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<blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin" data-source="post: 7800530" data-attributes="member: 6779196"><p>Mmm... I’d still prefer a bit more specificity than that. “Checking” is just such a vague term. “Looking in the keyhole” would be fine, or “probing it carefully with the thieves’ tools before attempting to pick it” or something.</p><p></p><p></p><p>I think we agree on all counts here, except the part where you assume “checking for traps” means “looking for anything out of the ordinary.” I don’t think it’s a big ask of the players to just say they’re looking rather than the more vague “checking” and it eliminates a lot of potential miscommunication. Even when you say “purely sensory,” that could mean looking, listening, touching, or even smelling (it <em>probably</em> doesn’t meant tasting, though I did have a character in one game who went out of his way to lick every weird fungus or crystal he cake across in the underdark <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite18" alt=":ROFLMAO:" title="ROFL :ROFLMAO:" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":ROFLMAO:" /> )</p><p></p><p></p><p>Yeah, I’m with you there.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Oh no, I always do telegraph my traps, and I narrate my telegraphs regardless of passive Perception. But telegraphing can be done in a lot of ways. Sure, you can call out the raised sections of tile on the floor and the holes in the elaborately stuccoed walls. But you can also have a skeleton with a spike through him in a sunbeam, in a hall striped with other sunbeams. You can have cryptically worded warnings carved into the walls. You can have mysterious red-brown stains on the ceiling. If you plan out your dungeon well, you can introduce a trap early on in an obvious way, and later have another trap just like it without such hinting, but in a similar context. There’s lots of ways to telegraph traps without the players being able to see the trap itself.</p><p></p><p></p><p>I only call for checks in response to actions players declare, so no, if you don’t declare an action that could result in you discovering the trap, you won’t get a check to spot it. But you will always get some kind of narration that could indicate the presence of the trap. Usually this will be a very clear indication early in a dungeon, and get more and more subtle the deeper in you get.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Charlaquin, post: 7800530, member: 6779196"] Mmm... I’d still prefer a bit more specificity than that. “Checking” is just such a vague term. “Looking in the keyhole” would be fine, or “probing it carefully with the thieves’ tools before attempting to pick it” or something. I think we agree on all counts here, except the part where you assume “checking for traps” means “looking for anything out of the ordinary.” I don’t think it’s a big ask of the players to just say they’re looking rather than the more vague “checking” and it eliminates a lot of potential miscommunication. Even when you say “purely sensory,” that could mean looking, listening, touching, or even smelling (it [i]probably[/i] doesn’t meant tasting, though I did have a character in one game who went out of his way to lick every weird fungus or crystal he cake across in the underdark :ROFLMAO: ) Yeah, I’m with you there. Oh no, I always do telegraph my traps, and I narrate my telegraphs regardless of passive Perception. But telegraphing can be done in a lot of ways. Sure, you can call out the raised sections of tile on the floor and the holes in the elaborately stuccoed walls. But you can also have a skeleton with a spike through him in a sunbeam, in a hall striped with other sunbeams. You can have cryptically worded warnings carved into the walls. You can have mysterious red-brown stains on the ceiling. If you plan out your dungeon well, you can introduce a trap early on in an obvious way, and later have another trap just like it without such hinting, but in a similar context. There’s lots of ways to telegraph traps without the players being able to see the trap itself. I only call for checks in response to actions players declare, so no, if you don’t declare an action that could result in you discovering the trap, you won’t get a check to spot it. But you will always get some kind of narration that could indicate the presence of the trap. Usually this will be a very clear indication early in a dungeon, and get more and more subtle the deeper in you get. [/QUOTE]
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