The book has made several mentions of the sage and cloistered scholar backgrounds when it comes to interpreting languages. Given how weak Linguist is, I figure that should probably also qualify for those benefits.
Enhancing: playing up the themes while still in the Port city. The Merchant Princes are a semi-evil bunch, controlling trade and amassing wealth, but not caring if there is slavery, and throwing criminals to the dino pits. People can express desire for the old kings and queens to return.
I've noticed that the book goes to great effort to make a distinction between "making" a Wisdom (Perception) check and passive Perception. Numerous times it points out that they're not considered the same thing, like in the following:
Characters who search for such things while approaching the village notice the tripwires with a successful DC 13 Wisdom (Perception) check; otherwise, they’re noticed by anyone with a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 13 or higher.
This runs counter to my previous assumptions about how 5e and adventure modules worked. I've never seen this distinction be pointed out so clearly. The wording is the same throughout the module so I don't think it's not a mistake when it only mentions making a check and not the passive. In other words, I think it assumes that unless it's specifically pointed out that a passive Perception notices something, all the other perception checks have to be actively rolled ones.
Which raises the question: do I ask for these checks at appropriate times or simply assume they walk into these traps unless the players say they're actively searching for things?
The book has made several mentions of the sage and cloistered scholar backgrounds when it comes to interpreting languages. Given how weak Linguist is, I figure that should probably also qualify for those benefits.
So, should I be making more than one check then?
I've made a Discord server for ToA DMs to share resources and chat with each other about running the game. There are over 80 of us in here already:
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There are "hidden" secret doors in Princes of the apocalypse that have DC 10. OOTA also features trivial DCs.
I can't even *begin* to understand what the designer thought.
Memo to all WotC employees: a competent group of players will always make sure to include at least one Wisdom-based class with Perception proficiency.
This means that any DC of 15 or less will be either automatically detected (if you use passive Perception) or be more likely than not to be detected (if you only use active Perception)
It should have been forbidden to describe a DC 10 door as hidden or secret! Even a Commoner auto-detects these, for Crosslake!
So no, I can't even begin to explain what they were thinking. It's useless, that's what it is.
I've had to scrub secret door detection rules entirely, making up my own house rule that says you're using Investigation to detect inanimate features, and to use my own DCs where DC 15 is the new normal - any lower and the handiwork is shoddy or inept.
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Oops, I'm really sorry. I genuinely thought no one had made a "running the adventure" thread. Do you suppose we could ask a mod to merge the threads?It's like I don't even exist.
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?582133-SPOILERS-Running-Tomb-of-Annihilation-Discussion