Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Imaculata" data-source="post: 7160840" data-attributes="member: 6801286">Yeah, I agree. I think a lot of DM's that play 3rd edition make the mistake of basically lumping the two skills together (which is the reason why 5e has just one Perception skill). Its a bit silly in my opinion to make two skill checks for something. For example, suppose a bandit is sneaking up on the camp of the players. Do you let the character who is on watch make both a spot AND a listen check? If so, you might as well have one perception check. I tend to lean towards less checks, rather than more. I determine what is the most important factor in a scenario, and thats what I let my players roll for. I think you are more likely to hear a bandit sneaking through a forest at night, than to see him. So I let the player make a Listen check, and thats all.Notice a vampire hiding among the rafters of a dark barn? Obvious a spot.Notice some giant spiders crawling on a wall in the dark? If you have a light source, its a spot check. Otherwise, its a listen check.The down side of letting the players roll twice, is that it can make sneaking almost impossible, because the players get two attempts to notice the sneaking character. It also works the other way; if the players want to sneak up on some bad guys, and they get two checks, the players might as well not bother sneaking at all. Especially if each character gets these two checks (its a lot of rolling too), the players are almost guaranteed to be noticed by the bad guys. So I assume there's usually just one person that needs to roll, and that only one check is relevant or dominant.A while ago we had a scene where the players were sneaking into a warehouse at night, while guards with guarddogs were patrolling the place. Nearby guards would make only spot checks, because I presume the stone floor produces no noticeable sounds when the players are sneaking. I also presumed that whenever the guard dog crossed a path that the players had crossed, it would automatically smell them (no check), and sound alarm. The guard would then perform a search (with a +4 bonus because of the dog) to find the intruders, and warn his colleagues.</blockquote>

Verification