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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lyxen" data-source="post: 8548893" data-attributes="member: 7032025"><img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Indeed, which is why I've always insisted that the PCs get earlier chances only "if they take the appropriate precautions", which is what the travelling rules are about. And it's a good thing that they are in the PH, so that in particular beginning players can understand the advantage of a good marching order, of posting sentries, of having people doing different tasks, but also of assigning the right people to the right task.And on this, I agree again, just pointing out that this is a slightly different discussion than the travelling rules, as this is a specific situation set-up and not the "routine" travelling from point A to point B (relatively far away, a days travel along the road, but maybe only a few minutes away on the other side of a dungeon complex). In effect, what you are setting above is already an encounter, since there is that suspicious ravine.We agree, with (I hope) just the precision that although the Wizard will not get any check to detect the ambush in advance, he would get his PP for surprise like anyone else.For me, this is because you have clearly set-up the ravine as more than "just travel", it's presented as an encounter in its own right, and therefore shifting out of the pure travel rules to encounter mode is justification enough for the change.Contrast the difference with the description of a travel that says "you are travelling in what looks like the shattered plains (from Stormlight Archives), almost always at the bottom of chasms." In which case, a particular ravine would not draw particular attention, and the travel rules could be used with passive perception only for the people looking out for danger. It's the difference (well noted in the rules) between specific encounters and "routine use" of a skill, multiple ravines make the checks routine.After that, you could have a group that is so stressed by the possibility of ambushes, that they would treat each ravine as a possible encounter, which is fine as well, just let them know that the precautions that they are taking are efficient (they get active checks), but that it makes their journey much longer.I think we agree about the general principle, the thing is that the travel rules cover the part where there are not declared actions other than general watchfulness, because it's a long activity, mostly routine.</blockquote>

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