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<blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 8000411" data-attributes="member: 97077"><p>Smart play in my view is opening the bureau and rifling through the folded clothes to find the key. There might be no roll here at all - you just succeed because the key is, in fact, hidden beneath a set of folded clothes. Less smart play is doing none of that and just saying "Can I make a Perception check to pace around the room and search the walls and furniture for clues?" The PHB suggests that, in this example, you don't even get a check. You just fail due to a lack of reasonable specificity in engaging with the environment.</p><p></p><p>We "win" at D&D when everyone has fun and creates an exciting, memorable story by playing. Arguably, it's more fun to succeed than it is to fail (though some failure can be fun). A player is more likely to see the character succeed if he or she engages with the environment in the manner I have described. Task by task, it also tends to make for a richer interaction which adds to the creation of an exciting, memorable story.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>This looks like extra work to me for no gain. The player's making a roll he or she doesn't need to make and the DM is making stuff up because of it. As a player, I would just not ask to make the roll in the first place, per the rules. As DM, I'd remind the player (and have, many times, when retraining players out of this habit) that it's not their role to determine if there is an ability check, just like it's not my role to describe what they are doing.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="iserith, post: 8000411, member: 97077"] Smart play in my view is opening the bureau and rifling through the folded clothes to find the key. There might be no roll here at all - you just succeed because the key is, in fact, hidden beneath a set of folded clothes. Less smart play is doing none of that and just saying "Can I make a Perception check to pace around the room and search the walls and furniture for clues?" The PHB suggests that, in this example, you don't even get a check. You just fail due to a lack of reasonable specificity in engaging with the environment. We "win" at D&D when everyone has fun and creates an exciting, memorable story by playing. Arguably, it's more fun to succeed than it is to fail (though some failure can be fun). A player is more likely to see the character succeed if he or she engages with the environment in the manner I have described. Task by task, it also tends to make for a richer interaction which adds to the creation of an exciting, memorable story. This looks like extra work to me for no gain. The player's making a roll he or she doesn't need to make and the DM is making stuff up because of it. As a player, I would just not ask to make the roll in the first place, per the rules. As DM, I'd remind the player (and have, many times, when retraining players out of this habit) that it's not their role to determine if there is an ability check, just like it's not my role to describe what they are doing. [/QUOTE]
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