A player with huge passive perception and insight also frees up the GM to text-dump a rather annoying bit of game text without having to bother with rolls and such.
<professional adventure text>
Doria Veledaar was supposed to be staying with her family in
Blackroot, but the Veledaar household has been abandoned.
However, there seems to be more to the family’s disappearance
than the reeve Toraash lets on.
Setup: While the PCs can learn a little from talking
to the villagers, the critical clues to Doria’s disappearance
are found in the Veledaar household.
Complexity: 3 (8 successes before 3 failures).
Primary Skills: Arcana, Insight, Perception.
Arcana (DC 17): The PC senses the ambient mystical
energies that surround the village, and recognizes a
powerful concentration of arcane energy somewhere
close by. With a second successful check, the PC notes its
general direction.
Mittens: Arcana 6. Rolled 3, 14, 6, 9. Fail, win, fail, fail.
This skill can be used to gain 2 successes in this
challenge.
Insight (DC 12): The PC discovers that there is more to
Blackroot and the Veledaar family’s disappearance than
meets the eye. With each successful check, the party gains
another piece of information as presented below.
✦ The villagers the PC encounters are tense and hostile,
but you sense that this tension is due to more than the
presence of strangers.
✦ Many of the folk of Blackroot seem fearful, as if
anticipating some imminent challenge or threat.
✦ From the condition of the Veledaar house, the PC finds
it unlikely that Doria’s family left to seek new lives.
A number of useful or sentimental items that would
likely have been taken on an extensive trip were left
behind. This check can be made only after a successful
Perception check made to search the house.
✦ A fourth success provides the same result as a
successful Streetwise check (see below).
This skill can be used to gain 4 successes in this
challenge.
Perception (DC 12): In the village and within the
Veledaar house, the PCs can seek clues to the family’s
disappearance. With each successful check, the party
gains another piece of information as presented below.
✦ As the party makes its way to the Veledaar house, the
PC notes that a number of other houses in the village
seem to be standing empty.
✦ The PC finds no signs of forced entry in the Veledaar
house, but uncovers hints that a struggle took place
there. Broken furniture has been hastily put back
together, and faint drops of blood are scattered across
the dirt floor.
✦ Trampled into the dirt of the floor, the PC finds the
broken tip of what appears to be a dagger blade crafted
from volcanic glass.
✦ The PC finds a necklace with its leather cord
snapped as if by force. It is a pendant formed from
strands of volcanic glass set around what looks like a
mummified eye. Once the pendant has been found,
the PCs can make a Religion check to identify it (see
below).
This skill can be used to gain 4 successes in this
challenge.
</professional adventure text>
The above text only had one spoiler in it because I was careful where I shaded before hitting Ctrl-C. Said spoiler has been removed, but the rest is unchanged. Carla and Mittens are able to get the next two with take-10...
<professional adventure text>
Secondary Skills: Diplomacy, Intimidate, Religion,
Streetwise.
Diplomacy or Intimidate: No villager will speak with
the PCs long enough to make use of Diplomacy, and
any attempt to intimidate the folk of Blackroot quickly
escalates to conf lict unless the PCs back off. A Diplomacy
check automatically earns the PCs 1 failure in
the skill challenge, but the PCs gain a +2 bonus on
the next Streetwise check made in the challenge. An
Intimidate check automatically earns the PCs 1 failure
in the skill challenge, and makes it impossible to make
a Streetwise check.
Religion (DC 17): A successful check allows the PC
to identify the pendant found in the Veledaar house as
a holy symbol of one of the Cults of the Dragon Below—
worshipers of the powers that lurk within Khyber.
Streetwise (DC 12): Despite the wariness of the villagers,
a successful check earns the PC the following information.
An old orc pulls you aside. His skin is weathered and he’s lost
his teeth and tusks, but his eyes are still sharp. “It’s the Harvest,”
he mutters. “Sowing the new crop. This night, with three moons
in the sky and darkness below. If you know what’s good for you,
you’ll be out of here before it comes for you, too.”
If the PCs try to get more information from the old
orc, he acts as if he has forgotten the past few moments
and does not speak to them. No amount of cajoling or
intimidation will sway him.
This check does not earn a success or failure in the
challenge, but the PCs are more alert to small clues after
the stranger’s warning. A successful check grants a +2
bonus to all subsequent checks made in the challenge.
Success: The PCs discover a blood trail or follow the
ambient arcane energy in the area (your choice, depending
on the successful checks made in the challenge). This
takes them to Encounter 2.
Failure: The villagers demand that the PCs leave immediately, but the party finds out where to go anyway with an extremely
slight disadvantage that makes the above complexity so very very not worth the effort. In fact, the PCs could be more than just jerks and still get to the adventure:
The PCs can choose to attack the villagers, but any such
fight is a one-sided affair (treat the villagers as minions; +4
vs. AC; 3 damage).
</professional adventure text>
PHB 179:
Take 10
When you’re not in a rush, not being threatened or distracted
(when you’re outside an encounter), and when
you’re dealing with a mundane task, you can choose
to take 10. Instead of rolling a d20, determine your
skill check result as if you had rolled the average (10).
When you take 10, your result equals your skill modifiers
(including one-half your level) + 10. For mundane
tasks, taking 10 usually results in a success.
DC 20 perception... Your skill is 10, so you'd have a 100% chance to succeed at finding the clue
if you weren't looking, but only a 50% chance to succeed if you were actively looking for clues. >.> Ah well. Game mechanics is as game mechanics does, but I can't help but think Take 10 a lame way to deal with passive checks. What might make sense is: Passive checks = Take ONE. Your Perception is 11 when you're not even trying. THEN maybe rolling dice when you're actively looking for clues might make some sense. Or, instead of tossing out Take 10, what might also work is to allow active rolls count as AT LEAST 10 when not in combat. That way you won't be 50% less likely to succeed when trying than when not trying.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:31, Thu 29 Apr 2010.
