If you are traveling overland "readied", it would slow your move significantly. Simply trying to "perceive" slows movement by half.
Inside a dungeon it's assumed that both the party and the enemies are doing their best to not die. I could say "The guards have readied actions" just as you would say about you. That is where surprise rolls come in. If the guards are sitting behind a closed door with their crossbow aimed at the door, that to me is a quasi-combat situation. Note that the reaction of using a readied action comes immediately after the trigger.
In other words, regardless of anyone else's interpretation of the rule, I will move to contain the abuse of the readied action by putting a beholder on the other side of a door with a readied action to disintegrate anyone that it sees as soon as a door is open. In other words, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. You don't want to open up this can of worms.
Well ... Bern is 'ready' (waiting) for another 'target' (he does not think that they all 'ran away' <g>) But ... since he does not have one at the moment, I will let you decide how to treat that <weg>
Gotcha. I'm waiting on Arus. I moved you assuming you were going to try and get to Davroar as fast as you could safely. That meant I executed a double cautious move. (option #2 below). Let me outline the choices you had that didn't involve an immediate attack:
1) Double move (60'), throw caution to the wind, make a DC 10 save to avoid slipping 2) Double move (30'), cautiously, no dex save needed 3) Single move (30'), throw caution to the wind, make a DC 10 save to avoid slipping, Ready your bow 3) Single move (15'), cautiously, no dex save needed, Ready your bow.
Yeah, Nep, actually if we ever run into a Beholder it would be a tremendous advantage for US if you did use the "Ready Action" feature on it, even with a Disintegration Ray (and remember Disintegration is no longer Save or Die, it is just damage now. Lots of damage, but just damage, and it can be countered with Counter-spell, if you have it.).
With Ready Action you forfeit all of your other actions in order to prepare (pre-use) an action that occurs upon a trigger. This means instead of the Beholder getting to use 3 Eye Stalks (including Disintegration if it chose to) and move it's Anti-Magic Central Eye where it wants to, it would be limited to only using the Disintegration Ray for it's whole turn. Huge advantage for us.
Additionally you forfeit your Reaction as that is how you use the Readied Action, so no defensive reactions/magics and no Opportunity Attacks. Again, good for us as it would allow our fighters to run up, stick it with their swords and run away, without risking any Opportunity attack (I am leaving out Legendary Actions here as it just muddies the waters).
Readied Action actually kind of SUCKS. It is not something that can be abused to unbalance the game. It is only useful in a very few specific conditions, such as when an enemy is popping out of complete cover and taking potshots at the party and then ducking back (like the Kuo-Toa here). And you only get a single attack/spell with no ability for OAs, extra attacks, defensive reactions, or changing your mind. When the trigger occurs you have already used your action to Ready your Action so if you don't want to do what you had setup you lose your turn completely.
It is a Last Resort sort of thing that you only do if you have nothing else better to do.
Arus is searching the otyugh's nest. Though that assumes such action is possible. Davroar's fine. If anyone can get out of a hole in the ground it's a druid.
I am assuming that my 'checking the area for threats' and all would have taken my 'action' <shrug>
That's an interesting comment/question. There are two different ways to perceive, active and passive. I would rule that in combat situations, like you are in now, passive perception is in effect. Passive perception is a static value for every PC which is equal to 10 + your wisdom bonus. Bern looking for threats is normal combat activity. Supporting this ruling is how stealth is determined, as you may see shortly. When someone (let's say Jaliera) hides, they make a stealth roll. That result is matched against the passive perception of those she is hiding from. Bern's passive perception is 12. So it the Kuo-Tao made their stealth rolls and rolled less than 12, he would spot them regardless.
Active perception, technically, can result in a worse roll. A roll of 1d20+2 could end up with a result of 3. The way I run that is that your minimum roll would be your passive perception.
However, Bern can barely see. His sight is limited vs these foes who live in the darkness.
On the other hand, Arus is searching deeper. That's an Active Perception roll.
[[ I don't disagree with that 'description' of 'perception' ... except ... there is no 'active' threat ... at the moment <weg> Beyond that, I have no problem with your 'take' on the current situation. But Bern doesn't have anything that seems more important than getting Davroar out of the well at the moment <wink> ]]
Well the main difference, in addition to what Nep wrote, is that "Active" Perception takes an "Action" to use. You are spending your time doing nothing but searching. Passive perception is just your natural ability to notice things, i.e. 'you are walking down the dungeon corridor and the glint of a gold coin lying on the ground catches your eye'. Passive perception doesn't take your action. You could spot the gold coin while you are attacking the Ancient Red Dragon.
Nep is right though, it doesn't make sense for your Active Perception roll to be able to be lower than your Passive Perception.
Thanks Zeim. That was mostly what I was trying to say ... but got lost in the 'details' <g>
Right ... I get a move and an action. So the move was taken and the 'action' was to 'actively' look around ... rather than just 'passively perceive'. I didn't do a good job of saying that, sorry <sigh>
And ... in the end ... the GM is always right <weg>
My pace continues to be sub-optimal (as predicted). Do know how many tasks there are when you buy a new house and sell an old one? I don't but it certainly is hundreds! The current hot task is purchasing home owner's insurance.
BTW, don't let anyone ever tell you that it's cheaper to live in Florida than NY. My house in NT is in one of the highest tax zones in the US. My real estate taxes are very high. However, everything else, I mean EVERYTHING, is more expensive in Florida. If you just add homeowner's insurance to state+local taxes, that already makes Florida more expensive. Tack on dozens of other services that are higher and you soon learn that NY is much more affordable. Car insurance, gas, groceries, HOA fees and almost everything else costs more.
