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

[jasper]

ooh ohh ohhh ohhh Mr. Kotter Mr. Kotter I mean. ohh ohhh Mr. 5ekyu Can I steal "Jeopardy dialog"? It is much better than "magic words".

 

[Oofta]

And here we go again

What? People calling BS?

I get it we have different styles. That's great. It's one of the strengths of D&D that we can use the same base rules and easily tweak it to personal preference.

But when the same stupid strawman comes up again and again it gets old.

• Want people to speak in first person, never reference an ability check or skill? Fine. Just don't claim you have no expectations on how your players express themselves. If there was no pattern expected, "I make a ___ check" would be acceptable.
• Stop claiming that if you don't follow your pattern that people won't have fun, engaging games.
• Don't throw out dumb examples that never cause issues in real world games. If someone declares a skill and I need more info all I have to do is prompt for more detail. In some cases "Can I make a persuasion check" will be perfectly clear.
• I don't care if you think "goal and approach" is the only interpretation of the rules. Discuss what you do and why you find it helpful, but appeals to authority don't mean anything.
• You have fun describing how your PC picks a lock or recalls a piece of lore? Cool. I'd find it boring and a distraction because I want to spend time on investigation, exploration and moving the story along.

 

[5ekyu]

What? People calling BS?

I get it we have different styles. That's great. It's one of the strengths of D&D that we can use the same base rules and easily tweak it to personal preference.

But when the same stupid strawman comes up again and again it gets old.

• Want people to speak in first person, never reference an ability check or skill? Fine. Just don't claim you have no expectations on how your players express themselves. If there was no pattern expected, "I make a ___ check" would be acceptable.
• Stop claiming that if you don't follow your pattern that people won't have fun, engaging games.
• Don't throw out dumb examples that never cause issues in real world games. If someone declares a skill and I need more info all I have to do is prompt for more detail. In some cases "Can I make a persuasion check" will be perfectly clear.
• I don't care if you think "goal and approach" is the only interpretation of the rules. Discuss what you do and why you find it helpful, but appeals to authority don't mean anything.
• You have fun describing how your PC picks a lock or recalls a piece of lore? Cool. I'd find it boring and a distraction because I want to spend time on investigation, exploration and moving the story along.

On second thought, the tun knowledge checks by insisting on "what are you trying to recall" as in troll weakness vs ttoll habits vx trolls in this area etc is much more like Wherl of Fortune asking a letter st a time than Jeopardy.

But of course, they are not exclusive.

Player - "What foes my character know about trolls?"
Wheel - "What about trolls? Which aspect?"
Player - "is there a weakness?"
Jeopardy - "please express your question in the form of an action?"
Player - "I utter a prayer silently to the spirits of my ancestors asking if Woolery the Forgotten knew of troll wesknesses?"
Wheel - There are three weaknesses known yo Woolery and you see the great battle of..."
Other player - "I hit the fraggin' troll with my maul "

 

[iserith]

ooh ohh ohhh ohhh Mr. Kotter Mr. Kotter I mean. ohh ohhh Mr. 5ekyu Can I steal "Jeopardy dialog"? It is much better than "magic words".

So, two whole posts above the one you're lauding here is what I would consider a calm, reasoned, rules-based response to your assertion which acknowledges and takes into consideration exceptions for certain players without judgment about how you choose to play the game and your response is to ignore that and double down on the ridicule that you started when you referred to how other people play as "magic words?"

Got it. I know where not to spend any more of my time.

 

[robus]

So, two whole posts above the one you're lauding here is what I would consider a calm, reasoned, rules-based response to your assertion which acknowledges and takes into consideration exceptions for certain players without judgment about how you choose to play the game and your response is to ignore that and double down on the ridicule that you started when you referred to how other people play as "magic words?"

Got it. I know where not to spend any more of my time.

Yeah, the willful misrepresentation is quite frustrating.

 

[robus]

What? People calling BS?

I get it we have different styles. That's great. It's one of the strengths of D&D that we can use the same base rules and easily tweak it to personal preference.

I’d say this is it in a nutshell. Line 1: it’s BS. Line 2: It’s different styles.

We were just, once again, try to defend our approach from yet another gross mis-characterization (ooh gotcha here are the “magic words”!!) and instead of realizing that, you and 5ekyu decided to pile on again. If it’s a just a different style why the constant need to tear it down or tell us it doesn’t work when it plainly does for us and many others.

Should never have taken the bait of this dumpster fire of a thread.

 

[Oofta]

I’d say this is it in a nutshell. Line 1: it’s BS. Line 2: It’s different styles.

We were just, once again, try to defend our approach from yet another gross mis-characterization (ooh gotcha here are the “magic words”!!) and instead of realizing that, you and 5ekyu decided to pile on again. If it’s a just a different style why the constant need to tear it down or tell us it doesn’t work when it plainly does for us and many others.

Should never have taken the bait of this dumpster fire of a thread.

I've stated previously that I wouldn't have used the phrase "magic words". But it is obvious that certain phrases such as "Can I make an insight check" are not allowed in some people's games. A lot of reasons for that have been given.

There have been many examples of DMs having very specific requirements on how players can express what they want to accomplish along with a lot of bashing of people that are more lenient.

 

[Umbran]

So, let's see. We have... folks on both sides of the argument (and, at this point, it is an argument, not a discussion) saying they should not have engaged. And, while they do that, they are being snarky about it.

That tells me it is about time for this thread to end. Wrap it up, folks. You're about done.

Prove me wrong. Not by arguing with me, but by behaving like you actualy respect each other as humans and gamers.

 

[Charlaquin]

It's pretty odd that "engaging with the fiction" is considered "magic words". Why are you playing if not to let you participate in a shared game of imagination? Are there actually players unwilling to use their imaginations when playing this game?

There’s a joke somewhere in here about verbal spell casting components, but I’m not clever enough to come up with it.

 

[5ekyu]

ooh ohh ohhh ohhh Mr. Kotter Mr. Kotter I mean. ohh ohhh Mr. 5ekyu Can I steal "Jeopardy dialog"? It is much better than "magic words".

As you wish.