Moderators - Please, lock this thread.

[Ashrem Bayle]

Honestly, I have no idea how to adjudicate that phrase. I'm giving you huge amounts of detail as to the personalities and people that thrive in this community and you think I'm just going to allow you a roll of the dice to find someone else's coin in your character's pocket? Better do a bit better than that, young Ash. I'll need details of the type of thing you plan to do, who or what you plan to do it to, and what skills you plan to bring to bear. After that, it's easy...

Mark

What I meant was if there was anyone within "bumping into" range or a vendor we passed by who had his back turned Arim might stop and "browse" or "bump into" that person.

I wasn't exactly sure what immediate opportunities were available. By me saying that he was keeping his eyes open for an "easy mark", I meant that I wanted you to tell me if a good situation was present, such as somebody to "bump into". From your description, I would formulate a plan and describe it.

Make sense?

 

[Jack Haggerty]

What I meant was if there was anyone within "bumping into" range or a vendor we passed by who had his back turned Arim might stop and "browse" or "bump into" that person.

I wasn't exactly sure what immediate opportunities were available. By me saying that he was keeping his eyes open for an "easy mark", I meant that I wanted you to tell me if a good situation was present, such as somebody to "bump into". From your description, I would formulate a plan and describe it.

Make sense?

And you were planning on doing this with a town guardsman walking along beside you... hmmm?

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

Well.....yea

All I would have to do would be fall would be fall back behind you a bit before I "bumped" the person. It would happen so fast, you likely wouldn't even turn around.

 

[Mark]

What I meant was if there was anyone within "bumping into" range or a vendor we passed by who had his back turned Arim might stop and "browse" or "bump into" that person.

I wasn't exactly sure what immediate opportunities were available. By me saying that he was keeping his eyes open for an "easy mark", I meant that I wanted you to tell me if a good situation was present, such as somebody to "bump into". From your description, I would formulate a plan and describe it.

Make sense?

Sorry. Here's the problem and why I'm in a position that makes it not work quite that way (as far as the way I DM, of course).

I can only describe the minions of the environment and give you an idea of the potential consequences for your action, both of which I have done by describing dozens of people in the vicinity (literally) and giving you some of your family history (Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?). It falls to you to qualify them and weigh the risks versus potential gains.

I could roll a die and pick a person for you, then roll another die to see if you think it is easy or good but it's better if you make those decisions. I'd have to modify the rolls based on your inexperience regarding the town but that would go against, rather than for you.

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

I'm not exactly sure how I should handle this.

Example:

Arim is walking down the street looking for someone to get close enough to "bump" into them and lift their money pouch without it looking obvious. He isn't going to try though, unless he sees that they indeed have an exposed money pouch.

The problem is how am I going to know when and to whom this will happen unless you tell me?

I'm just asking for a specific clarification of the enviroment. You don't have to roll anything.

When I said Arim was looking for an easy mark, I was expecting you to tell me something like:

A. A merchant with a fat purse is walking along in front of you.
B. A trinket vendor nearby is bending down sorting things out below the counter.
C. Everyone is going on about there business. You don't see anything particular.

From this I would formulate a plan or just walk by and pass up the opportunity.

I can't expect you to detail every single person on the street, that's why I stated that Shade was particulary alert.

Same goes if I was looking for a rock about the size of a fist. There may or may not be one in the road and it's not likely you would mention it in the description if there was. How would I know if it was there without asking?

 

[Mark]

I'm not exactly sure how I should handle this.

By asking for something specific that doesn't require me to qualify it for you. *shrug*

Example:

Arim is walking down the street looking for someone to get close enough to "bump" into them and lift their money pouch without it looking obvious. He isn't going to try though, unless he sees that they indeed have an exposed money pouch.

The problem is how am I going to know when and to whom this will happen unless you tell me?

I'm just asking for a specific clarification of the enviroment. You don't have to roll anything.

When I said Arim was looking for an easy mark, I was expecting you to tell me something like:

A. A merchant with a fat purse is walking along in front of you.
B. A trinket vendor nearby is bending down sorting things out below the counter.
C. Everyone is going on about there business. You don't see anything particular.

Now you've given me some potential targets that don't require me to qualify them. I've rolled the spot checks and have come up as negative on A. and B. (neither of which you see in an area that makes it possible to bump into them) which leaves C. at this time.

