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Are there actions not covered under a skill?
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<blockquote data-quote="Fenris-77" data-source="post: 8000566" data-attributes="member: 6993955"><p>If the maguffin in the the sock drawer is an important piece of info, I'm not going to gate it behind a skill check without a really good reason. If the PCs came looking for the key, and the key is in the sock drawer, they PCs will find they key if they search the room, barring any other sort of complication, no roll required. You <em>could</em> hide the key in a secret compartment that requires a skill check to find, but ask yourself why you're doing that. Why add that obstacle and potential failure? I think a possible, and probably popular, answer there is that rolling imparts a sense of discovery or achievement. I'd prefer to impart that via the obstacles required to get to the room, rather than as some sort of last chance to fail once you're there.</p><p></p><p>Caveat 1: If we were talking about a treasure, or something else that isn't essential to the plot, then sure, hide it like a soccer mom hiding Christmas presents. </p><p></p><p>Caveat 2: If the roll is to represent something other than just finding the key, that's different. For example, if the PCs have a minute until the guards arrive, then I might ask them to roll. Not to find the key, but to find it before the guards arrive, which is a very different narrative decision. The consequence there is about time, not about finding the key.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Fenris-77, post: 8000566, member: 6993955"] If the maguffin in the the sock drawer is an important piece of info, I'm not going to gate it behind a skill check without a really good reason. If the PCs came looking for the key, and the key is in the sock drawer, they PCs will find they key if they search the room, barring any other sort of complication, no roll required. You [I]could[/I] hide the key in a secret compartment that requires a skill check to find, but ask yourself why you're doing that. Why add that obstacle and potential failure? I think a possible, and probably popular, answer there is that rolling imparts a sense of discovery or achievement. I'd prefer to impart that via the obstacles required to get to the room, rather than as some sort of last chance to fail once you're there. Caveat 1: If we were talking about a treasure, or something else that isn't essential to the plot, then sure, hide it like a soccer mom hiding Christmas presents. Caveat 2: If the roll is to represent something other than just finding the key, that's different. For example, if the PCs have a minute until the guards arrive, then I might ask them to roll. Not to find the key, but to find it before the guards arrive, which is a very different narrative decision. The consequence there is about time, not about finding the key. [/QUOTE]
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