Stopping take 20 Searching.

[CM]

I agree with the "where's the problem" crowd. With my rogue, first I check out suspicious objects with a normal search check, then just let the DM know: "28 Search in this room and the hall outside. Takes 12 minutes." The other players are happy because they're reasonably sure we didn't miss anything, and the DM is happy that he knows exactly how much time we're wasting in any given room. Of course in situations where there's an immediate threat we have to deal with that first, but if you're in a relatively calm environment you may as well take your time and play it safe.

If the DM really wants to include something the party has the potential of overlooking, there needs to be some distracting element to the situation, as others have mentioned. A harmful environment, threatening enemies, or a race against time, to name a few.

Edit: I'd like to add that I'm a little biased in this situation. I've been playing in the Lost City of Barakus campaign, and there are secret doors ALL OVER THE PLACE, so I've become a little jaded.

 

[S'mon]

Edit: I'd like to add that I'm a little biased in this situation. I've been playing in the Lost City of Barakus campaign, and there are secret doors ALL OVER THE PLACE, so I've become a little jaded.

*sshhh*

 

[reanjr]

You need to find a player like me to add to your group. When the party begins searching, my character takes off. Searching inch by inch in a room is not his idea of fun. So he moves on, alerting the entire dungeon to the presence of the PCs (if they don't already know), gets to play by himself for a while (boring the other players just as much their characters were boring his), and you can drop mad loot in his way (suggestion: anything that you were going to have in the room the rest of the party is searching), rewarding him for proactive dungeon crawling, while the rest of the party is punished for being greedy graverobbers rather than adventurers.

 

[CM]

As the player of a snarky rogue, I wouldn't be terribly concerned if the fighter wandered off to get himself killed. If the player wants to role-play wandering off on his own, wasting our gaming time, I wouldn't take too kindly to it, when our searching is only wasting in-game time. In our situation, nobody has a problem with going over the dungeon with a fine-toothed comb, because the aforementioned campaign has a sick sense of humor when it comes to secret doors and hidden treasures. This kind of searching behavior is entirely appropriate and even encouraged in such a place, as long as the coast is clear.

 

[reanjr]

As the player of a snarky rogue, I wouldn't be terribly concerned if the fighter wandered off to get himself killed. If the player wants to role-play wandering off on his own, wasting our gaming time, I wouldn't take too kindly to it, when our searching is only wasting in-game time. In our situation, nobody has a problem with going over the dungeon with a fine-toothed comb, because the aforementioned campaign has a sick sense of humor when it comes to secret doors and hidden treasures. This kind of searching behavior is entirely appropriate and even encouraged in such a place, as long as the coast is clear.

I the situation warrents it, I have no problem (as was mentioned, an adventure where there was a prolific number of secret doors). But I really find those characters who search inch by inch in every single room they ever walk into (before the dungeon is finished, at least) to be extremely bad role-playing. People don't do that kind of thing. It's an entirely metagaming situation.

Other options:

When wandering monsters attack, any characters searching are surprised and caught flat-footed (no roll, you were on your back scratching at the bottom of the table - be happy I didn't make you prone). Combine this with other intelligent tactics, and all those wussy little monsters can become dangerous. Hit and run tactics with fast healing would work really well for this.

Don't place anything that good in rooms. Put all the good stuff on the creatures. When they run, the players will have to follow if they want to get anything more than a few coppers and a nice surcoat in the wardrobe.

Have the villains take advantage of the situation. 2 hours of manual labor (approx time to search 4 rooms) can work wonders for defense. Cave ins are great, especially if the players are now trapped (this only works if you are actually willing to kill characters, though).

If there is a magical key that allows the players to finish the strange gear puzzle that leads them further into the dungeon (and we all know how common these are), then have the villain take the key in with him. Players can't complete the adventure. Make sure they know why.

Next time they're on a rescue mission, have all the prisoners brutally slaughtered (torn to pieces, ripped limb from limb, skin stripped and boiled, whatever). Make sure when the characters get there, they realize these prisoners died VERY recently.

On an artifact hunt adventure, take the artifact away. Unless the characters are in a room that is the only way out of a dungeon (common enough in published adventures, this should almost never be the case in a well-designed dungeon), they just failed. Make sure a dying minion offers to tell them when the BBEG left. ("Oh, I think it was when you were scrounging that musty pouch of 5 sp out of mattress.")

...

I could go on, but I have work to do

 

[Rawhide]

If you really want to prevent Take 20 searches, just build dungeons with conditions that don't allow for them. For example, build a dungeon with a thick ground mist that clings to the floor. It's poisonous, and knocks out anyone who fails a DC 5 Fort save. But it only applies to people very low to the ground -- on their hands and knees searching, for example.

Since a 1 always fails a save, characters just can't take 20, since there's a chance of failure to search (they might fall unconscious).

There is some stuff like this in the World's Largest Dungeon. None of it is really well done, but it's generally good enough to spark a creative DM's imagination, which is good enough.

 

[Numion]

I don't see the problem. Maybe if they do it in the middle of clearing the dungeon it might be a bit stupid. But after the dungeon or area is cleared, a thorough search might be in order. Heck, the PCs probably have risked their lives in the process, so searching to make sure they haven't missed any loot is just wise!

It depends also on what kind of adventures you've been running - if you do include lots of secret caches and doors, players probably will learn to expect them, and to search for them too. Don't want players using extraordinary amount in searcher? Don't include a high amount of secrets to find. They'll get tired before you do.

In my game active spells usually keep people from doing this. Spells run out of duration if they waste too much time searching.

 

[Snowy]

Spells running out is a good reason, a time pressure is a good reason. But if theres the chance of a trapped door or about to cave in corridor or something else thats very likely to hand out instant death taking your time searching is fair enough.

Maybe try and get them to step up so that they search the likely places, the door for traps, the desk for information the wardrobe for whats been left in the pockets of clothes, the chest for loot and reward them for faster movement through the dungeon monsters unaware that theyve been attacked yet not wearing their armour/still asleep.

Its what my rogue does so we can finish the fighting more easily while still not endangering ourselves.

 

[Li Shenron]

Don't want players using extraordinary amount in searcher? Don't include a high amount of secrets to find. They'll get tired before you do.

Exactly, and not only the amount... put them where it makes sense! If the DM keeps setting traps in the middle of nowhere, such as on a random tile in the room or a line of ground in a corridor, players get crazy about it and start searching every inch of ground. The DM has fun against the players the first time because he surprised them, and then they retaliate

Put traps and hidden stuff in places where you would if you were the NPC who lived there, which encourages intuition from the players rather than a "check everything" method.

It also helps to describe how the trap or hiding trick works. Not every place is suitable to place a trap or hidden compartment without being easily spotted. Of course, magic makes this more difficult, but OTOH the NPC who put the trap would do so where he or his friends don't accidentally step, and would put the hidden treasure in a place he doesn't risk to forget.

 

[Darkness]

Well, you could make time matter. If a dungeon is a dynamic environment, rather than a static one, wasting hours searching every room isn't a good idea.

Maybe there are guard patrols passing through at certain intervals. They're planned, rather than random, encounters, though, and if they go missing an alarm is raised and the dungeon inhabitants bolster their defenses.

For example.