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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Passive Perception better than Active Perception?
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<blockquote data-quote="Shiroiken" data-source="post: 7513590" data-attributes="member: 6775477"><p>It really depends on how the DM uses passive checks. Surprisingly, the rulebooks only talk about using passive checks in the players handbook, and the only example ever given is a stealth check against passive perception. There is never any indication to the DM on how and when to use passive checks. This has led to a lot of confusion and different methods.</p><p></p><p>According to Crawford, the minimum value of any Peception check is your passive score, since you should have automatically checked against it before requesting the check. I suppose this was the original intent, but I also think that JC is an idiot, so...</p><p></p><p>Many DMs choose to ignore passive checks altogether. I'm not a fan of this, because there are abilities (usually feats) that are designed to improve passive scores. If your DM does this, realize that this abilities will be greatly reduced in usefulness.</p><p></p><p>I use a method suggested by Mike Mearls, where the DM makes an active check against the player's passive score. This allows the DM to have a check, without letting the players know what it's for (note: many DMs like to randomly roll dice to throw off players anyway). As we play on Roll20, I've created a macro to easily make the check against each players passive score, so I can just describe what they see/know. If a player wants to actively do something that would result in a check that already had a passive check done, I will allow them to do so, potentially giving them a second chance. This method has worked really well for me, and I've expanded it to include knowledge checks as well, so that we don't have to waste a lot of time dealing with those, except when a player is interested in a specific bit of knowledge not mentioned.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Shiroiken, post: 7513590, member: 6775477"] It really depends on how the DM uses passive checks. Surprisingly, the rulebooks only talk about using passive checks in the players handbook, and the only example ever given is a stealth check against passive perception. There is never any indication to the DM on how and when to use passive checks. This has led to a lot of confusion and different methods. According to Crawford, the minimum value of any Peception check is your passive score, since you should have automatically checked against it before requesting the check. I suppose this was the original intent, but I also think that JC is an idiot, so... Many DMs choose to ignore passive checks altogether. I'm not a fan of this, because there are abilities (usually feats) that are designed to improve passive scores. If your DM does this, realize that this abilities will be greatly reduced in usefulness. I use a method suggested by Mike Mearls, where the DM makes an active check against the player's passive score. This allows the DM to have a check, without letting the players know what it's for (note: many DMs like to randomly roll dice to throw off players anyway). As we play on Roll20, I've created a macro to easily make the check against each players passive score, so I can just describe what they see/know. If a player wants to actively do something that would result in a check that already had a passive check done, I will allow them to do so, potentially giving them a second chance. This method has worked really well for me, and I've expanded it to include knowledge checks as well, so that we don't have to waste a lot of time dealing with those, except when a player is interested in a specific bit of knowledge not mentioned. [/QUOTE]
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