D&D 5E Rewarding Overland Travel

[doctorbadwolf]

On this, I agree with @AbdulAlhazared.

The post you’re replying to was quite a while ago, so I’m just gonna say I disagree, but acknowledge the possibility that I poorly expressed what is different between the two.

 

[Faolyn]

It also says "For each character in the party, use the Adventuring Day XP table to estimate how much XP that character is expected to earn in a day." And those figures are 6 to 7 times the figures for a Medium difficulty encounter. Which I think is @tetrasodium's point. The point is also driven home by fairly basic considerations of intra-party balance of mechanical effectiveness.

Not everyone plays with xp for combat. And that still doesn't mean that you're required to have that many combat encounters--especially if you give xp for noon-combat reasons as well.

That second claim seems doubtful to me: assuming that there's been no houseruling of Leomund's Tiny Hut out of the game, then presumably the player of a wizard can make the appropriate action declarations to learn/recall where such a spell might be learned, and then learn it.

If they see the spell being cast (I don't most DMs works let you reverse engineer a spell you didn't see cast) and if they choose to research the spell or wait until they level up and get their new free works. Neither of those things are instantaneous and spell research likely will cost quite a bit. Beyond that, the DM controls what spells are available in stores or what can be gotten from captured spellbooks.

 

[pemerton]

the DM controls what spells are available in stores or what can be gotten from captured spellbooks.

That goes to my point about houserules. If a GM has decided that Leomund's Tiny Hut is not commonplace in the fashion that the rulebooks would suggest, I think that counts as a house rule.

 

[Faolyn]

That goes to my point about houserules. If a GM has decided that Leomund's Tiny Hut is not commonplace in the fashion that the rulebooks would suggest, I think that counts as a house rule.

Do the books suggest that tiny hut is a common spell? I don't recall anything in the PH that lists common versus uncommon spells. Are you assuming that if it's in the PH, it's common and if it's in another book, it's uncommon or rare?

And honestly, when I place spellbooks (or scrolls), I don't think about common versus uncommon. I think about appropriate to the owner.

 

[rmcoen]

Not all campaigns have Outlanders and/or Druids. I run one that doesn't, and I play in one that doesn't. (In the other one I play... I am the Outlander! And we have a druid...)

The party is wandering open plains far from "settled" lands. Yes, they can forage for food. Yes, the cleric can cast create food and water. But no one wants to spend all day every day feeding 4 other mooches. And those 3rd level spell slots have a lot of other good uses (revivify and spirit guardians come to mind). So finding an abundant source of fish was a Good Day for them - 2 days they didn't have to forage, and were able to move faster. Having rodents get into the supplies one night was a Bad Day... they had to spend a day making no progress in order to repair containers (and waterskins!), and resupply. Were they at risk? Not at all. But these were interesting events in the travel narrative.

My players have also been conditioned in previous games to always be aware of time passing. There was always some looming threat, so lost day or half-speed really weighed on them. This campaign is more sandbox, and they are having a little difficulty changing the mindset. I'm using a few "travel montages" to help them get more into the feeling of exploring and beautiful vistas (and the occasional environmental discomfort) to focus on the adventure, not the campaign. They remember the night sheltering in the copse of trees, hiding from the storm. They remember the hidden stream leading to the fish-filled pond - and quietly watching some of the plains creatures drink and go peacefully on their way. Or the "successful" hunt by their soldiers, who after a full day of "foraging", brought back one gazelle... for the party of 12. Or the 90-degree weather that was baking the dwarf in his heavy metal armor-- but ended with swimming in a waterfall.

Sometimes, though, they find mysteries. The OP's examples were "you find this item because the hags stashed it here" - but the PCs don't know that. It's a mystery. My PCs found a battle site between dwarves and goblins (led there by circling carrion birds). The dwarves died hard, but curiously, the goblins all had multiple fatal wounds. Weird. [Later they found a goblin deathlock who was animating goblin soldiers, and had had one of his "gathering groups" wiped out by said dwarven patrol. They all went "oh!!!" as they connected those dots.]

 

[pemerton]

And honestly, when I place spellbooks (or scrolls), I don't think about common versus uncommon. I think about appropriate to the owner.

presumably the player of a wizard can make the appropriate action declarations to learn/recall where such a spell might be learned, and then learn it.

What's the DC for an INT check (maybe INT (Investigation)) to learn where a mage lives in the city who knows Leomund's Tiny Hut? It doesn't seem to me like it should be that high.

An alternative approach would be a CHA check to hobnob with fellow mages at the Wizard's Guild (or comparable establishment).

I don't see that finding the spell should be all that hard.

 

[Faolyn]

What's the DC for an INT check (maybe INT (Investigation)) to learn where a mage lives in the city who knows Leomund's Tiny Hut? It doesn't seem to me like it should be that high.

That depends. How big is the city? How magical is the world? How common are spellcasters? How well does the individual know that city? If this is your first time to a city and you don't know anyone there, why would it be easy for you to find out where a particular individual lives?

An alternative approach would be a CHA check to hobnob with fellow mages at the Wizard's Guild (or comparable establishment).

I don't see that finding the spell should be all that hard.

If you have the type of world where wizard's guilds are a thing, then sure, it shouldn't be that hard to find the spell.

If your world doesn't have wizard's guilds (mine doesn't) or where wizard's guilds are incredibly insular or snooty and unwilling to deal with outsiders, then it would be a lot harder.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

What's the DC for an INT check (maybe INT (Investigation)) to learn where a mage lives in the city who knows Leomund's Tiny Hut? It doesn't seem to me like it should be that high.

An alternative approach would be a CHA check to hobnob with fellow mages at the Wizard's Guild (or comparable establishment).

I don't see that finding the spell should be all that hard.

Is there a Wizard’s Guild (or comparable establishment), or are there just solitary wizards who hoard their secrets but occasionally take an apprentice, and enforce loyalty with oath rods that inflict a gaes upon both parties?

 

[pemerton]

That depends. How big is the city? How magical is the world? How common are spellcasters? How well does the individual know that city? If this is your first time to a city and you don't know anyone there, why would it be easy for you to find out where a particular individual lives?


If you have the type of world where wizard's guilds are a thing, then sure, it shouldn't be that hard to find the spell.

If your world doesn't have wizard's guilds (mine doesn't) or where wizard's guilds are incredibly insular or snooty and unwilling to deal with outsiders, then it would be a lot harder.

Is there a Wizard’s Guild (or comparable establishment), or are there just solitary wizards who hoard their secrets but occasionally take an apprentice, and enforce loyalty with oath rods that inflict a gaes upon both parties?

I guess I don't really see how this is any different from the GM just houseruling the spell out of the game.

 

[Kestrel]

To the original poster: Really cool idea, thanks!!! Copied for ideas in my game.