D&D 5E Players: Why Do You Want to Roll a d20?

[DEFCON 1]

True, but they also set player expectations about what their characters can and cannot reasonably accomplish.

A shared understanding of the rules is important to me when playing, it allows me to better engage with the story.

If I want to climb to the rooftops and there are no extenuating circumstances, the rules say I can climb at half speed no check required. If the DM asks me for a check* out of the blue or is inconsistent in how they arbitrate climbing, it's going to detract from my enjoyment of the game.

* Unless this exception was previously discussed and agreed to

Heh... I only wish I had the rules memorized to the point where I would know off the top of my head that climbing that particular building the DM put forth shouldn't involve a check and be an automatic success.

 

[Ovinomancer]

Heh... I only wish I had the rules memorized to the point where I would know off the top of my head that climbing that particular building the DM put forth shouldn't involve a check and be an automatic success.

Super easy. It doesn't unless the DM narrates a reason for a check.

 

[iserith]

If your character selection was based not upon what you wanted to play from a personality point of view in the world we were playing in, but instead was in making sure you "won" every die roll you could... I suspect you might not enjoy playing in my games. I'm one of those "We're creating a story together" type of DMs, and failure is just as important to success when it comes to the story and drama of the game. Mitigation should be a very low priority for character design.

I'll have to disagree with you there because I'm also a "we're creating a story together" type of DMs. That's half of the "win-condition" of the game after all. I would also say that I can have a character with a great personality that is also good at hitting that DC 17 or 21 with some regularity (but obviously not all the time). This is basically how I'd play D&D 4e, since the expectation in that game is that players will ask to make checks and the DM almost always says "Yes," a game in which I have a lot of fun.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Okay... well then you can play with me for a while and learn what skills I mostly ask checks for and that'll give you an idea of how you can build your character then. I'd tell you myself, but I honestly have no idea. LOL.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Super easy. It doesn't unless the DM narrates a reason for a check.

I know, right? It's almost like people want to find ways to prove this approach will fail, generally relying on some combination of jerk players and jerk DMs trying to mis-use it to be...well, jerks.

Player says "I'll climb the wall!" and the DM has a bunch of choices:

"Ok, at the top of the wall you find..."
"You try, but there are no handholds and the rock is wet."
"Ok, but it's pretty tricky. You get a few feet off the ground and you realize it's not as easy as it looks. It's going to take a DC 15 Dex (Athletics) check for every 10 feet of progress, and if you fail you crater. What do you do?

 

[coolAlias]

Heh... I only wish I had the rules memorized to the point where I would know off the top of my head that climbing that particular building the DM put forth shouldn't involve a check and be an automatic success.

I'm sure you know what I mean... but in case you don't, I'm not saying the DM can't ask for a check, I'm just saying that unless there is an in-game reason for it or it was previously discussed that climbing works differently, as a player I'm going to expect to be able to just climb things.

 

[Michael Silverbane]

Player says "I'll climb the wall!" and the DM has a bunch of choices:

"Ok, at the top of the wall you find..."
"You try, but there are no handholds and the rock is wet."
"Ok, but it's pretty tricky. You get a few feet off the ground and you realize it's not as easy as it looks. It's going to take a DC 15 Dex (Athletics) check for every 10 feet of progress, and if you fail you crater. What do you do?

You forgot, "Rocks fall, everyone dies."

 

[BookBarbarian]

I'm sure you know what I mean... but in case you don't, I'm not saying the DM can't ask for a check, I'm just saying that unless there is an in-game reason for it or it was previously discussed that climbing works differently, as a player I'm going to expect to be able to just climb things.

That's the rules right?

Climbing like Swimming is half speed unless you have a climb or swim speed in which case it's full speed, or the DM determines this particular climb or swim is more challenging that usual in which case you might have a check or outright fail.

 

[Oofta]

True, but they also set player expectations about what their characters can and cannot reasonably accomplish.

A shared understanding of the rules is important to me when playing, it allows me to better engage with the story.

If I want to climb to the rooftops and there are no extenuating circumstances, the rules say I can climb at half speed no check required. If the DM asks me for a check* out of the blue or is inconsistent in how they arbitrate climbing, it's going to detract from my enjoyment of the game.

* Unless this exception was previously discussed and agreed to

Really? Because what I remember is that the DM decides the DC for the climb with the DC being anything from automatic to nearly impossible. After all, what is the wall made of? Broken rock? Smooth ice? Jello?

It's up to the DM to give the players the information they think PC would have before the player makes a decision.

 

[iserith]

Super easy. It doesn't unless the DM narrates a reason for a check.

Right. "DM describes the environment," which necessarily includes the basic scope of options. Whether or not a terrain feature presents a challenge beyond a hit to speed is one of those I always mention. Because if I don't and someone makes a decision to climb without me first establishing the exception, as far as I'm concerned that challenge can no longer be a thing and that's on me as DM.