Blog (A5E) Crossing the Titan’s Garden

The exploration pillar is a large part of Level Up; Advanced 5th Edition. One aspect of this third of the game are our new journey rules. In this article, we’re going to walk you through a journey.

Crossing the Titan’s Garden — Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition (A5E)

The exploration pillar is a large part of Level Up; Advanced 5th Edition. One aspect of this third of the game are our new journey rules. In this article, we’re going to walk you through a journey.

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An earlier version of this article referred to the Region as ‘Deep Jungle’. The name of this Region ended as Tangled Forest in the core rulebook, and this article has been updated to match it.

 

[Faolyn]

You know, I keep throwing money at the screen but nothing's happening.

A few things:

You say "Heavy Undergrowth. Ranged attacks made beyond normal range are made with disadvantage." In o5e, ranged attacks made beyond normal range are already at disadvantage. So does this mean that you have changed how ranged attacks work? Or is this somehow related to the new weapons and ammo you're including?

You also say "A Religion check and a ritual performed for a good-aligned god permanently breaks the curse," I would probably say that such an ad hoc ritual would take dX hours and maybe use up some holy water or whatever, but I was wondering if you guys were actually including suggestions for things like this?

I like that a critical failure causes the temple's evil to expand. It really feeds into the idea that the temple is feeding on the life force of PC who failed their roll. I also really like the idea of the blessed cave acting as a haven. I can easily picture such a place, and it's a good way to add a sense of wonder, especially in contrast to the cursed temple. Was the temple once blessed by the same force that blessed the cave, and was since defiled? Or was the cave "created" by beings that opposed the temple's builders? Depending on how the cave and temple are described, I can definitely see some PCs getting distracted by these things and making a side-quest to find out the answers.

I have to say that the examples we've seen have actually tempted me to really roll for such random encounters instead of pre-planning everything like I normally do.

 

[Faolyn]

I actually have one more question, which I hope is answered in the book: when do these things happen, and in what order?

In your example, you have a four-day trek, and unless you've changed how the journey activities work, you get to do one activity per journey, no matter how long it takes (depending on what the final rules look like, I might homebrew to allow you to change it every so often, especially for longer journeys). So you have the rogue hurting himself and gaining fatigue and the cleric finding a blessed cave-haven.

Now, are we expected to resolve this in any particular order? Would the rules specify that the cleric found the cave the first day of the journey, and the rogue got injured on the third day (meaning that they would have to backtrack if they wanted the rogue to be able to rest in a haven)? Or does the Narrator and/or group decide what makes for the most interesting result based on the rolls? Either are cool (although I'm fond of the latter); I'm curious as to which it is.

If the rogue had instead succeeded on his Scout roll, the playtest packet says that he would get advantage on his next ability check. Now, this makes me think that these journeys are "montage time" and the montage gets broken whenever the players want to explore something, fight a monster, or otherwise engage in something other than a journey activity, and then resumes when they're back on the road (or hacking a new road through the jungle). Thus, the rogue would get a bonus, but that bonus wouldn't come into effect until the next time the party breaks out of montage. Am I correct about this?

 

[Morrus]

If the rogue had instead succeeded on his Scout roll, the playtest packet says that he would get advantage on his next ability check. Now, this makes me think that these journeys are "montage time" and the montage gets broken whenever the players want to explore something, fight a monster, or otherwise engage in something other than a journey activity, and then resumes when they're back on the road (or hacking a new road through the jungle). Thus, the rogue would get a bonus, but that bonus wouldn't come into effect until the next time the party breaks out of montage. Am I correct about this?

Scout has changed since the playtest. But using that older version, he'd get it the next time he made an ability check, whenever that is.

We recommend that you resolve journey activities and then encounters, but the Narrator is free to do whatever they want. If a different order is more fun, go for it!

 

[DeviousQuail]

You say "Heavy Undergrowth. Ranged attacks made beyond normal range are made with disadvantage." In o5e, ranged attacks made beyond normal range are already at disadvantage. So does this mean that you have changed how ranged attacks work? Or is this somehow related to the new weapons and ammo you're including?

Maybe it changed since you read it but it says:

Heavy Undergrowth. Ranged attacks beyond 15 feet are made with disadvantage.

 

[aco175]

So, I can see the need for additional books, or even stretch goals, to have travel encounters pre-made for each terrain.

 

[Faolyn]

Maybe it changed since you read it but it says:

Heavy Undergrowth. Ranged attacks beyond 15 feet are made with disadvantage.

Thanks. I copypasted it, so it's been changed since then.

 

[tetrasodium]

I like the semi-cane toad looking boggard

 

[Steampunkette]

Honestly, I thought the Undergrowth thing was to make it harder on people who spekked into long-range combat disadvantage avoidance. But the 15ft thing works, too.

 

[dave2008]

Honestly, I thought the Undergrowth thing was to make it harder on people who spekked into long-range combat disadvantage avoidance. But the 15ft thing works, too.

what does spekked mean? I tried to google it but I got that it was middle-english for speckled. I don't think that is what you meant. Any chance you could help me out?