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Are there actions not covered under a skill?
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<blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 7999857" data-attributes="member: 16814"><p>Fundamentally, I don't have to guess what the player does. "I try to persuade the NPC," for instance, leaves me trying to guess how that persuasion goes -- are you flirting/cajoling/bargaining/bribing -- and what the end goal may be -- get past/gain access/get discount? Now, we could expand that situation and maybe answer those questions, but the point stands -- my method never has me assume any action by the PCs because the the players tell me what the PCs do.</p><p></p><p>That's a big difference, unless you've never, ever had a moment where you've adjudicated an action from a roll request and had a player say, "I didn't want to do <em>that</em>!"</p><p></p><p>3.x encouraged skill check first play. It did this by setting concrete DCs for specific actions and circumstances. The GM was supposed to look at what an action was and use the preset DC, and expect the players to ask for skill checks. 5e is different, in the players are not supposed to ask for skill checks at all -- they're supposed to describe what their character does and then the GM adjudicates it. Setting a DC isn't based on a preset set of circumstances, the GM is to assign it based on the action stated by the player. This is why DCs in the book are Easy, Medium, Hard, Very Hard, Nearly Impossible (10, 15, 20, 25, 30) and not like they are presented in the 3.x books (climb wall DC 20, plenty of handholds +5, slippery -10, etc.). This is a pretty large difference, and if you're skipping the part where you have the players describe what they do, then you're cutting out an important part of the play loop. By letting the player skip to setting the terms of adjudication, you've skipped the GM's authority to determine adjudication and also left a lot of play off the table. Personally, I like letting things work without a roll when it makes sense, so I'm going to jealously protect my authority to adjudicate actions and not let players do it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ovinomancer, post: 7999857, member: 16814"] Fundamentally, I don't have to guess what the player does. "I try to persuade the NPC," for instance, leaves me trying to guess how that persuasion goes -- are you flirting/cajoling/bargaining/bribing -- and what the end goal may be -- get past/gain access/get discount? Now, we could expand that situation and maybe answer those questions, but the point stands -- my method never has me assume any action by the PCs because the the players tell me what the PCs do. That's a big difference, unless you've never, ever had a moment where you've adjudicated an action from a roll request and had a player say, "I didn't want to do [I]that[/I]!" 3.x encouraged skill check first play. It did this by setting concrete DCs for specific actions and circumstances. The GM was supposed to look at what an action was and use the preset DC, and expect the players to ask for skill checks. 5e is different, in the players are not supposed to ask for skill checks at all -- they're supposed to describe what their character does and then the GM adjudicates it. Setting a DC isn't based on a preset set of circumstances, the GM is to assign it based on the action stated by the player. This is why DCs in the book are Easy, Medium, Hard, Very Hard, Nearly Impossible (10, 15, 20, 25, 30) and not like they are presented in the 3.x books (climb wall DC 20, plenty of handholds +5, slippery -10, etc.). This is a pretty large difference, and if you're skipping the part where you have the players describe what they do, then you're cutting out an important part of the play loop. By letting the player skip to setting the terms of adjudication, you've skipped the GM's authority to determine adjudication and also left a lot of play off the table. Personally, I like letting things work without a roll when it makes sense, so I'm going to jealously protect my authority to adjudicate actions and not let players do it. [/QUOTE]
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Are there actions not covered under a skill?
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