This scene finds the player characters investigating a mysterious and potentially dangerous location. They’re moving through the environment and interacting with things they find there.
The characters are exploring Castle Ravenloft, and the DM describes the room the characters have entered.
Jared (as DM): A blazing hearth fire fills this room with warm light. Firelight glints off a poker beside the fireplace, and the walls are lined with ancient books. A huge painting hangs above the mantelpiece in a gilded frame. The firelight illuminates the portrait—an exact likeness of Ireena Kolyana.
Phillip (as Gareth): How old does the painting look?
Maeve (as Mirabella): I’m going to check the books!
Jared: OK, I’ll get to those in a second. Russell and Amy, what are your characters doing?
Russell (as Shreeve): I stand near the door, sword drawn, ready for danger. This place is creepy!
Amy (as Auro): I go near the fireplace. A warm fire sounds nice. But I’m also alert for danger.
Jared: Got it. OK, Phillip, please make an Intelligence (History) check as Gareth looks at the painting.
Phillip: I don’t have proficiency in History, but here goes. I got—oh! A 20! For a total of … 20.
Worth Rolling with or without Proficiency. You usually have a chance of success on an ability check even if you don’t have proficiency in a relevant skill. In the example, Phillip gets a 20 without proficiency. The d20 brings many surprises to the game—surprises that the DM then interprets.
Jared: Two things leap out at Gareth about the painting. First, the woman’s clothes look old-fashioned. Second, the paint is flaking in places, and the whole thing is covered by a thin layer of soot. You’d say this painting is a few centuries old.
Phillip: So maybe an ancestor of Ireena’s? Unless she’s already a vampire and this “bitten by Strahd” thing is a ruse.
Jared: Who knows? Now, Mirabella’s looking at the books?
Maeve: Yeah, I pull one off the shelf at random.
Jared: It’s a book written in Common called On the Habitations of the Divine in the Celestial and Infernal Realms.
Russell: Did you just make that up?
Jared: I’ll never tell. As you flip through the book, you notice it’s very academic, almost impenetrable.
Maeve: OK, I put that one back and pull out another.
Jared: Are Shreeve and Auro doing anything else?
Amy: I grab the poker and poke at logs in the fire.
Jared: As soon as you lift the poker, you hear a grinding sound, and the back of the fireplace slides to the side, revealing a room behind it!
Finding Hidden Objects. Adventure environments are full of secrets: traps, concealed doors, loose floorboards, and hidden treasures. Characters often use Wisdom checks to find things—see the Search action in the rules glossary—but sometimes they stumble on them accidentally, as Auro did here.
Amy: “Uh, folks? I found something!” Can I see anything in the room beyond?
Jared: Past the flames and smoke, you see a glimmering pile of coins heaped near a chest.
Amy: Anybody have a quick way to put out a fire?
Phillip: And you laughed at me for preparing Create or Destroy Water! I clutch my Holy Symbol and cast the spell, drenching the fireplace.
Jared: What does the spell’s description say?
Phillip: It causes 10 gallons of water to rain down in a 30-foot Cube, extinguishing flames there.
Casting Spells. Many characters have the ability to cast spells, which have a huge variety of effects. Some spells are mostly useful in combat, by dealing damage or imposing conditions. Other spells have utility in exploration. If you’re playing a spellcaster, look for a mix of combat-effective and utilitarian spells to help deal with varied challenges.
Know Your Spells! Have your Player’s Handbook open to the description of a spell before you cast it. Don’t expect the DM to know how your spell works, and be ready to answer any questions about it.
Jared: Great! That puts out the fire. Without the light from the hearth, you’re back to the magic glow of Shreeve’s sword, which casts your shadows into the room beyond. But you can see, through clouds of lingering smoke, a closed chest on the floor, surrounded by piles of coins. There are two torch sconces on the far wall—one holding an unlit torch with an intricate metal base, the other empty. A skeleton in broken plate armor is lying against that wall, with one hand at its throat and the other holding the matching torch from the empty sconce.
Vision and Light. The DM determines what the adventurers can perceive, which means being aware of light sources—like the leaping flames in the fireplace and Shreeve’s glowing sword—as well as obscuring factors like smoke and fog. See “Vision and Light” in "Exploration" for more information.
Amy: I check out the chest!
Jared: And the rest of you?
Phillip: Gareth enters and looks at the skeleton.
Maeve: I keep watch on this side of the fireplace.
Russell: I’m still back by the first door.
Jared: Amy, the chest seems expertly made, with elegant fittings and clawed feet.
Amy: I try to open it. Is it locked?
Jared: It’s not locked and opens easily—and it releases a cloud of sweet-smelling gas.
Amy: Oh, no.
Jared: Oh, yes. I need Auro and Gareth to make Constitution saving throws.
Amy: Sorry, Phillip! I got an 8.
Phillip: And a 5 for Gareth.
Jared: As you draw this gas into your lungs, you feel a chill grip you, and your bodies stiffen. You both have the Paralyzed condition!
Saving Throws. A saving throw is used to see whether a creature avoids or resists something. When the chest releases toxic gas, Phillip’s and Amy’s characters make Constitution saving throws. Constitution is one of the six abilities that measure creatures’ capabilities, and it has to do with health and stamina. When they fail their saves, the gas causes them to have the Paralyzed condition. See “Conditions” later in this chapter for more information.
Everyone Is Accounted For. Exploration is open-ended; the players don’t take turns moving around the dungeon the way they do in combat. But the DM frequently checks in to make sure it’s clear where everyone is and what they’re doing.
Teamwork Matters. The player characters are working toward a common goal. They move together through the dungeon and cooperate to overcome its challenges. When the characters enter the room, they explore different parts of the room. When Auro finds a secret door behind the fireplace later in the example, they come together again to examine it, and Gareth figures out how to bypass the fire. It might seem like Russell’s character wasn’t doing much, but Shreeve was protecting the group by guarding the door.