Closing is Nov 10th. Then we prep the old place for sale, marry off our son, an list our house before Xmas. How did I ever hold down a job?
<heh heh heh> that is why I will =never= move again ... 'specially to a 'tourist trap' like FL <weg>
FWIW ... my parents 'retired' there. It was a nice place to visit ... but I never had any desire to move down there!!! For one thing, I like to season changes here in Indiana <weg>
Hope it all works out for you in any event <g> (I am looking forward to the 'updates' on how things are =not= going your way <chuckle>)
IDENTIFYING A MAGIC ITEM Some magic items are indistinguishable from their nonmagical counterparts, whereas other magic items display their magical nature conspicuously. Whatever a magic item's appearance, handling the item is enough to give a character a sense that something is extraordinary about it. Discovering a magic item's properties isn't automatic, however.
The identify spell is the fastest way to reveal an item's properties. Alternatively, a character can focus on one magic item during a short rest, while being in physical contact with the item. At the end of the rest, the character learns the item's properties, as well as how to use them. Potions are an exception; a little taste is enough to tell the taster what the potion does.
Sometimes a magic item carries a clue to its properties. The command word to activate a ring might be etched in tiny letters inside it, or a feathered design might suggest that it's a ring of feather falling.
Wearing or experimenting with an item can also offer hints about its properties. For example, if a character puts on a ring of jumping, you could say, "Your steps fee strangely springy." Perhaps the character then jumps up and down to see what happens. You then say the character jumps unexpectedly high.
My son gets married tomorrow. We've got the rehearsal dinner and our day tomorrow starts at 8am. Figure that I'm out until Sunday. Aquadyne, please hold on before letting the party move forward.
Topic #1 - Some notes on dropping, falling, sliding, etc.
Rules are generalizations. Simply put, the ruling about speed of climbing down a rope, being lowered, climbing down the rungs will stick.
Jumping down, as Kriv indicates, is an athletic type of move, isn't it? Let's examine the athletics check rule:
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Strength checks. Athletics. Your Strength (Athletics) check covers difficult situations while c1imbing, jumping. or swimming. Examples include the following activities:
You attempt lo climb a sheer or slippery cliff, avoid hazards while scaling a wall, or cling to a surface while something is trying to knock you off.
You try lo jump an unusually long distance or pull off a stunt midjump.
You struggle to swim or stay afloat in treacherous currents, storm-tossed waves, or areas of thick seaweed. Or another creature tries to push or pull you underwater or otherwise interfere with your swimming.
It might also be considered an acrobatics check:
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Dexterity checks. A Dexterity check can model any attempt to move nimbly, quickly, or quietly, or to keep from falling on tricky footing. The Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth skills reflect aptitude in certain kinds of Dexterity checks. Acrobatics. Your Dexterity (Acrobatics) check covers your attempt to stay on your feet in a tricky situation, such as when you're trying to run across a sheet of ice, balance on a tightrope, or stay upright on a rocking ship's deck. The DM might also call for a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check to see if you can perform acrobatic stunts, including dives, rolls, somersaults, and flips.
MikeD's statement about speed of sliding...
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Not to be a 'nudge' ... but I can certainly 'slide down a rope' a =LOT= faster than I can climb down a ladder <weg>
as well as the move described by AJ for Kriv...
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OOC: How much fall damage from a deliberate drop, by the by?
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[OOC: Half-tempted to just go for a superhero landing from ten feet down and bonus action second wind away the fall damage and the damage taken earlier.]
Based on the task (since I crushed my elbow as a 12 year old from a 20 foot I-tried-to-slide-down-a-rope stunt and permanently lost all radial motion in my right arm), I consider this to be a "hard" task and using that your DC would be a 20 based on the following table: TYPICAL DCs
Code
Task DC
Very easy 5
Easy 10
Moderate 15
Hard 20
Very hard 25
Nearly impossible 30
Sliding down, jumping down, yada, yada, all would require the athletic or dexterity check. If you try a heroic move (you are heroes, right?), this is how I would rule. Succeed on the check and you land unscathed. Fail on the check and take 3d6 damage. So Kriv, who has +4 to his Athletics skill and Bern who has a +5 to his, would probably opt to make an Athletics skill. Yes, I'll give the player the option of which to use.
Topic #2 - Running this encounter I want to encourage everyone to participate. That includes Aquadyne, who is doing a great job of learning how DM and the 5th edition of D&D. But note that all rulings are going to be mine. Aquadyne is learning the game and made an important statement that I want to underscore:
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Nep will ultimately deal with this...
. All rolls will be done at my request. This is a very complex situation made more complex by the way you all handled the first 3 encounters. Aqua's comments are totally encouraged but players need to take care to make sure I agree with things he might state that "sound" like rulings. They are really rule probes and his interpretation of what I've pointed him to. I encourage him to continue and for you all to discuss them.
I'll try and summarize what the party's actions are.
Topic #3 - Pandemonium We are still missing Pandemonium and so I'll talk to Aquadyne about ghosting for him in the meantime.
[[ Nep, just don't let your personal experiences from your past cloud your judgement here <gd&r lmao>
As a former 'rock climber' ... going =down= a rope is a =relatively= easy task ... =if= you had just a little training. And I would think that many/most/all 'adventurers' would have some experience with using ropes <vbg> Soooo ... is there something in particular that makes the decent by rope here 'hard' rather than 'moderate'?? ]]
I would like to return, if that is an option, now that I can think a bit more. It is literally amazing how much stuff you just don't do when you are suffering.
I think I remember my name. The rest of the stuff, I will have to read and catch up which could take a moment.
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Davroar's fine. If anyone can get out of a hole in the ground it's a druid.
