Rules Clarifications: Session 2

Changing Weapons in Combat:

• Drop an item: a free action, does NOT provoke an attack of opportunity.
• Sheathe a weapon: a move equivalent action, provokes an attack of opportunity
• Draw a weapon: a move equivalent action, does NOT provoke an attack of opportunity, HOWEVER, if you have a base attack bonus of +1 (currently only Tam does but you all will eventually) you can draw a weapon at AND move as part of a move action
• Ready a shield: a move equivalent action, does NOT provoke an attack of opportunity.
• Loose a shield (and presumably then drop it as a free action): a move equivalent action, does NOT provoke an attack of opportunity. 

For more info (and an excellent list of actions in combat) see PHB page 128.

Repeating Failed Skills Checks:

I remembered this wrong: in general you MAY retry a skill check if you fail, though in some circumstances and skill types (should mention in the description) when this will not help you.  Also it will not help you to succeed BETTER if you have already succeeded at a skill check.

Outside of combat the repeated use of skills is streamlined with the following:

• Taking 10: If you are not in a rush, the task is fairly routine and not being threatened you may choose to take 10 – effectively instead of rolling a D20 you just assume you rolled a 10, add your skill modifier and then compare it with the DC (difficulty check).  This is particularly useful to avoid drawn out rolling for routine, tedious tasks - and therefore streamlines the game to the good bits.
• Taking 20: If there are no penalties for failure and no time constraints you can ‘take 20’ – effectively you multiply the time taken to perform an activity by taking 20 times as long as a check normally takes (in effect you keep on rolling until a 20 comes up).  Thus a skill which is normally a full round action (1 round or 6 seconds) would take 20 x 6 = 120 seconds (2 minutes) to complete with taking 20.  This is useful if you feel a skill check is crucial to your goals but 'in game world' time is not at a premium.

See 'Retries', 'Taking 10' and Taking 20' on pages 60 and 61 of the PHB.

Assisting others' skill checks

You can (depending on the skill and context, as always) assist another on a skill check.  For example, Oreth and Tam are lowering Oreth's wolf into the ravine by a rope.  Tam is the stronger of the two so he is the driver - success and failure is based on his skill check.  Oreth makes a skill check against difficulty 10 - if he passes he can add a +2 bonus to Tam's check, and therefore help him to better lower his wolf safely to the ravine floor.

See page 62.

Searching

Probably the most commonly used skill, searching is not quite the same as looking.  

For example, having discovered the black stone altar, decorated with evil looking draconic bones, skulls and teeth, and holding a whistle, a candle and a candle with a green burning flame you do not need to make a search check to ask me what shape the whistle is (a dragon, curling snail like) or whether the candle sits on a candalabra (yes, a serpentine, twisting dragon) - you can ask me these questions as reasonable clarifications of my description of a room (since I am not a virtual reality machine, I might not use the words you need and you should feel free to ask about details I miss out, whether they be sight, touch, smell, sound, etc.)

On the other hand something which is (often, but not always intentionally) hidden requires a search check to find.  This represents focussing beyond the immediate/apparent sensory representation of a scene or object.  For example the hidden compartment in the skeletal dragon altar (above) or the draconic ruins hidden behind a goblin corpse skewered by a spear.

• You can either search particular objects (altars, corpses, sarcophagi, ruined cages) or areas designated by 5 foot squares.  
• Searching takes 1 full round per 5 feet square/5 foot volume searched.

Eg. Lareth searches the dragon altar and finds a secret compartment containing a small chest, which takes him 1 round (6 seconds) - probably helped by his high intelligence and keen elven eyes (heaps of search bonuses).

Oreth searches the five sarcophagi from which horrific skeletal figures have just emerged.  5 sarcophagi x 5 rounds = 30 seconds (probably double that given movement between, but one needn't be pedantic) and he finds nothing.  Oreth is also pretty confident about his searching ability but wants to be sure he hasn't missed anything so he declares he is searching VERY thoroughly (perhaps picking through the bones littering the floor) - ie. he is taking 20.  This now takes 5 x 6 seconds x 20 = 600 seconds (20 minutes!) but he is quite sure he hasn't missed any vital clues when he is done.

Search is covered for players on page 73 of the PHB.

Rest and Recovery

Elves do not need to sleep but sit or recline in ‘reverie’ a sort of trance-dreamlike state in which they relive their long-years.  They do this for a period of four hours in which time they have the benefits of 8 hours rest.  

The rules of HP recovery for 3.0 are a bit muddled but after a bit of internet searching and adapting the 3.5 edition modification this is what I have decided: 

Uninterrupted rest for 8hrs: restores 1 hp / lvl

Full day's (24 hr) bed rest: restores 2 hp / level