D&D 5E Why Don't We Simplify 5e?

[Eubani]

Curious how many of you skip over or quickly describe journeys and pick up at or near the adventure site?

 

[mrpopstar]

Whilst it's nice and all but vaults are more often then not guarded by a monster/npc and a high portion of items are taken off the body of a defeated foe. Also many DM's simply don't give XP for getting past natural roadblocks and obstacles. In fact the only place the game truly defines just what it worth to defeat is on monsters.

Having monsters guarding the vault does not impact the relevance of the exploration pillar.

Treasure hoards are not found in the pockets of monsters.

Rewarding experience points for noncombat challenges is not an optional or variant rule, its a discretionary decision left up to the Dungeon Master, and it references the rules for building combat encounters in order to gauge difficulty and determine XP.

 

[mrpopstar]

Let's not kid ourselves the exploration pillar is poorly fleshed out, the mechanics are largely defined as an ability check then done. After that it is as mentioned skipped by class abilities and spells IF the DM even bothers to cover that part at all.

I'm not kidding myself. The exploration pillar is my favorite and I think the rules provide for a good time.

 

[Eubani]

I'm not kidding myself. The exploration pillar is my favorite and I think the rules provide for a good time.

I think the rules need more meat and the exploration abilities and spells need to be more interactive than skipping. More meat on the exploration pillar would give skill, spellcaster and nature type characters more to hang things off and interact with.

 

[mrpopstar]

I think the rules need more meat and the exploration abilities and spells need to be more interactive than skipping. More meat on the exploration pillar would give skill, spellcaster and nature type characters more to hang things off and interact with.

A perfectly valid position!

 

[mrpopstar]

Random encounters are an important component of exploration. It's important to use them as they drain and strain resources, making the environmental challenges much more significant. Especially when hex-crawling your way across the map.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

For anyone who thinks travel and exploration are not worth the extra attention or development as an interesting and engaging aspect of roleplaying games, I'd like to point out The One Ring (1st edition), and the Adventures in Middle Earth, which is the 5e conversion of the same system. Combat is actually the lesser pillar, while social and exploration make up the heart of the experience. I`m not saying one is better than the other, but there are better ways to make these aspects more prominent and meaningful parts of the overall experience than just combat and treasure.

 

[overgeeked]

"Magic items are ... discovered in long-lost vaults." DMG 135

"You decide whether to award experience to characters outside of combat. If the adventurers ... successfully navigate the Chasm of Doom, you might decide that they deserve an XP reward." DMG 261

There are wilderness goals outlined for location-based adventures. DMG 73
Achieving any one of the 19 goals outlined could be the possible ending to the current adventure.

The wilderness goals table also outlines the removal of threats as possible goals for a location-based adventure. DMG 73

"Creating an adventure involves blending scenes of exploration, social interaction, and combat into a unified whole... ." DMG 71

Viewing exploration and combat as separate entities isn't how the game intends you approach adventure building.

They’re clearly separate and treated as such by the designers. No matter what the DMG says. Show me the piles of features available to characters that let them automatically skip combat with no roll required. With the way the game is actually designed, it’s clear that the designers intent was for players to just skip over 90% of exploration and get to the combat.

 

[mrpopstar]

They’re clearly separate and treated as such by the designers. No matter what the DMG says. Show me the piles of features available to characters that let them automatically skip combat with no roll required. With the way the game is actually designed, it’s clear that the designers intent was for players to just skip over 90% of exploration and get to the combat.

 

[reelo]

For anyone who thinks travel and exploration are not worth the extra attention or development as an interesting and engaging aspect of roleplaying games, I'd like to point out The One Ring (1st edition), and the Adventures in Middle Earth, which is the 5e conversion of the same system. Combat is actually the lesser pillar, while social and exploration make up the heart of the experience. I`m not saying one is better than the other, but there are better ways to make these aspects more prominent and meaningful parts of the overall experience than just combat and treasure.

Concerning the importance of exploration, as well as ressource management, I find this blog entry sums it up best. A lot of 5E DMs and players should consider this:

If Your Torches Burn for only One Hour your NPCs will be More Important

In the Seaward campaign the PCs formed an adventuring company, got a charter from the King, bought an old inn as a home base and, most rec...

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