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<blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 5713470" data-attributes="member: 53980">Good post!&nbsp; I like a lot of the ideas you put forth here.I apologize if any of this is a retread.&nbsp; I had a few thoughts pop into my head as I was reading and want to get them down before I forget, so I haven't read any responses yet.I like your suggestion that passive perception cannot find things.&nbsp; To expand on your idea, perhaps it could be used as a danger sense.&nbsp; It wouldn't allow you to find a trap, but it would allow you to notice the trap as you set it off.&nbsp; Anyone who triggers a trap but doesn't have a sufficient passive value would be surprised by that trap, suffering appropriate penalties.&nbsp; Someone with a high enough value would not suffer those penalties.&nbsp; Any sort of (non-obvious) threat would have a Perception DC, and those with sufficient passive scores would not suffer surprise penalties when triggering it.I think 3 clues for every hidden element might be excessive.&nbsp; That works out to 30 clues scattered throughout KoS, for example.&nbsp; That's a goodly amount of work for a DM.&nbsp; I think 3 clues is reasonable if the clues are hard to find and/or subtle.&nbsp; I should think that 1 or 2 clues would be sufficient in the case of reasonably obvious clues though (such as a map showing the location of a&nbsp; secret door).Could you give a few more specific examples of the types of clues you'd use?&nbsp; I'm having difficulty imagining how to offer 3 clues without painting a neon sign.&nbsp; For example, in the case of a decapitating trap I might mention blood on the floor, scratches on the wall, and decapitated skeletal remains.&nbsp; However, that seems so obvious to me that a child could figure it out.I'm not saying that neon signs are necessarily a bad thing.&nbsp; If the players need to find the secret door to continue the adventure, a map showing its location makes good sense.&nbsp; On the other hand, a map showing the location of every trap in the dungeon is a bit excessive.&nbsp; IMO, traps should be triggered sometimes.&nbsp; There should be clues to warn the wary, but players shouldn't be able to figure them out 100% of the time except in hindsight.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Fanaelialae, post: 5713470, member: 53980"] Good post! I like a lot of the ideas you put forth here. I apologize if any of this is a retread. I had a few thoughts pop into my head as I was reading and want to get them down before I forget, so I haven't read any responses yet. I like your suggestion that passive perception cannot find things. To expand on your idea, perhaps it could be used as a danger sense. It wouldn't allow you to find a trap, but it would allow you to notice the trap as you set it off. Anyone who triggers a trap but doesn't have a sufficient passive value would be surprised by that trap, suffering appropriate penalties. Someone with a high enough value would not suffer those penalties. Any sort of (non-obvious) threat would have a Perception DC, and those with sufficient passive scores would not suffer surprise penalties when triggering it. I think 3 clues for every hidden element might be excessive. That works out to 30 clues scattered throughout KoS, for example. That's a goodly amount of work for a DM. I think 3 clues is reasonable if the clues are hard to find and/or subtle. I should think that 1 or 2 clues would be sufficient in the case of reasonably obvious clues though (such as a map showing the location of a secret door). Could you give a few more specific examples of the types of clues you'd use? I'm having difficulty imagining how to offer 3 clues without painting a neon sign. For example, in the case of a decapitating trap I might mention blood on the floor, scratches on the wall, and decapitated skeletal remains. However, that seems so obvious to me that a child could figure it out. I'm not saying that neon signs are necessarily a bad thing. If the players need to find the secret door to continue the adventure, a map showing its location makes good sense. On the other hand, a map showing the location of every trap in the dungeon is a bit excessive. IMO, traps should be triggered sometimes. There should be clues to warn the wary, but players shouldn't be able to figure them out 100% of the time except in hindsight. [/QUOTE]

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