Detection checks for ambush spawns...

[Acacea]

I'm familiar with the concept of 'ambushes,' where the builders set things to jump right out at a character, presumably to use a creature's sneaking abilities, or terrain advantages. That makes sense, and I don't mind them at all. My main issue is the mentality that the monsters have abilities, but the PCs don't. I love ambushes! They're great! But how much sense does it really make for a scout with practically supernatural senses to be surprised in such a way by creatures that are as loud as a titan in comparison?

To clarify, I'm not proposing to change these spawns in any way, not even touching them. So mechanically, they would still spring out in the same manner and location. I was thinking more of a skill check that is a bit distant from the trigger itself, that rolled a hidden listen/spot check and returned observations if successful. Perhaps a one-time-only minor XP reward for the skill usage for some scout love, but that's not really the point.

The spawn would still ambush, but a cautious party with a set of good eyes and ears would know about it ahead of time. The unwary would simply trample right over the signs and into it, anyway.

An example would be checks rolled a bit southwest of the actual spawn trigger. A successful listen for an ambush of spiders might be something describing the rustling of leaves in the trees to northeast, or the occasional strange chittering sound or whatever in the world gigantic spiders sound like. A spot check for a group of starving bandits may be something as simple as the light glinting off of metal in the middle of the forest.

Maybe for things that would still ambush with no chance of detection could have some message sent in the area emoting where exactly they're coming from, like springing from the lava to come up behind you, or the dead rising directly from the earth. There are cases where roleplay becomes awkward after such an ambush, because no one is exactly sure how something happens, leading to someone inevitably saying, "you'd think we would have heard something that big coming!" while someone else says, "the earth is truly sickened, if such creatures spring from it," while the last guy goes, "I hate when things drop from the ceiling!" or some similar situation.

I just think it would help out the groups that bother sending someone forward to check things out ahead of time, and take away the frustration of maxing out these skills and still getting magically ambushed by things half your level.

There are still some roleplaying weirdnesses with it, if people wanted to be picky, but it would seem like a large improvement if possible.

[Interia_Discordius]

Amen! Plus it gives us rogues a full time job, and I frankly, would love one in the world of Layonara

[Kindo]

I am all for this. I do think, however, that it is pretty difficult to implement, seeing how they haven't actually spawned yet. Who knows what miracles are possible to perform with the tool set nowadays, though.

[AeonBlues]

A good scout just is not enough under the current spawn system.  Often the trigger is set up so that when the first character hits a trigger, then the ambush happens behind them  and falls on the bulk of the group.  So, unless the group is way way back, then the scout will just spawn the ambush on top of the other characters.  Then again, in times of war, ambushers tend to wait for the scout to walk by and then hit the bulk of their target.

AeonBlues

[darkstorme]

The only implementation of this I can see working is painting a trigger around the spawn trigger which checks spot/listen & Detect mode.  Beat a given DC, and the "scout" gets a Tell indicating that they see something up ahead.

The problem would be the added script and added lag, as well as painting large triggers, but having an invisible, intangible and non-hostile NPC using OnPerceived doesn't work for stealthed characters.

Either way, it's a bit of a headache to implement.

[Lalaith Va'lash]

I love it.  I think it would add a lot to the game play....

I will look to the very talented scripters we have to see if it is something would be possible to implement. (Without too much lag )

An alternative to triggers would be to add AID narrators to ambush spawns. It would only be the addition of one or two creatures (narrators) to the spawns in question (If they can't perceive stealthed characters, give them TS).

Then if the PC *Looks around* or  *Listens* the script could run the check for their skills and tell them what they see or hear, if anything.  In that case, the script is already written, the system decently easy to implement, and the PC has to be actively looking or listening to get any information.

[Dorganath]

Allow me to interject:

Our new encounter system would allow us to intercept the encounter process and do things like this potentially.  I find the idea interesting enough to give some thought.

However, one thing that should be noted is that there are very few actual "ambush" spawns, and so this would likely not apply in most cases.  For those few that are truly designed to be ambushes, they'd have to be marked as such by hand, given a DC, etc.  Again, this is not something that would, or should, apply to every encounter both for logical reasons and for mechanical ones.

So we wouldn't need AID or extra triggers, just a few more lines of code in our existing setup.

Disclaimer: I'm not saying we will do this...just that it could be done.