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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 6752775" data-attributes="member: 6787650">If the things that happen make sense to the players as well, in a way which empowers them to predict (to a large extent) the outcome of their choices, then that's fine.The essence of player empowerment in D&D isn't rolling the dice, it's the predictability. When somebody hires the 13th level barbarian to kill a 0th level NPC smuggler and his two associates, and you get to the part where the barbarian has caught up to the smuggler, has passed his stealth rolls, and is lurking on shore waiting for them to come back... there is nothing wrong with just letting him say, "I will them all," without rolling initiative/attacks/damage/etc. If both the DM and the player know that a course of action is a guaranteed success at this point, there is no uncertainty and no need for detailed resolution including die rolls.What makes it fun is if sometimes, say 10% of the time, the smuggler and his men turn out somehow not to be what they appear to be. Either they are surprisingly capable (11th level thieves instead of 0th), or you realize after you kill them that the "smuggler" is actually Prince Rupert, or he's got a Cape of the Mountebank that lets him escape, or there are actually a dozen more smugglers on the boat, or he melts into a puddle of black goo after you kill him...</blockquote>