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<blockquote data-quote="tetrasodium" data-source="post: 8168409" data-attributes="member: 93670">[spoiler=&quot;No GM needed&quot;][ATTACH=full]131111[/ATTACH][/spoiler]The problem isn't using flight as part of the solution, the problem is the attitude&nbsp; of &quot;Most of the time flight is a resource. Using up a resource is a valid reason to have the challenge.&quot;.&nbsp; Sure there are cases where that means not casting another fireball or something, but there is no <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5At3bTi04M&amp;list=PL_wZEaKW0sXJNJ_s2j2p2ulBiXLZ6dOCa&amp;index=92" target="_blank">reciprocity</a> &amp; if it was solved by a single step that's not much different than an obstacle solved by &quot;ok.. so I open the closed door then look into the next room since it's closed&quot; levels of yawn inducing problems to solve.&nbsp;&nbsp; I listed a bunch of ways to dial up an environmental challenge off the top of my head earlier but the cornerstone for all of them was that there was not a single hurdle that needed bounding &amp; generally the immediately observable information was imperfect or obviously lacking critical details.&nbsp; If using a &quot;resource&quot;.A bunch of those examples I gave could be helped along with flight(perhaps with lower DCs or expertise dice for other stuff), but&nbsp; it should never be the only step in the chain because it's reactive &amp; boring akin to &quot;you are attacked by vampires, roll fight&quot; then resolving it in a single interaction.&nbsp;&nbsp; An exploration challenge shouldn't just be a &quot;boring*&quot; excuse to drain resources because it gives your players a chance to be proactive in using their skills &amp; abilities to competently do something dramatic.&nbsp;&nbsp; If that means the party spends five twenty or more minutes engaged in <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CompetencePorn" target="_blank">competence porn</a> that the gm is making up plausible things on the fly it's going to be an experience they remember more than the time they spent an entire session using healing word &amp; <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/does-%E2%80%9Cwhack-a-mole%E2%80%9D-healing-really-happen-in-games.677252/" target="_blank">wackamole tactics</a> to kill yeenagau&nbsp; from sheer boredom at the end of descent into avernus. Not only will they remember ithat time they were awesome, but when they tell the story to others in the future it will be an awesome story that people want details on. The important part of an exploration challenge is the &quot;challenge.&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp; DMG 261 has about a paragraph on &quot;noncombat challenges&quot;, but without guidance for breaking an impossible challenge down into smaller more level appropriate [spoiler=&quot;like this&quot;][ATTACH=full]131112[/ATTACH][/spoiler]it's just an arrow pointing at a DIY section of the system that doesn't really even have off brand ikea furniture level guidance for the GM &amp; players to be on the same page with. exploration challenges should be enjoyable &amp; maybe even exciting rather than just an excuse to drain resources* Boring as <a href="https://www.evilhat.com/home/fate-core-downloads/" target="_blank">fate</a> uses the term over &amp; over again.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="tetrasodium, post: 8168409, member: 93670"] [spoiler="No GM needed"][ATTACH type="full" alt="1610297326344.png"]131111[/ATTACH] [/spoiler] The problem isn't using flight as [I]part[/I] of the solution, the problem is the attitude of "Most of the time flight is a resource. Using up a resource is a valid reason to have the challenge.". Sure there are cases where that means not casting another fireball or something, but there is no [URL='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5At3bTi04M&list=PL_wZEaKW0sXJNJ_s2j2p2ulBiXLZ6dOCa&index=92']reciprocity[/URL] & if it was solved by a single step that's not much different than an obstacle solved by "ok.. so I open the closed door [I]then [/I]look into the next room since it's closed" levels of yawn inducing problems to solve. I listed a bunch of ways to dial up an environmental challenge off the top of my head earlier but the cornerstone for all of them was that there was not a single hurdle that needed bounding & generally the immediately observable information was imperfect or obviously lacking critical details. If using a "resource". A bunch of those examples I gave could be [I]helped[/I] along with flight[SIZE=1][I](perhaps with lower DCs or expertise dice for other stuff)[/I][/SIZE], but it should never be the only step in the chain because it's reactive & boring akin to "you are attacked by vampires, roll fight" then resolving it in a single interaction. An exploration challenge shouldn't [I]just[/I] be a "boring*" excuse to drain resources because it gives your players a chance to be proactive in using their skills & abilities to competently do something dramatic. If that means the party spends five twenty or more minutes engaged in [URL='https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CompetencePorn']competence porn[/URL] that the gm is making up plausible things on the fly it's going to be an experience they remember more than the time they spent an entire session using healing word & [URL='https://www.enworld.org/threads/does-%E2%80%9Cwhack-a-mole%E2%80%9D-healing-really-happen-in-games.677252/']wackamole tactics[/URL] to kill yeenagau from sheer boredom at the end of descent into avernus. Not only will they remember ithat time they were awesome, but when they tell the story to others in the future it will be an awesome story that people want details on. The important part of an exploration challenge is the "challenge." DMG 261 has about a paragraph on "noncombat challenges", but without guidance for breaking an impossible challenge down into smaller more level appropriate [spoiler="like this"] [ATTACH type="full" alt="1610301425502.png"]131112[/ATTACH][/spoiler] it's just an arrow pointing at a DIY section of the system that doesn't really even have off brand ikea furniture level guidance for the GM & players to be on the same page with. exploration challenges should be enjoyable & maybe even exciting rather than just an excuse to drain resources * Boring as [URL='https://www.evilhat.com/home/fate-core-downloads/']fate[/URL] uses the term over & over again. [/QUOTE]

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