I do things: I don't care if the player invests in Perception and don't care if they have a passive Perception that is off the charts. Because I know that investment isn't free in terms of character creation and advancement, benefits every member of the party, and because it will also come with the trade-offs and risks the rules establish which are sufficient in my experience to keep Perception more in line with other good choices. And only about 30% of monsters on average will try to surprise the characters, so the players understand over time that they can risk having characters engage in tasks other than keeping watch for danger.I'll leave it to those who are still reading to decide which scenario sounds better to them as DMs and players.</blockquote>

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