Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Gammadoodler" data-source="post: 9255194" data-attributes="member: 6914290">I wouldn't say that the troll has zero chance of starting an encounter within 30 feet of the party. As you say, dungeon design can sometimes make that call for the party. Sometimes a room you have to go through is small and has a troll in it. And sometimes the troll gets a lucky stealth roll (and is stealthing for some reason).I would expect surprise encounters within the open wilderness to be fairly rare for a reasonably balanced party of full casters. If the PCs are perceptive, I expect them to benefit from it. That's what passive perception is for. If the PCs are surprised, either the monster should have skills to facilitate that, or they would need to have rolled well.I struggle to think of a situation where...&quot;I don't care what's on your character sheet&quot; is a good way to operate if you want your PCs to believe that their mechanical choices matter.&quot;What feat are you thinking?&quot;&quot;I was gonna go Observant or maybe the one that gets me expertise in perception so stuff doesn't sneak up on us&quot;&quot;Why? The DM doesn't care about that?&quot;</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Gammadoodler, post: 9255194, member: 6914290"] I wouldn't say that the troll has zero chance of starting an encounter within 30 feet of the party. As you say, dungeon design can sometimes make that call for the party. Sometimes a room you have to go through is small and has a troll in it. And sometimes the troll gets a lucky stealth roll (and is stealthing for some reason). I would expect surprise encounters within the open wilderness to be fairly rare for a reasonably balanced party of full casters. If the PCs are perceptive, I expect them to benefit from it. That's what passive perception is for. If the PCs are surprised, either the monster should have skills to facilitate that, or they would need to have rolled well. I struggle to think of a situation where... "I don't care what's on your character sheet" is a good way to operate if you want your PCs to believe that their mechanical choices matter. "What feat are you thinking?" "I was gonna go Observant or maybe the one that gets me expertise in perception so stuff doesn't sneak up on us" "Why? The DM doesn't care about that?" [/QUOTE]

Verification