RP Scouting comments

[aragwen]

Hi all
  I have seen the following happening on quests and is probably guilty myself as well. I would like to hear people's comments and suggestions to this.
  You have someone scouting ahead of a party, he sees things and the following happen:
  - in party chat he disclose the information.......in my opinion the scout should return to the party before sharing the info (I know this is very time consuming, but I think it is the right thing to do)
  - how do people now where to go following the scout if he did not tell them which way to go  (in a dungeon did he turn north or south at a junction)
  - a scout sees a group of monsters ahead, returns to the party and immediately discloses  that he saw a drider for example....if he has seen a drider before and someone named it then fine but if this person has never seen a drider....it is a half drow, half spider (the floating names might not be right actually)....the same applies to seeing a human standing there...that human can only be a mage if he is wearing someone to identify him as such...etc
  Regards Aragwen

[aragwen]

My suggestions to overcome this:
  - disclosing information while not with the group I use bird calls to warn people of danger or that it is clear to continue, for more information you have to return to the group. I know some people use falcons, but then that can only be done a couple of times, as the bird will tire quickly and the person must have a bird or the ability to work with a bird...like a ranger or druid and in my opinion only to send critical information back when the scout is very far ahead of the party
  - following the scout Never tried this before, but thinking of using it, perhaps the scout can leave markings to indicate his path, like a red stirge feather left behind to indicate direction, but then disclosing this marking method to the party before venturing. - identifying monsters No ideas here barring describing what I see and not using the floating text
  Any comments will be appreciated as it would allow me and other to RP our situations better.
  Regards Aragwen

[Thunder Pants]

all good points i know with Lue i always head back to the party and unhide to share information, as to your third comment, well perhaps he's never seen them before, but driders for example would be a documented creature that many may know about, just like a griffon, even without seeing one upon hearing stories of a creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle you wont mistake a grifon for anything else (personaly i wanna see hypogrifs in game but thats another issue)

also when Lue describes what she saw, it'll be something like "i see 5 bug bears, 3 with axes, 2 shamen" because the shamen clearly look different then the others (are wearing animal pelts) you can seperate them from the others, when it comes to ogres i tend to seperate them by color or weapon that they are weilding, because these are the things we can tell

[Harlas Ravelkione]

Good points Jacchri, and also good solutions.

[Harloff]

hmmm....

In most situations I agree that the scot can't share information with the rest of the party. But on a quest like the one Harlas ran yesterday this would be extremely time consuming and would leave the party with nothing to do for all those minuts the scouts where observing, perhaps 20 minutes and afterwards we should listen to the whole thing being told to us, hence very boring for all involved. I for one knew that I couldn't hear what the scout says and ind my mind I pretended that it was somthing I heard afterwards.

If something should have been changed i think it should have been done more pen and paper style. E.i. Harlas would tell the scouts what they saw and heard in the period they where there and they would return to the party and refer it. - quick and painless -

Just my opinion on the matter...

Harloff

[Varnart]

for this, I do the same than with Tells: I RP it's a Message spell.

[Harlas Ravelkione]

To attempt something that you call a message spell you wil of course have to be an arcanist or something like that. A non-caster could not do that. And why use magic for such simple things? If you have a familiar, send it back with a note, or perhaps leave marking on the ground or on a tree that describe to your party what to expect ahead, or simply return to them to report.

[teefal]

RP'ing a message spell, do people ignore one of their spell slots? (leave it blank)  Do you tell only as many messages as you have slots allocated for them?  I've wondered this, since in PnP, you'd have to have the message spell prepared, right?

[EdTheKet]

a scout sees a group of monsters ahead, returns to the party and immediately discloses  that he saw a drider for example

 Good point. As already mentioned above, he can indeed have heard about driders or read about them. However, what does sometimes happen is that DMs use a creature that's also in some location, e.g. the infamous Hlint Crypt Skeleton from the FAQ, and the party actually calls them that "I see some Hlint Crypt skeletons". If you encounter one of these on a quest on let's say, Dregar, please don't say "I see some Hlint Crypt Skeletons", because really, they're not
   

teefal - 8/9/2005 8:40 PM RP'ing a message spell, do people ignore one of their spell slots? (leave it blank) Do you tell only as many messages as you have slots allocated for them? I've wondered this, since in PnP, you'd have to have the message spell prepared, right?

  And that's why I think tells shouldn't be used as message spells.

[Etinfall]

your points are good. As well as comments after. But it all comes down to the people playing. I have many times reported some kind of creature is ahead. I rp that I have never seen it but it looks bad. If I am not in eyesight of my party I will not tell them what is ahead. This can sometimes be slow, and people might just go ahead and scout for you Having 2 scouts is is cool for that. One scouts further ahead while the other scouts closer in to the group.

People play in degrees of rp. whihch is not bad. I know others who rp more indepth than me and vice versa.

Good post

Etinfall

[Talan Va'lash]

It came up once on a quest i was on with L, where I wanted to use a message spell (which is a fairly low level spell in PnP) so I asked if such magic was available in layo (just to RP it.)

The response was that if it was, I would not know it being a level 5 wizard.

Magic is different in layo than in FR or Greyhawk.  For example the spell "Fly" would be the prized achievement of an epic wizard on layo, independantly researched and such (like an Epic spell) rather than a standard 3rd level spell. (think its 3rd...)

Anyway, it would be cool if someone in the know (probably L) could state a few purely RP spells and their level requirements.

Kindof like the teleport tomes, but with no acctual functionality (mechanics wise.)

These would be used in the context of DMed quests, or just to give some basis for random non DMed rp.

Ex:

Detect Magic - 1st level cleric, wizard, Druid, Sorcerer.  Shows number of magical auras within 30 feet and allows a DC 15 spellcraft check to determine the school and relative strength of the aura.

Silent Message - 12th level Wizard, Cleric.  Use is self explanatory.  Cannot send a message to someone you have never seen (in person or through scrying or seeing an image) and you must know the persons location within 1 mile/level.

Dont really want to get into scrying and counter scrying here... trying to keep it simple.

Oh, and I think a Create Water cantrip could be added to Druids and Clerics that creates a canteen of water in your inventory.  Could be cool RP for long quests away from civilization and fresh water *looks at the descriptions of some of the upcoming plot quests* ... *cough cough*

Yeah yeah I know, should have thought of that idea before orth left... hehe

*looks for orth soaring above the trees*

-TV