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<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 8768631" data-attributes="member: 6877472">Well this is just my experience, but often you find out what you're fighting and where about .2 seconds before you're asked to roll for initiative.&nbsp; I know in some groups scouting is a thing that's done, but my experience, again, has always been that trying to skulk around and gain advance recon usually just results in someone finding themselves in a solo encounter that they have to try and survive long enough for the party to catch up.It's been a consistent problem when I play for so long, that I rarely even bother to become proficient in Stealth- there's almost always some enemy or circumstance that trivializes the effort, or the DM is one of those &quot;roll every 5 feet&quot; types.I will admit that in 5e, most of my experience has been with either home games that have 1-3 larger encounters per session, with the big one being this epic battle, or in AL, where the adventure itself dictates when and where you get a rest.&nbsp; But again, the idea of &quot;scouting ahead&quot; has never really worked out for me.Even when I've suggested using spells or familiars to scout, the DM usually nitpicks the capabilities of whatever is being used to the point that the information gathered is next to useless.&nbsp; And even in those rare instances where I do get actionable intel, there's always a surprise.It's like those heist shows where there's a foolproof plan that goes all to hell in about five seconds, except I'm not allowed to insert a &quot;previously, however, we anticipated this and set up a game changer&quot;.&nbsp; This ties into why I'm always trying to give my players as much information as I can, because it's really tiresome to have to figure out things blind.Now, if you're in a game where you can short rest pretty much whenever, and the DM is perfectly fine with some advance recon, perhaps this tactic works.&nbsp; But it just hasn't for me, so I'm pretty dubious about it's efficacy.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 8768631, member: 6877472"] Well this is just my experience, but often you find out what you're fighting and where about .2 seconds before you're asked to roll for initiative. I know in some groups scouting is a thing that's done, but my experience, again, has always been that trying to skulk around and gain advance recon usually just results in someone finding themselves in a solo encounter that they have to try and survive long enough for the party to catch up. It's been a consistent problem when I play for so long, that I rarely even bother to become proficient in Stealth- there's almost always some enemy or circumstance that trivializes the effort, or the DM is one of those "roll every 5 feet" types. I will admit that in 5e, most of my experience has been with either home games that have 1-3 larger encounters per session, with the big one being this epic battle, or in AL, where the adventure itself dictates when and where you get a rest. But again, the idea of "scouting ahead" has never really worked out for me. Even when I've suggested using spells or familiars to scout, the DM usually nitpicks the capabilities of whatever is being used to the point that the information gathered is next to useless. And even in those rare instances where I do get actionable intel, there's always a surprise. It's like those heist shows where there's a foolproof plan that goes all to hell in about five seconds, except I'm not allowed to insert a "previously, however, we anticipated this and set up a game changer". This ties into why I'm always trying to give my players as much information as I can, because it's really tiresome to have to figure out things blind. Now, if you're in a game where you can short rest pretty much whenever, and the DM is perfectly fine with some advance recon, perhaps this tactic works. But it just hasn't for me, so I'm pretty dubious about it's efficacy. [/QUOTE]

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