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    \$\begingroup\$ Another issue with 'your Familiar describing what it sees', unlike in earlier editions (I believe in 2e it gained 2-3 int points) ...the familiar in 5e is as smart as the creature it takes the shape of. Without homebrewing, your Owl familiar has 2 int and probably isn't the best at describing certain things. This means without doing the 100 foot 'lay on the ground' Tango, your information gaining is pretty limited. +1 overall \$\endgroup\$ Commented Aug 23, 2021 at 3:45
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ @findusl: Maybe? I could remember the Monopoly game as a kid -- by which I mean the board, and all the cards -- but this was learning by repetition, and it doesn't mean I could remember well something I only saw a "flash" of. I don't think there's any guidance for mapping Int to IQ (or any other measure), and even then, there's quite a difference between reasoning capabilities and memory so it's not clear how good short-term, spatial, memory Int 16 (or 20) is supposed to entail. I could see being more lenient if the Wizard was trained in the use of Cartographer Tools. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Aug 23, 2021 at 9:21
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    \$\begingroup\$ @findusl: Maybe? If the players are happy with a "fuzzy" map -- distances not respected, etc... -- it may be good enough. And there are good moments to be had if the Barbarian plans to rush straight to the BugBear when entering, only to realize as they do that the BugBear is quite a bit further away than anticipated. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Aug 23, 2021 at 9:57
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    \$\begingroup\$ "(If your wizard player wants to rely on memory, that's fine too. They, and only they, get a quick look at the map, and then they have to draw it from memory...)" - I have always hated this "make the player do the character's mental task" thing. You don't throw a pencil at the rogue to see how they dodge a trap, why are you making the wizard act out what should be an INT check? \$\endgroup\$ Commented Aug 23, 2021 at 17:55
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Jihelu: I love this idea: you get a tremendously detailed description of the field, with precise locations and populations of all the mouse and rabbit holes, and the keep is just a big rock in the middle. "oh yeah and there were some orcs inside the rock" \$\endgroup\$ Commented Aug 23, 2021 at 19:59