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So my group is rounding the bend on the second module and I think to keep things "fresh" and help speed things along they're going to be looking to utilize Exploration Edicts starting in book 3.
I'm not exactly clear on what you're sending these people out for. Do you only get to give them a single Hex to explore, or could you try and give them 3-4 to explore per edict? With the rules for mapping/exploring each hex is it assumed that you might tell them to spend multiple days per hex to check for hidden things? Also, it states that the explorers fully map each hex in a single day. This seems to contradict the Exploration Time detailed in the first module. Is this intended to streamline, or as the d20pfsrd rules are intended to be used anywhere should this be altered to fit in with the module's rules?
In looking further at the rules for these, there are no ways to account for the quality of the explorers being sent out. I'm imagining that in any group of people, someone is going to have a +0 Stealth mod so avoiding encounters will be very difficult. On the other hand, the Stability Check of 2*CR is a pittance for my group to make with their current Stability Mod of 39.
I see this meaning that any time the explorers find an encounter, they're likely to get derailed for an entire month and it potentially getting very frustrating for my group to not get the results they're looking for.
Did anyone have problems using these rules within KM? Any changes/houserules to the exploration edict that people would recommend?
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
Firstly, I'll assume you're using UCam, so I'd better mention that the DC to overcome an encounter is the kingdom's Control DC plus 2*CR, so it might not be as trivial as you state.
Secondly, an exploration edict is issued for a number of months. The expedition travels until it reaches the unexplored hex you want it to explore first, taking however many days of the first month that takes, and then starts exploring.
Yes, the exploration edict rules contradict the terrain and terrain improvement table exploration times: consider changing the rule to "after the exploration period for the hex, the expedition has noted general terrain features and resources, each day...".
But the basic thing is that they can cover a lot of hexes in a month.
Looks like I misread the DC and miss the "control DC +2".
That definitely helps. So have people had success with these sorts of things in their games?
The cost seems fairly trivial, but it seems like over a couple months that the likelihood that the explorers would actually come back seems pretty slim.
Curghann wrote: Looks like I misread the DC and miss the "control DC +2".
That definitely helps. So have people had success with these sorts of things in their games?
The cost seems fairly trivial, but it seems like over a couple months that the likelihood that the explorers would actually come back seems pretty slim.
It's been quite useful for my. After the events of RRR (including Hargulka's Monster Kingdom), players are generally bored with hexploration and storywise, the characters have a good-sized kingdom (rather than a small frontier barony). On both counts, it doesn't make sense anymore for the PCs to be out exploring hexes. So my players send out explorers (I made Narthropple the major explorer) with the edict. Rather than randomly hexploring, the PCs explore with purpose -- looking for major threats to the kingdom or if they're meeting somebody.
This made VV fairly focused. My players explored personally when they heard Varnhold had vanished, when they were hunting for the centaurs, and when they wanted to find Vordakai's HQ. In turn, I cut out a lot of the random wilderness stuff that wasn't connected to the plot.
(BTW, I gave Vordakai a zombie cyclops army defending his hex. My players high-tailed it out of there, then ran back home, gathered their armies, and sent messages to all their allies (centaurs, Sootscales, Restov) and marched their asses back to take out Big V's army.
Penny, thanks for the perspective.
How did you find the exploration edict mechanically? Were you rolling for random encounters to determine the success of the explorers?
Did you stat out the explorers to determine what their chance of avoiding the encounters was? Did any of the explorer troupes get wiped out?
Curghann wrote: Penny, thanks for the perspective.
How did you find the exploration edict mechanically? Were you rolling for random encounters to determine the success of the explorers?
Did you stat out the explorers to determine what their chance of avoiding the encounters was? Did any of the explorer troupes get wiped out?
I added in a bunch of stuff to my KM campaign. Regarding exploration edicts, i had several NPC's who led teams come to the attention of my PC's they could hire for the edicts. I used a summary index card for each one, which listed stuff like the groups overall stealth rating for encounter evasion and other things. (Narthropple's group all had the teamwork stealth feat, so had a very high chance to avoid monster events.)
Additionally, i didn't use 'random' encounters, if i wanted there to be one, there was one. it allowed me to create mini 'set pieces' that had more detail and depth. I used the edict explorers as discoverers of threats in hexes the pc's would need to go deal with.
Discovering threats is the basic function of the explorers. The mechanics of the edict state you should roll for random encounters just as if you would for the pc's exploring the hexes,
Something like 5% per hex entered and 15% per day/night spent in a hex. If you only had the explorers encountering the set pieces from the module that seems like it would be a bit too easy/convenient for the PC's to get their new area mapped out fairly quickly.
Seeing that the only stat that matters for this purpose is the worst stealth mod of the groups, why stat out multiple groups? Were some groups more expensive than others? If so, how much so?
Guess I'll just have to run through a couple test explorations and see how it works out a bit.
Curghann wrote: How did you find the exploration edict mechanically? Were you rolling for random encounters to determine the success of the explorers?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It depended on what needed to happen storywise.
Quote: Did you stat out the explorers to determine what their chance of avoiding the encounters was? Did any of the explorer troupes get wiped out? Did not entirely stat them out. One group did get mostly wiped out, after which my players discovered the joys of fighting pixies with class levels.
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