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Message: <blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 7161049" data-attributes="member: 97077">Something to consider:The section of the rules on Adventuring goes into tasks that are performed while the PCs are traveling. Since the section on Speed/Pace breaks down to minutes and feet not just hours and miles, that says to me that it applies when the characters are delving (instead of just traveling overland, for example). Since passive checks are used when a character undertakes a task with an uncertain outcome repeatedly, then passive checks will apply as the PCs go about the business of adventuring. However, as the Adventuring section notes, you can only really perform one given task provided that task reasonably distracts from other tasks. So, for example, if you want to Keep Watch for hidden dangers (monsters, traps), you can't Navigate, Search for Secret Doors, Forage, Track, Draw a Map, etc. and vice versa. The exception is the ranger in favored terrain who can both Keep Watch and perform some other task.What this does is create a trade-off, especially if you make the result of tasks other than Keep Watch useful (e.g. Search for Secret Doors reveals short cuts around danger or paths to hidden treasure), valuable (Draw a Map - and sell it), or even necessary (Navigate in a maze or you're automatically lost). In my experience you'll quickly see players opt to do other things than Keep Watch, especially if you're not ambushing the characters every time they turn around. They can afford to suffer the odd automatic surprise because of the upsides of performing other tasks. If they cannot abide being surprised, then they'll Keep Watch at the cost of not getting any of the benefits of the other tasks. It's truly a meaningful decision and promotes a lot of teamwork as well.I think this should be avoided but for different reasons: I get annoyed when DMs ask for checks that are not prompted by a player describing what they want to do. It's the DM making assumptions about character action and I'm not a fan of that.This reminds me of the other thing in the Adventuring section - position in the marching order matters. If the party is approaching a trap, only the characters in the front rank have a chance of noticing it. This means that the guy or gal with the good passive Perception needs to be in the front rank and Keeping Watch which means not performing some other beneficial task and also being somewhat more at risk than the others.It sounds like you check for surprise a lot. I don't because it doesn't always seem obvious to me that a monster is going to try to be sneaky. Sometimes, sure. Or sometimes ambushes happen because of previous actions the PCs have taken (a foray into the dungeon plus a retreat to rest comes to mind). But not all that often in my games. If there's a lot of ambushes and surprise in yours, then that could be a big factor contributing to players pumping Perception. Toning that down and implementing the rules I mentioned above might sort that right out.</blockquote>

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