evildmguy
Explorer
Greetings!
I just read the Alert Factor article in Polyhedron and I have a few problems with it. I will talk about them and my suggestions for them.
[For those that don't have it, the article is a series of ideas/rules on creating a dungeon where the inhabitants of room 2 help room 1 or room 3, if they hear something. It gives rules for various levels of readiness and what they mean, in terms of readiness for combat. For example, a moderately high alert status means that spells with long durations are cast and weapons are out but held loosely. People are ready for an attack. Including in this are bonuses to the defenders to some skills rolls as well as initiative.]
Player's Use: I think the thing that was disappointing was the way the author talked about how this could be used by the players to help them sneak in. By observing the guards and patrols, they can figure out how ready the dungeon (or fort, guard tower, whatever) is for an attack. While I agree this should be the case, it assumes the DM will use this. If the DM isn't, his idea of ready and the articles might differ, which would change the strategy of the players.
Suggestion: In the end, common sense or at least a common agreement, for this type of situation, could be used. This article can certainly help to achieve a common ground agreement for what being ready means. "Passive" spells, such as detect magic and the like could help players determine how ready the opposition is, even if the specifics of this article aren't being used. Otherwise, Spot checks to determine how ready a guard is (DC 15 or vs a Bluff Check if the guard is trying to appear that he isn't ready) would also work.
The alert bonus: I found this to penalize the players for the simple reason that shouldn't the players, entering the dungeon area, always be at altert status 15+? They are expecting trouble!
Suggestions: Either give the players the Alert Bonus at +2 (or higher) or drop it all together. The bonus to initiative is a big deal, imo, when the antagonists can also have readied actions for when the players come through a door!
Alert status: I had a big problem with the time frame as well as starting alert statuses. I think there is way too long of a time period for groups to stay alert. If guards get alerted from a 10 to a 20 and then have to go back down to a 10, that is five hours! That's a long time to stay alert!
Suggestions: First of all, I would change starting alert status. While I would allow certain areas to be higher, perhaps based on guard change, those areas can also go down to 0 for an Alert Status. Second, I would change the decay time from a half hour per point decrease to two minutes per point decay.
Final ideas: All in all, this was an okay article but I felt the author didn't go far enough. If he wanted a "living dungeon" he should have added ideas for patrols to keep the alert status up. Perhaps talked about ideas to keep the alert status high or talked about what the guards might do to keep themselves alert. These, then, would also be hints as to how long these guards have been on duty! As the article stands, I think it gives too much to the defenders, who already have many advantages, such as cover.
Again, some very good ideas but I think they still need to be developer further to be of use.
edg
I just read the Alert Factor article in Polyhedron and I have a few problems with it. I will talk about them and my suggestions for them.
[For those that don't have it, the article is a series of ideas/rules on creating a dungeon where the inhabitants of room 2 help room 1 or room 3, if they hear something. It gives rules for various levels of readiness and what they mean, in terms of readiness for combat. For example, a moderately high alert status means that spells with long durations are cast and weapons are out but held loosely. People are ready for an attack. Including in this are bonuses to the defenders to some skills rolls as well as initiative.]
Player's Use: I think the thing that was disappointing was the way the author talked about how this could be used by the players to help them sneak in. By observing the guards and patrols, they can figure out how ready the dungeon (or fort, guard tower, whatever) is for an attack. While I agree this should be the case, it assumes the DM will use this. If the DM isn't, his idea of ready and the articles might differ, which would change the strategy of the players.
Suggestion: In the end, common sense or at least a common agreement, for this type of situation, could be used. This article can certainly help to achieve a common ground agreement for what being ready means. "Passive" spells, such as detect magic and the like could help players determine how ready the opposition is, even if the specifics of this article aren't being used. Otherwise, Spot checks to determine how ready a guard is (DC 15 or vs a Bluff Check if the guard is trying to appear that he isn't ready) would also work.
The alert bonus: I found this to penalize the players for the simple reason that shouldn't the players, entering the dungeon area, always be at altert status 15+? They are expecting trouble!
Suggestions: Either give the players the Alert Bonus at +2 (or higher) or drop it all together. The bonus to initiative is a big deal, imo, when the antagonists can also have readied actions for when the players come through a door!
Alert status: I had a big problem with the time frame as well as starting alert statuses. I think there is way too long of a time period for groups to stay alert. If guards get alerted from a 10 to a 20 and then have to go back down to a 10, that is five hours! That's a long time to stay alert!
Suggestions: First of all, I would change starting alert status. While I would allow certain areas to be higher, perhaps based on guard change, those areas can also go down to 0 for an Alert Status. Second, I would change the decay time from a half hour per point decrease to two minutes per point decay.
Final ideas: All in all, this was an okay article but I felt the author didn't go far enough. If he wanted a "living dungeon" he should have added ideas for patrols to keep the alert status up. Perhaps talked about ideas to keep the alert status high or talked about what the guards might do to keep themselves alert. These, then, would also be hints as to how long these guards have been on duty! As the article stands, I think it gives too much to the defenders, who already have many advantages, such as cover.
Again, some very good ideas but I think they still need to be developer further to be of use.
edg
