NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 8638513" data-attributes="member: 3400">That's a big IF at the start of this paragraph. Logistical difficulties can certainly be an element of exploration, but they really don't cover the whole point. Far more important, if you ask me, is encountering interesting things on the way. A ranger's natural explorer ability can make things easier, but they also give the DM a way to give the ranger player choices that highlight them and their class feature rather than just kind of elide over it. And if the ranger (or outlander) caters to players who like exploration, it would suck for a DM to not lean into it a bit so that player has a chance to shine with it. And while you kind of dismiss the LotR-style montages, delving into the trip from Bree to Rivendell provides examples of how you can do some of these things. Aragorn takes the hobbits along alternate routes to avoid perceived threats (particularly the threat of being spotted on the open road). A DM who leans in can give the ranger choices - for example: "take the long way around or face this encounter that your superior exploratory skills have spotted?" or "a natural landmark you've heard of is only about a day's travel out of your way and is rumored to be worth the visit - you want to go check it out?"There's a lot you can do with it. But whenever these debates come up, it just highlights to me that not enough people focus on how the game can change with the choices the players make if the DM is willing to work with them, particularly for relatively basic mundane abilities like finding food, water, and not getting lost.</blockquote>

Verification