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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin" data-source="post: 9076608" data-attributes="member: 6779196">It does not, in fact, mean the same thing. “I make a perception check” does not convey any information about what the player wants to perceive or how the character is going about trying to perceive it. It just doesn’t. You might be able to assume those things, but I specifically want to avoid having to make those assumptions. Primarily because I don’t think it’s appropriate for me as the DM to establish for the player what their character is doing, secondarily because leaving those things unstated makes the fictional activity too abstract for my taste, and tertiarily because  such assumptions aren’t always correct, and mismatched assumptions can lead to conflict at the table (e.g. the “I didn’t say I wanted to touch it” problem; that’s fine, but then say what you do want to do so I don’t have the opportunity to make that incorrect assumption).Drawn out detail is not something I demand. Indeed, I prefer action declarations to be brief and direct. It does not take significantly more time to say “I remain alert for signs of danger” than “I make a perception check.” It’s literally two more words.I am well aware of the importance of pacing. You know what kills pacing in a D&D game? Playing 20 questions instead of committing to an action the DM can resolve. Or worse, arguing with the DM because they made an incorrect assumption about how you imagined your character performing the action. Just imagine what your character does and then say that and the game runs much more smoothly in my experience.<img class="smilie smilie--emoji" alt="🤷‍♀️" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f937-2640.png" title="Woman shrugging    :woman_shrugging:" data-shortname=":woman_shrugging:" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" /> my experience has been that my approach accomplishes everything I want it to. I can do moments of high tension, moments of high action, moments of levity, and anything in-between to good effect.</blockquote>

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