Move Silently

[Trellian]

OK, here's the deal.
The characters are walking in a cavern, and unknown to them, a sleeping green dragon lairs at the end. I was thinking that the dragon, even though he is asleep can hear them when approaching. I read somewhere (don't remember where), that if a character is not stating he's moving silently, he is taking 0 + his modifier. But MOve Silently is only half speed, with a -10 on the check if he's trying to move full speed. So, characters just walking down a cave must be assumed to take -10 + modifier, right? And a sleeping creature takes a -10 on listen checks. This dragon has a +20 listen check, so it has +10 when asleep. I don't know if the dragon can take 10 when asleep, but if he takes 0, his listen check is 10. I think maybe the worst move silently score in the group is +3 or something, making the worst result -7. This means that a sleeping dragon is awakened by the party at a range of 170 feet, assuming that there aren't any stone walls or something barring the way.

Is this a right assumption?

 

[CCamfield]

Well, the section on Listen gives some sample DCs. 0 for people talking, 5 for someone in medium armour trying to move silently (more or less). A battle is -10.

I don't think assigning the characters a noise level closer to a battle than people talking would be appropriate.

On the other hand, making the dragon take 0 seems unfair and balances things out. If he took 10, with the -10 for sleeping, he'd have a total of 20.

So if you put the volume of the PCs at 0, or 0 + Move Silently, I think you end up with about the same distance at which the dragon is woken up.

On the flip side, a large sleeping dragon (although I guess this one is short of being an adult?) would not in my opinion be completely silent. The sounds of its breathing would be at least at the volume level of people whispering, and probably higher. (Although that's DC 15, and with the distance penalty, it's very unlikely the PCs would hear.) If he's not very tidy, there might be the bones of sheep or other animals he's eaten lying around. And green dragons "can be detected by the stinging odor of chlorine". So if you want to drop some clues for the PCs, you could probably do so.

 

[Trellian]

Yeah, I will include the smell of chlorine when the party approaches, and they will receive listen checks to detect him. The dragon is a young adult, and the party are two 9th levels, one 8 level and one 10 level. I plan to enhance the dragon with maximize breath and improved multiattack to make this a fight of a lifetime. IF they decide to fight. They will probably send in the rogue first, though, but I had to make some preparations if they just walked in on the dragon, which will probably awaken if they don't take precautions.

 

[CCamfield]

Sounds cool, and I wish your party luck - they'll probably need it!

 

[MichaelH]

I would make the Listen check DC 0, equal to people talking. The dragon's Listen check should be at least +20 (Take 10 + 20 maxed Listen skill -10 for sleeping). He awakens when the group is about 200 feet away. This assumes no doors or stone walls between them, of course.