D&D 5E (2014) How do you handle a skill check if needed.

[jasper]

Ok, how to you gm handle skill checks.
"Magic words" is a catch all for what ever reason, flavor, or line of bs given to you by the player.

 

[robus]

This seems a little biased in its presentation

And if we're talking 5e then I'm not sure it's even answerable. There are no skill checks in 5e

 

[abirdcall]

Why are you trolling?

 

[robus]

Ignoring the poll. I simply require that the players engage with the fiction. What is their character doing and what are they hoping the action will accomplish? Based on that I may ask for an ability check if the outcome is uncertain and there's meaningful consequence to failure.

Simple enough.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Typically a player describes what their character is doing. I may call for an ability check or not. If I do I'll inform the player of the ability check, and the DC, and which proficiencies can apply. I may assign advantage, disadvantage or neither. If the player had a certain proficiency in mind that I did not mention specifically, they can tell me and I will tell them if it applies to the roll or not. If a player in their description can tie what they are doing to to their background, or something that happened previously in the game, they might get advantage kind of like a specific Inspiration die they can use on this roll.

Sometime they ask for a check. Sometimes I ask for clarification on what their character is doing to better understand and set the DC, assign advantage, apply skill proficiency etc. Sometimes I don't.

I don't know how that maps on to the options in the poll which I found confusing.

 

[Oofta]

Sometimes I call for a check, sometimes the players call for a check. If the player calls for a check and it's not clear I ask for clarification.

 

[coolAlias]

Agreed with the others - 5e rules are very clear that the players describe their actions and the DM adjudicates the results, calling for an appropriate ability check only when the requested action has a meaningful chance of failure.

Saying "I look around" instead of "I roll Perception" isn't difficult and I encourage my players to do so, but I don't shut them down if they step out of character like that.

 

[Oofta]

Agreed with the others - 5e rules are very clear that the players describe their actions and the DM adjudicates the results, calling for an appropriate ability check only when the requested action has a meaningful chance of failure.

Saying "I look around" instead of "I roll Perception" isn't difficult and I encourage my players to do so, but I don't shut them down if they step out of character like that.

Since everyone thinks that ... why not reply to the survey?

As far as "isn't more difficult" it's also not any more difficult to understand to understand that some players don't want to use magic phrases.

 

[iserith]

My usual line on this topic, which is taken from the rules:

The DM calls for an ability check when the player describes what he or she wants the character to do as something that has an uncertain outcome and a meaningful consequence for failure. If the task isn't trivially easy or impossible, some kind of roll is appropriate. What a DM considers trivially easy, impossible, or uncertain will vary from DM to DM and fictional situation to fictional situation.

The player does not get to decide if there is an ability check and may not ask for one (nor, arguably, should a player want to roll a fickle d20 anyway), though the player may ask if a skill proficiency applies to an ability check the DM has already called for. Some DMs like me just call for the ability check and then the player adds the appropriate skill proficiency as the group operates on the assumption that the player is playing in good faith and will apply the proficiency that matches the description of what he or she wanted to do.

The use of "magic words" in the poll also means I will not answer the poll. That is loaded language that has a bad history of use in discussions on these forums in my view. I'm happy to discuss this topic, but that sort of thing is not helpful as I see it.

 

[coolAlias]

Since everyone thinks that ... why not reply to the survey?

In short, because there isn't an option that fits with how I run the game, but if you want specifics:

• Because "magic words" is a loaded term.
• Because I don't give a bonus if players use "magic words."
• Because I don't require "magic words" to make a skill check.
• Because there are no skill checks in 5e, only ability checks with or without proficiency applied.

As far as "isn't more difficult" it's also not any more difficult to understand to understand that some players don't want to use magic phrases.

Isn't that what I said? I don't require "magic words," but I encourage my players to state their actions in terms of the fiction because it is not only more interesting to listen to, but it also makes adjudicating actions easier if there is a question about whether a check is even required and, if so, which one might be called for.