So im starting a Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign tomorrow and one of my players is playing a ranger and taking the artic as their favored terrain. Totally fine and absolutely understandable, its just that a major theme of the campaign is to struggle with the snowy conditions. I mean just walking between towns is supposed to be difficult and time consuming because of the harsh winter. But with the ranger in tow, the party benefits from the natural explorer feature and im mostly concerned about the following traits.
Difficult terrain doesn’t slow your group’s travel.
Your group can’t become lost except by magical means.
How can I reward this player for having the artic favored terrain without removing the vital difficulty of dealing with the tundra?
Terrain doesn't slow the group. Bad weather still would be an issue, such as a blizzard forcing them to take shelter. The ranger's reward is having the skills needed to survive here.
How can I reward this player for having the artic favored terrain without removing the vital difficulty of dealing with the tundra?
Well, to some degree the solution is "don't allow playing rangers", since a pretty major point of the class is removing the difficulty of dealing with hostile terrain. However, I do interpret 'ignore difficult terrain' as 'ignore ordinary (x2 cost) difficult terrain', and for worse terrain it's just x2 speed.
So the game starts in a few hours. Ive decided to give him advantage on navigation checks and let the party move at 1/2 mile per hour. Ive also decided that the blizzards will be magical therefor it is possible for the group to get lost. Im still on the fence about whether or not to give advantage when searching for a lost player or a player buried in an avalanche but ill just decide when the time comes. When it comes to walking on ice all bets are off. He can walk on ice just fine but I just dont see how being with a ranger can make the party better at walking on ice. Ill be back later to argue about RAI.
So im starting a Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign tomorrow and one of my players is playing a ranger and taking the artic as their favored terrain. Totally fine and absolutely understandable, its just that a major theme of the campaign is to struggle with the snowy conditions. I mean just walking between towns is supposed to be difficult and time consuming because of the harsh winter. But with the ranger in tow, the party benefits from the natural explorer feature and im mostly concerned about the following traits.
Difficult terrain doesn’t slow your group’s travel.
Your group can’t become lost except by magical means.
How can I reward this player for having the artic favored terrain without removing the vital difficulty of dealing with the tundra?
Everyone is given snow gear any way so difficult terrain hardly matters. I am ruling the blizzards are caused by magic. I may give the artic ranger a +1 to use the dog sled if he has not taken it. Advantage on lost players. GOOD. Advantage to did out city folk from the snow GOOD.
So im starting a Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign tomorrow and one of my players is playing a ranger and taking the artic as their favored terrain. Totally fine and absolutely understandable, its just that a major theme of the campaign is to struggle with the snowy conditions. I mean just walking between towns is supposed to be difficult and time consuming because of the harsh winter. But with the ranger in tow, the party benefits from the natural explorer feature and im mostly concerned about the following traits.
How can I reward this player for having the artic favored terrain without removing the vital difficulty of dealing with the tundra?
Terrain doesn't slow the group. Bad weather still would be an issue, such as a blizzard forcing them to take shelter.
The ranger's reward is having the skills needed to survive here.
Well, to some degree the solution is "don't allow playing rangers", since a pretty major point of the class is removing the difficulty of dealing with hostile terrain. However, I do interpret 'ignore difficult terrain' as 'ignore ordinary (x2 cost) difficult terrain', and for worse terrain it's just x2 speed.
So the game starts in a few hours. Ive decided to give him advantage on navigation checks and let the party move at 1/2 mile per hour. Ive also decided that the blizzards will be magical therefor it is possible for the group to get lost. Im still on the fence about whether or not to give advantage when searching for a lost player or a player buried in an avalanche but ill just decide when the time comes. When it comes to walking on ice all bets are off. He can walk on ice just fine but I just dont see how being with a ranger can make the party better at walking on ice. Ill be back later to argue about RAI.
Everyone is given snow gear any way so difficult terrain hardly matters. I am ruling the blizzards are caused by magic. I may give the artic ranger a +1 to use the dog sled if he has not taken it. Advantage on lost players. GOOD. Advantage to did out city folk from the snow GOOD.
No Gaming is Better than Bad Gaming.
I think the latter one of those two details helps you out
Your group can’t become lost except by magical means
Auril’s blizzards are not natural weather, they are a magical curse.
And that lost. IT does not mean Ranger has GPS, Google Maps, and Garmin telling him the quickest way to Easthaven.
No Gaming is Better than Bad Gaming.