D&D 5E Exploration: What are the benefits of drawing a map?

[Shiroiken]

I require that a character who is mapping during a journey have the cartographer's tools proficiency, the corresponding tools and supplies, have both hands free while traveling (no weapons, shields, etc.) and there can be no precipitation or strong wind.

I'm similar, but instead have the mapper make an int/cartographer's tools check. I set a DC for a quality map based on the terrain, and weather conditions can give disadvantage on the check.

 

[Hriston]

Another question comes up on your becoming lost topic:

Is the DM obligated to correct the players if they have mapped wrongly, because they did not pay attention, and become lost even though they had a map?

I’m not @iserith, but I think this thread is about mapping by the characters rather than the players. Mapping by the players at the table is something that the players may or may not do as part of their player-side decision making process in an attempt to “solve” the puzzle of the DM’s dungeon or wilderness challenge or whatever. This tool can then be used to inform their role-playing, i.e. deciding which way their characters try to go.

Mapping by the characters, on the other hand, and the characters having an accurate map in the fiction affects the mechanical resolution of the outcome of the players’ decision to have their characters go in some direction or another. I.e. do the characters travel in the direction their players decided they would try to go?

These are two different things, and I don’t see how conflating them is productive.

 

[Coroc]

I’m not @iserith, but I think this thread is about mapping by the characters rather than the players. Mapping by the players at the table is something that the players may or may not do as part of their player-side decision making process in an attempt to “solve” the puzzle of the DM’s dungeon or wilderness challenge or whatever. This tool can then be used to inform their role-playing, i.e. deciding which way their characters try to go.

Mapping by the characters, on the other hand, and the characters having an accurate map in the fiction affects the mechanical resolution of the outcome of the players’ decision to have their characters go in some direction or another. I.e. do the characters travel in the direction their players decided they would try to go?

These are two different things, and I don’t see how conflating them is productive.

Hm, not sure if I understand, so you basically let your characters make a nature check and depending on that you give them a map which is detailing their position accurately and if not you give them a map and say you are not sure where you are?

What I was originally referring to is that some dungeons e.g. might have forced orientation changes as a trap, to conceal the correct route. So the DM would say: You feel a little dizzy, but it passes. And if the players do not check they run into the opposite direction from that point on and if they continue to map this, the map obviously gets wrong.

 

[iserith]

Yes, making money was one of the few benefits I could come up with. But then I remembered that I play in Forgotten Realms, where every square mile is already mapped, settled, and civilized. I'm getting kind of tired of that, and longing for something more untamed, but that's a story for another thread...

You could say they could buy those maps instead of mapping themselves, effectively trading gold for advantage on the navigating and the ability to engage in a different activity while traveling. Most players will probably be glad to have the opportunity to use their own cartographer's tools though and gain this benefit for free. I know in my pickup games players are ecstatic their proficiency has value.

I like that a lot (I've been brainstorming the effects of strong wind and rain the past few days), but I have to wonder: What is the downside to missing a day or two of mapping to poor weather? I don't want to get so granular in mapping that I have to track which hexes were and weren't mapped, so that just leaves the map's value, which would of course go down.

Typically a salable map has to connect at least two points of interest in my game e.g. town to dungeon. That keeps it nice and simple. As long as they can map all the hexes between those two points, they're good. Alternatively, you can just have them generate X gold per hex mapped on a journey. It's actually not too hard to just put a little "M" or whatever on a mapped hex though.

 

[iserith]

Hm, not sure if I understand, so you basically let your characters make a nature check and depending on that you give them a map which is detailing their position accurately and if not you give them a map and say you are not sure where you are?

What I was originally referring to is that some dungeons e.g. might have forced orientation changes as a trap, to conceal the correct route. So the DM would say: You feel a little dizzy, but it passes. And if the players do not check they run into the opposite direction from that point on and if they continue to map this, the map obviously gets wrong.

This is really for mapping in overland exploration challenges, not really for dungeon exploration. Making a map doesn't require an ability check per the rules, but it is a trade-off against being alert to danger while traveling unless you're a ranger in favored terrain. If there's a trap, hazard, or lurking creature along the path, the mapmaker is automatically surprised.

 

[Hriston]

Hm, not sure if I understand, so you basically let your characters make a nature check and depending on that you give them a map which is detailing their position accurately and if not you give them a map and say you are not sure where you are?

What I was originally referring to is that some dungeons e.g. might have forced orientation changes as a trap, to conceal the correct route. So the DM would say: You feel a little dizzy, but it passes. And if the players do not check they run into the opposite direction from that point on and if they continue to map this, the map obviously gets wrong.

No, for the purpose of this conversation, I don’t give the players a map at all. A character can choose, as an activity s/he does while traveling, to “craft” a map of the area through which the party travels, which explicitly doesn’t require a check, but comes at the cost of devoting your attention to mapmaking instead of watching for danger. Then, the character has a fictional map which grants advantage on the above mentioned types of Survival checks. There is no actual map. It is an in-game item that is valid from point A to point B. In the case of a trap like the one you describe, I would say there are two maps, one leading up to the trap and one leading away from it.

Edit: I just reread your first paragraph and noticed you’re talking about characters, not players, so I think I’ve probably misunderstood something.

Further edit: I think my points still stand. The in-fiction map is generally assumed to be accurate, no check required, barring exceptional circumstances like your trap example.

In the case of a trap like that, the character-created map would be accurate for navigating between any two points on one side of the trap or the other, but not for two points on opposite sides of the trap if the trap prevents reliable navigation through that point, in which case I would think you’d want to separately resolve the trap encounter each time it’s passed through.

 

[ccs]

I like how you assume I have a VTT running.

 

[tetrasodium]

I like how you assume I have a VTT running.

some people use them even for in person games because it's really useful & despite possible expenses it can be less costly than minis

 

[Nutation]

Deducing where secret locations are based on missing parts of the map, and having stories to tell people many years later.

Likewise. Specifically, we players in a space game (using real star coordinates within about 30ly of Sol) had a long list of surveyed planets. We had a shorter list of colonized planets. Eventually, while we were wondering where the secret pirate base was, I noticed that one of the surveyed planets was marked "habitable" but had no known colony...

Edit: For a GM running a sandbox setting, it's a way for players to seize agency and be rewarded for investing their time.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Like others mentioned, mapping keeps you from getting lost, and may help you discern secrets about the area.

In addition, if you are like me and most of the DMs I've had, maps help you find places you can safely hide & recover without having to do a full retreat to a base camp as the campaign world ticks along.

Even better, maps can help you find places where you can use the local environment & structures to gain advantages in combat.