Allianis
2015-06-02, 09:36 AM
Ok, my group is having a bit of trouble with our new DM and random encounters. We have in our party a warforged with a decent spot, so he's consistently on sentry duty at night. When we're walking, we have the entire party making spot checks which includes an archer and a beguiler, both with great spot checks. Every time our DM rolls for a random encounter, he gives us a spot check, which we have so far always succeeded. He then has us set up our characters on the map, and then he places the opponents.
And here's where we have a problem. EVERY TIME, he places them in melee of us, usually surrounded. In fact, in one event we had the warforged scouting ahead at a full run down the road, and he literally lined up the opponents into a gauntlet and made the warforged run through it, even though he made the spot check. The only concession he gives for making your spot check is that the enemy doesn't get a surprise round.
This DM is very much a by-the-book sort of guy, so my question is this. Is there any rule out there showing that it is physically possible to spot someone further away from you than 5 foot? Better yet, is there a decent guide out there on how a DM should play out random encounters, and ambushes? I get that sometimes the bad guy just sneaks up on you, but we're getting a little frustrated at having optimized spot scores and getting nothing out of it.
And here's where we have a problem. EVERY TIME, he places them in melee of us, usually surrounded. In fact, in one event we had the warforged scouting ahead at a full run down the road, and he literally lined up the opponents into a gauntlet and made the warforged run through it, even though he made the spot check. The only concession he gives for making your spot check is that the enemy doesn't get a surprise round.
This DM is very much a by-the-book sort of guy, so my question is this. Is there any rule out there showing that it is physically possible to spot someone further away from you than 5 foot? Better yet, is there a decent guide out there on how a DM should play out random encounters, and ambushes? I get that sometimes the bad guy just sneaks up on you, but we're getting a little frustrated at having optimized spot scores and getting nothing out of it.