Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Guest 6801328" data-source="post: 8098269">I would say that if the dogs are trained to this task, and they have an item, then yes it works.&nbsp; Good solution to a problem.&nbsp; No dice rolls needed.&nbsp; All that's needed is some colorful narration.The only question is if you want to throw some challenges in their path and give them a chance to do some more problem solving.&nbsp; If there's time pressure, then the obstacles (as per [USER=97077]@iserith[/USER]'s suggestion) could mostly be about time delays.&nbsp; If there's no real time pressure, then ask yourself what the purpose/goal of the obstacle and the consequence are.&nbsp; If it's just, &quot;Well, there needs to be some dice rolling&quot; then skip it.What I would avoid are any kinds of checks that don't involve conscious decisions about trade-offs.&nbsp; For example, it might be tempting to have a false scent, and the &quot;handler&quot; has to make a Wisdom:Animal Handling check to notice that the eager dog is now following a trail of bacon grease (or whatever).&nbsp; So let's say the player fails the check, the trail dead-ends at a bacon cart, and the players realize they've made a mistake.&nbsp; Except....they didn't really make a mistake, did they?&nbsp; They didn't face a choice and make a wrong decision.&nbsp; They were just told to make a roll, which they failed.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Guest 6801328, post: 8098269"] I would say that if the dogs are trained to this task, and they have an item, then yes it works. Good solution to a problem. No dice rolls needed. All that's needed is some colorful narration. The only question is if you want to throw some challenges in their path and give them a chance to do some more problem solving. If there's time pressure, then the obstacles (as per [USER=97077]@iserith[/USER]'s suggestion) could mostly be about time delays. If there's no real time pressure, then ask yourself what the purpose/goal of the obstacle and the consequence are. If it's just, "Well, there needs to be [I]some[/I] dice rolling" then skip it. What I would avoid are any kinds of checks that don't involve conscious decisions about trade-offs. For example, it might be tempting to have a false scent, and the "handler" has to make a Wisdom:Animal Handling check to notice that the eager dog is now following a trail of bacon grease (or whatever). So let's say the player fails the check, the trail dead-ends at a bacon cart, and the players realize they've made a mistake. Except....they didn't [I]really[/I] make a mistake, did they? They didn't face a choice and make a wrong decision. They were just told to make a roll, which they failed. [/QUOTE]

Verification