what skill is needed to allow players to map out a maze, instead of just hearing the verbal description of left or right? I'm thinking either knowledge dungeoneering and geography but survival skill is mentioned in the map making kit.
and should you allow someone to map it out without the kit?
If you have a piece of paper and a pen, anybody can make a workable map of a maze. It may not be to scale, but if it's just 'left right or straight' intersections ... no reason for a skill check at all.
If you're just mapping a maze to produce a written/drawn representation that will let you retrace your steps without getting lost, no skill would be required.
If you want to do something more detailed or to scale such that voids or possible hidden rooms might be detected or it could be used as an engineering document, THAT might require a skill check.
what skill is needed to allow players to map out a maze, instead of just hearing the verbal description of left or right? I'm thinking either knowledge dungeoneering and geography but survival skill is mentioned in the map making kit.
and should you allow someone to map it out without the kit?
Metaquestion: why do you want the players to map a maze?
Think about all the times you've seen movies involving a labyrinth of some sort. Now think about all the times that you've seen people take time on-screen to map it out. The second list should be much shorter than the first.
Old-style "50' in front of you you see a T-intersection, do you turn left or right" isn't actually that much fun to play.
Besides, you can always get out of a standard maze easily ... just follow the right hand wall.
Teleporters or other space-warping effects, of course, eff this up.
Besides, you can always get out of a standard maze easily ... just follow the right hand wall.
Teleporters or other space-warping effects, of course, eff this up.
Or a 3 dimensional maze
Or simply a maze where you are trying to get to/from the center instead of "out."
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what skill is needed to allow players to map out a maze
No skill.
If players get the idea that their "GM created map" isn't perfect, then they will map it out of game by hand.
If they do this, this takes away time from playing, is boring, and players would rather not have to do this.
What you should do is say "ok the PC's take the time to make a 100% perfect accurate map. So now you just tell me where you want to go and I'll take you to those known points."
If you look at the Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path #5, Herald of the Ivory Labyrinth, they have some really good abstract rules on doing mazes. Check it out.
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Well, you have levels of detail in mapping. You could just number all the intersections (maybe using chalk) and so you could make an undirected graph representing the known routes through the maze. This is fairly easy and won't slow down a party all that much. I'd say no skill required.
On the other hand, you can actually measure the length of passages and angles of corridors, up/down slope and compass directions and all that. That should definitely involve Engineering, Dungeoneering, Survival or Geography. It's also time-consuming and requires measuring instruments. But, it can help you determine that there's a part of the maze that seems to have no entrances, or that you're not in normal-3D space. So it has its uses.