From this I would formulate a plan or just walk by and pass up the opportunity.

I can't expect you to detail every single person on the street, that's why I stated that Shade was particulary alert.

Ah, but you can take advantage of the descriptions I give of people without requiring me to qualify them, or state visual parameters that don't include me hedging your bet for you. That seems to be the crux of the problem. I think we've gotten passed that now, though. Probably just a matter of DMing and playing styles. *shrug*

Same goes if I was looking for a rock about the size of a fist. There may or may not be one in the road and it's not likely you would mention it in the description if there was. How would I know if it was there without asking?

As long as what you are ask doesn't require me to qualify it in terms that I can't like "good" or "easy" and stick with things like "merchant" with "a fat purse" I can roll the spot checks for you.

BTW You've spotted a fist sized rock near the warehouse construction site.

 

[Mark]

OOC: Do you want us to list skills, attacks and such that we're using? For example...

Gather Information +1
Sense Motive +0, to determine whether or not they lie to him.

This is exactly the sort of thing I'd like because it saves me from having to dig through the character sheets with each action to find potential modifiers. Eventually, when I will have seen them often enough to know a lot of them but that day is quite a while off I'm guessing.

Hmmm...

I'm wondering if it might be a good idea to start a second screen name for each character and use the "size=1" command like I do in my sig (to make the type smaller) and add a stat block in them for your character? I'll leave it up to you fellows. Let's kick that around and see what the four of you think, please.

 

[Danmor]

Something like this?

 

[Jack Haggerty]

I'm wondering if it might be a good idea to start a second screen name for each character and use the "size=1" command like I do in my sig (to make the type smaller) and add a stat block in them for your character? I'll leave it up to you fellows. Let's kick that around and see what the four of you think, please.

Personally, I'd rather not... Partially because, I'm using my regular username for my character's name... Partially because, when I post in In-game threads I purposefully avoid using signatures. They tend to unecessarily clutter up the thread.

But let me think about it...

PS. Well that's kind of neat, it automatically updated all my old signatures... How does this format look?

 

[Ashrem Bayle]

As long as what you are ask doesn't require me to qualify it in terms that I can't like "good" or "easy" and stick with things like "merchant" with "a fat purse" I can roll the spot checks for you.

BTW You've spotted a fist sized rock near the warehouse construction site.

I think I see what you are saying. I think a big part of it was a misunderstanding due to my bad wording. "Easy mark" should have been "obvious mark". I wasn't looking for you to tell me whether or not a certain person would be easy to pull a pickpocket on or not. I was just wondering who was out there.

You didn't mention a merchant with a fat purse in your description. The problem is, I have no way of knowing whether he wasn't there or you just didn't mention him. Also, I assume time keeps moving. Maybe the merchant stepped out after the brief instant captured in your description?

You want me to tell you specificly what I'm looking for? The problem with that is: What do I do about the unforseen situations.

In real life, I may be specificly looking for a person with their purse exposed, but I catch a glimps of a vendor with his attention turned elswhere while leaving a sack of gold on the counter unattended. I wasn't looking for him, but I saw him anyway. (Search vs. Spot?)

I'm not sure if you want me to depend entirely on your description and not ask questions for clairification on the enviroment or do you want me to come up with a big list of all the thing Shade watches for?

The way I see it,

"I'm looking for an obvious target." is the same as "I'm looking for people obviously armed."

Do I need to say?
I'm looking for people with swords on their back.
I'm looking for people with swords on their belt.
I'm looking for people with a spear in their hand.
etc..

Like I said. It sounds like at least part of this stems from my sloppy wording and your misunderstanding of my intentions.

Or maybe it's a Search vs. Spot thing.

Wouldn't you roll Search if I asked about something specific?

PHB pg.73 - Search: The Search skill lets a character discern some small detail or irregularity through active effort.

PHB pg.74 - Spot: Use this skill to notice bandits waiting in ambush, to see a rogue lurking in the shadows, or to see the giant centipede in the pile of trash.

It sounds like what I'm doing calls for a Spot check and what you want calls for a Search check. Two ways to get the same result.

*shrugs*

Anyway, your the DM so I'll do it anyway you want. Just give me an example of what you want so I can be clear.