Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
5th ed D&D general impressions from a new player and DM.
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 8200558" data-attributes="member: 6801845"><p>Is option 2 really "punishing"? If I understand correctly - they attempt to do something that has no chance to succeed. To me, the action of that attempt can be reflected in a die roll.</p><p></p><p>This <em>is</em> situational. If there's a shear wall and someone wants to climb I'll just be sure that I'm clear: this is a shear wall, you won't be able to climb it. Maybe they thought they could if their athletics score is high enough or maybe I just forgot they have slippers of spider climbing.</p><p></p><p>Oh, and the text usually quoted to justify the "no roll" theory seems to cherry pick:</p><p></p><h2><p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">Using Ability Scores</p> </h2> <p style="margin-left: 20px">When a player wants to do something, it’s often appropriate to let the attempt succeed without a roll or a reference to the character’s ability scores. <strong>For example, a character doesn’t normally need to make a Dexterity check to walk across an empty room or a Charisma check to order a mug of ale. </strong>Only call for a roll if there is a meaningful consequence for failure.</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">When deciding whether to use a roll, ask yourself two questions:</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Is a task so easy and so free of conflict and stress that there should be no chance of failure?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Is a task so inappropriate or impossible — <strong>such as hitting the moon with an arrow </strong>— that it can’t work?</li> </ul><p></p><p>The stuff I bolded has been ignored by some people when making the case of don't ask for a roll. In the first case it's obvious there's no chance of failure because it's so simple, in the latter it's obvious there's no way it could possibly succeed.</p><p></p><p>That, to me, is different from making an attempt at something you may think is possible such as in this case searching a room. The <em>DM </em>knows there's no reason for the roll but in cases where the <em>players </em>don't know then the roll just reflects the effort taken.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Oofta, post: 8200558, member: 6801845"] Is option 2 really "punishing"? If I understand correctly - they attempt to do something that has no chance to succeed. To me, the action of that attempt can be reflected in a die roll. This [I]is[/I] situational. If there's a shear wall and someone wants to climb I'll just be sure that I'm clear: this is a shear wall, you won't be able to climb it. Maybe they thought they could if their athletics score is high enough or maybe I just forgot they have slippers of spider climbing. Oh, and the text usually quoted to justify the "no roll" theory seems to cherry pick: [HEADING=1][INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT]Using Ability Scores[/INDENT][/HEADING] [INDENT]When a player wants to do something, it’s often appropriate to let the attempt succeed without a roll or a reference to the character’s ability scores. [B]For example, a character doesn’t normally need to make a Dexterity check to walk across an empty room or a Charisma check to order a mug of ale. [/B]Only call for a roll if there is a meaningful consequence for failure.[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [INDENT]When deciding whether to use a roll, ask yourself two questions:[/INDENT] [INDENT][/INDENT] [LIST] [*]Is a task so easy and so free of conflict and stress that there should be no chance of failure? [*]Is a task so inappropriate or impossible — [B]such as hitting the moon with an arrow [/B]— that it can’t work? [/LIST] The stuff I bolded has been ignored by some people when making the case of don't ask for a roll. In the first case it's obvious there's no chance of failure because it's so simple, in the latter it's obvious there's no way it could possibly succeed. That, to me, is different from making an attempt at something you may think is possible such as in this case searching a room. The [I]DM [/I]knows there's no reason for the roll but in cases where the [I]players [/I]don't know then the roll just reflects the effort taken. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
5th ed D&D general impressions from a new player and DM.
Top