D&D 5E Exploration and Social Interaction Challenges Discussion

[BoldItalic]

When an orc walks in
With a McGuffin
And puts a battle axe in his face
He casts
SLEEP!

Lol. I couldn't resist it ...

[sblock="Sleep Spell?"]
Portia sighed. "Are we safe here, from the orcs? I've wedged the door shut with my ten-foot pole."

"Not quite, my dear," replied Sir Castalot, "and may I say you are looking particularly fetching tonight? Alas, I foresee that an orc is about to walk in through the other door. Fortunately, it is bringing one of those very relics we are seeking."

Portia smiled at the compliment, knowing that the gentle elf would not have said it untruthfully. Sometimes, she reflected, a truth-telling companion can be a trusted friend, though at other times he can be an utter pain in the neck. Like that time when he told her ... that thing. Best forgotten, she reminded herself. "Should I suggest to the orc that it gives us the relic politely?" she wondered.

"You are far wiser than I, dear lady. But I am not fond of orcs myself. I have a notion that the moment the orc walks through the door I shall just happen to be casting an especially powerful Witch Bolt in its direction and I foresee that this '19' I happen to be holding will mysteriously fulfill its prophetic destiny. You might brace yourself for the lightning flash. It will be quite bright. As will the second, for the orc will not fall easily."

Portia was suddenly alarmed. "No! You might damage the relic!" she cried. "We must not risk it!"

Threetoes spoke up, as one of his hands quietly grew an invisible appendage. He didn't much like the elf's airs and graces but he could usually trick him into doing what he wanted anyway. "Don't worry, Portia, I'll be lifting the relic out of its pouch before it knows it." And into my own, he added to himself.

"A Sleep spell might be safer," suggested Manfred, poised alertly on his toes as he readied his shortsword in one hand and a wicked-looking scimitar in the other. "A swift one-two-follow-through never fails."

"True."

At that moment, their deliberations were suddenly cut short as, with a THUMPPPPP, the door crashed open ..
[/sblock]
[sblock="Or maybe not ..."]
The door crashed open, and a very small orc stood outside, wearing a pink dress. She couldn't have been more than about five years old, thought Portia, she still had her baby tusks.

"Are you guys looking for this?" asked Emily Orc, brandishing a complicated-looking object of brass and leather. "It does work, only some bandits came by yesterday and stole the handle. Daddy said they were really, really stupid, even for bandits. I mean, what use is a handle without the pump?"

"That's a pretty dress," remarked Castalot, trying to remember how to talk to children.

Emily gave him a look. "Daddy told me not to talk to creepy old men."

Portia tried again. "Do you know what happened to the bandits?"

"They met pussykins. He's really, really friendly and he just wants to give everyone a big lick but one of the bandits got scared and fell down dead, just like that. What a baby! Then the all ran away, except for the lady bandit. She went the other way and trod on a red stone. Daddy says you must never, ever tread on a red stone, it's really, really bad luck."

"Shall I take the pump? It looks really, really heavy." offered Portia, who was beginning to latch on to the way the little orc was talking.

"No, it's not heavy. Only a few hunnyweight. It's full of air, silly."

Portia took the pump and practically dropped it on the ground. It weighed more than she did. "I think some of the air must have fallen out," she said, by way of excuse.

"Thank you, little girl," said Manfred. "Is there anything you would like in exchange? Some copper pennies?"

"You mean, a swap?"

"If you like, yes."

"Ooh, thank you. I'll take that toy scimitar you're holding. Daddy has one just like it, only bigger." So saying, Emily wrenched the weapon from his seemingly feeble grasp, glanced back over her shoulder and called "Gotta go. 'Bye!" as she ran off down the passage and disappeared.
[/sblock]

 

[Saeviomagy]

My players would probably split up to talk to everyone. Someone would prank at least one npc. Apart from that, their interactions would highly depend on the characterisation of the npcs.
Which is a problem. Some of the npcs have nothing for me to work off. None of them detail their attitude towards other npcs. Who holds the mercenaries contract? What are the details of that? Can sister Gertrude order them around?

For me, most of my exploration and social challenges are fairly simply adjudicated. I don't need rules for that. What I need is interesting, detailed npcs with complex interactions.

 

[iserith]

I love the idea of giving XP for turning an indifferent NPC into a friend. Well done!

Thanks. In theory, players will do the things we incentivize them to do.

In theory.

 

[iserith]

This is exactly how I've been dealing with skill checks* I started doing it due to the dearth of Str and Con skills; just making challenges with ability checks instead of skills.

Players started asking thanks like "Charisma check...how about I put a little threatening flex and take a stern tone? Can I add my proficiency in Intimidation?", so I've pretty much abandoned calling for a skill roll, but calling for an ability roll and letting the player find a way to apply the skill they have a proficiency bonus in.

It's worked pretty well, especially for Charisma and Intelligence rolls. I've even had our warlock change his skills from "All the Charisma skills because it gives me the biggest bonus" to "I'll take the Charisma skill I like best and a couple of interesting background-based skills"

*Except Perception and Stealth, both of which are pretty hard to replicate with other skills, and Constitution checks since there are no Con based skills.

Cool, interesting to see someone using the same approach and that including it in the scenario is well-received. At my table, players just declare they are adding a relevant skill to the roll based on how they described their actions. (Asking questions is one of my pet peeves!)

 

[iserith]

I think this is definitely a better way than asking for the skill check.

This also reminds me of something...

Prior to trying out 5e I was running mostly homebrew systems and about 5 years ago I realized that I had little interest in codified skill lists anymore. Skills are innumerable, and lists always feel artificially constraining.

So I had characters simply make up and assign skills to their characters. I get to see skills like "schmoozing" and "suspicion", which have clear D&D analogues but a distinctly different flavor.

In play, when an action is in question, they ask if a particular skill could be relevant and explain how. If it's especially relevant, or a bit of a stretch, I might modify the DC or apply advantage/disadvantage depending on the details.

If a skill seems too broad (physical activity) or narrow (Japanese calligraphy) I might suggest an alteration, or warn them that it may not be as useful in play as they had in mind.

For now, I'm still using the 5e skill system when I run 5e. But it's definitely something I'm not married to, and I'm happy that my players don't let themselves be too closely bound to it either. They are free to ask if proficiency applies due to any quirk of their character, not just their listed skills.

That's an interesting approach. You should consider writing something up and posting it in a new thread. I bet it gets some traction.