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<blockquote data-quote="Ralif Redhammer" data-source="post: 8853794" data-attributes="member: 30438">Yeah, the fact that the default of poison was frequently save or die, and that even a 5th level thief was rocking no more than a 50% chance to even find a trap, let alone disarm it, stacked things against thieves. A 1st level fighter probably could survive that attack by a goblin, but a 1st level thief being told to go check a corridor for traps? Better hope that there's not a poison dart trap ahead or that the dice really, really like you that day. When I ran a 1e campaign a few years back, the first character to die was the thief.Back in the day, XP for treasure definitely pushed people to explore beyond just looking for monsters to fight. Monsters frequently had treasure, but if you look at the random dungeon tables in the 1e DMG, you certainly could come across a room with an unguarded treasure chest. But one thing that we've seen since then are story awards, starting with 2e and continuing to 5e. You can get XP for challenges other than combat, even if there's no treasure to be had at all. And if you look at how milestones are set up in official adventures, those can also incentivize exploration. Adventures will have stuff like &quot;the party gains a level if they discover XX location.&quot;</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ralif Redhammer, post: 8853794, member: 30438"] Yeah, the fact that the default of poison was frequently save or die, and that even a 5th level thief was rocking no more than a 50% chance to even find a trap, let alone disarm it, stacked things against thieves. A 1st level fighter probably could survive that attack by a goblin, but a 1st level thief being told to go check a corridor for traps? Better hope that there's not a poison dart trap ahead or that the dice really, really like you that day. When I ran a 1e campaign a few years back, the first character to die was the thief. Back in the day, XP for treasure definitely pushed people to explore beyond just looking for monsters to fight. Monsters frequently had treasure, but if you look at the random dungeon tables in the 1e DMG, you certainly could come across a room with an unguarded treasure chest. But one thing that we've seen since then are story awards, starting with 2e and continuing to 5e. You can get XP for challenges other than combat, even if there's no treasure to be had at all. And if you look at how milestones are set up in official adventures, those can also incentivize exploration. Adventures will have stuff like "the party gains a level if they discover XX location." [/QUOTE]

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