How far should the party hang back from the scout?

[Question]

Lets say we have a ranger/rogue/someone with good hide/move silently/etc skills.....he scouts ahead of the party in a dungeon......how far behind should the party be?

 

[Chimera]

First off, don't fall into "set distance".

If your party is walking in the dark with a lantern and heavy armor, etc, they're noticable from quite a long distance away. Having the Scout be 20', 30', even 100' in front of them ends up being a joke.

Like a game I ran a few years ago where people were disappearing without a trace from a small town. Always happened when they were alone. Long story short, the party decided to have one PC walk "alone", with the rest of the party following behind. I ask how far. Their first answer was "30 feet". What? One guy is walking around town with a mob of people following 30 feet behind him and he's "alone"?

Their next answer was 50 feet! Then they tried to argue the point with me! "No one should notice the rest of the group following him!" Yeah....

Ignore set distance and go point to point. Advance to an intersection. Scout around and see how far things go. Note the things you see along the way. Listen at doors. Then go back and bring the party up to that point. Rinse and repeat.

 

[Victim]

About 5 ft. If your scout is far enough ahead to actually be scouting, then you just split the party. Given that the scout needs to win two skill checks, will often be rolling against groups, and there's tons of stuff that totally ignores his stealth tricks, I don't see how scouting, aside from certain specific cases, is anything other than a way to get a party member killed.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

About 5 ft. If your scout is far enough ahead to actually be scouting, then you just split the party. Given that the scout needs to win two skill checks, will often be rolling against groups, and there's tons of stuff that totally ignores his stealth tricks, I don't see how scouting, aside from certain specific cases, is anything other than a way to get a party member killed.

In general, I agree with the above. If a scout is absolutely necessary, I'd make sure to cast the Message spell on the scout, so we could communicate over distances, and require him to scout ahead no farther than 2 rounds ahead of the party. Any farther and he's as good as dead before reinforcements can reach him. And even the 2 rounds may get him killed more often than not.

 

[Krel]

In general, I agree with the above. If a scout is absolutely necessary, I'd make sure to cast the Message spell on the scout, so we could communicate over distances, and require him to scout ahead no farther than 2 rounds ahead of the party. Any farther and he's as good as dead before reinforcements can reach him. And even the 2 rounds may get him killed more often than not.

I dought that would really work. A monster would surely hear the group if they were only 5 ft. away! I think that if a character is actually meant for "scouting", he should optimize his/her character so that they can sneak around without getting noticed.

 

[Artoomis]

D&D is not generally conducive to the dual concepts of "scouting" and "surviving."

However, if a party REALLY wants a scout and a player REALLY wants to be the scout, the character should be optimized solely for scouting, survivability and speed. All feats, skills and magic items should be aimed towards that goal. Forget offense; focus on defense, stealth and observation skills.

A monk is an excellent choice for a scout. All those skills are class skills, and the good saves and speed help survivability as well.

In any case, to be effective, the scout should be WELL ahead of the party. If the scout can spot or hear the party, she's too close.

 

[Cedric]

As nice as the concept of scouting is...in practice it 'usually' will result in the eventual death of your scout.

Therefore, in D&D my groups generally bypass scouting in favor of "Kick down the door, spit on the floor."

It works...

 

[Artoomis]

As nice as the concept of scouting is...in practice it 'usually' will result in the eventual death of your scout.

Therefore, in D&D my groups generally bypass scouting in favor of "Kick down the door, spit on the floor."

It works...

Otherwise known as "recon by force."

 

[Victim]

I dought that would really work. A monster would surely hear the group if they were only 5 ft. away! I think that if a character is actually meant for "scouting", he should optimize his/her character so that they can sneak around without getting noticed.

Yes, they would. But at least the party would get to keep the benefits of a character with good spot and listen, amongst other skills.

Without getting noticed? Tremor Sense, Blindsense/Sight, very simple traps, and statistics all conspire to make the life of a scout a short one.

 

[ThirdWizard]

"Scouting" in D&D is spelled divination. Clairvoyance and clairaudience as well as scrying are the usual methods. You can fall back on things like augury, divination, or locate object or creature aslo.

If you're really desperate, you can cast fly, invisibility, and silence on someone with a good spot skill and send them into the air to look around. This is usually only useful if what you're looking for is either really big or really obvious, though, in my experience.