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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="frankthedm" data-source="post: 3248741" data-attributes="member: 1164">Most skills do not have auto success or auto failure. 20's and one's counting as If 10 points higher / lower is a very popular houserule on skill checks. I am a huge advocate of Natural 20 = good, Natural 1 = bad, but when using houserules of that nature, you may need to reduce how often one can 'take 20'. Remember without the feat, you only find the tracks, but can not follow them. With enough circumstance modifiers you could negate tracking, but multiple paths from the same creature can easy add on some circumstance modifiers. And sometimes they can get high enough to where saying no to tracking is appropriate, like when a dungeon has a janitor of some type..."The stone floor is clean, too clean in fact, you suspect some type of animate slime frequents the area, roll me a knowlege dungeonering check."And sometimes a set of tracks won't go away. While the rules don't specify it, the clawprints of a huge creature's talons dig into stone won't 'fade away' from the dungeon's floor. Remember someone covering thier tracks can move at half speed to add 5 to the DC to track them. Unless the treck through the dungeon is a long one, that permits them to use hustle and possibly run options. You never use the spot skill to find a secret door. Spot is used to notice creatures trying to sneak up on you and is used in many many combats and thus skill points placed in that skill are always useful. Search is used to find objects, notably treasure and thus skill points placed in that skill are always useful unless the DM runs a kid glove game where all the treasure is sitting out in the open. All non invisable objects that could be spotted are spotted. Hidden doors have to be searched for. The difference on these skills is a balancing factor of the ruleset. Most character will not have enough skill points for both. Those that do have to pay the skill points through the nose to get all the 'perception' skills.Secret DoorsDisguised as a bare patch of wall (or floor, or ceiling), a bookcase, a fireplace, or a fountain, a secret door leads to a secret passage or room. Someone examining the area finds a secret door, if one exists, on a successful Search check (DC 20 for a typical secret door to DC 30 for a well-hidden secret door). Elves have a chance to detect a secret door just by casually looking at an area. Many secret doors require a special method of opening, such as a hidden button or pressure plate. Secret doors can open like normal doors, or they may pivot, slide, sink, rise, or even lower like a drawbridge to permit access. Builders might put a secret door down low near the floor or high up in a wall, making it difficult to find or reach. Wizards and sorcerers have a spell, phase door, that allows them to create a magic secret door that only they can use.</blockquote>

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