Multiple Spot/Listen checks with one roll?

[KarinsDad]

One last thing about the method I mentioned: I think it works so that having 2 guards instead of 1 gives a benefit better than adding 1 guard to a group which is already large (going from 20 guards to 21 isn't as much as an improvement), and also - because of the cap - after some point it makes no difference at all.

Hence the reason I changed your line:

- adding a +2 bonus every time the group doubles in number

to:

- adding a +2 bonus every time the group doubles in number to a maximum of +4


There starts to be a point of diminishing returns. Once you get beyond 4 guards, either they are too far away to be part of the equation, or if they are closer and/or in larger groups, they start distracting each other (unless they are extremely well disciplined which is the exception in my mind as opposed to the rule).

In fact, I could easily add a +4 bonus for there being 10 guards close together (i.e. a bonus for the number of guards) and turn around and put a -2 penalty on it for there being 10 guards close together (i.e. a penalty for too many guards moving around in armor distracting each other).

Sometimes too much of a good thing is a bad thing.