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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 8272852" data-attributes="member: 82106">No, but what we're saying is that a better system nails down the risk/reward/cost/benefit/context better than a basic unstructured 'check when and where the GM decides' does. When you simply add more options onto how the check itself works, that doesn't nail anything down! Imagine two scenarios:1) GM uses basic core skill/ability checks as-written - The player cannot know when or if a check will be invoked, this is totally up to the GM. There's no 'context' (IE a check doesn't establish some increment of progress through some mechanism, like a track or SC, so it COULD be effectively ignored/insignificant). Once a check is called for by the GM the player simply rolls the dice. In a practical sense they can ask questions, but the fiction leading to the check is already set, and even if the GM is willing to revisit that (IE allow you to employ a consumable) you don't know if that is warranted or not, since the DC is totally up to the DM and hasn't been announced (again, you can ask, but nothing says you will either get an answer or be able to amend your actions based on whatever it is). Finally a binary pass/fail result is generated. There's no specific rules structure around what this implies. Does the fiction progress with the task now impossible? Or does the state remain as before? What determines which of the two is the case? If these rules are in play, then the player can expend Inspiration before rolling the check, but again this is a blind choice.2) GM uses degrees of success - Literally nothing changes... The only difference is post-roll the GM may declare a partial failure/success with complications. The player doesn't have any way of knowing what these possibilities are, because again there is still no context. This is the problem with 5e's entire check-based system, and none of the optional rules really address it competently. I think Inspiration and Hero Points were intended to do so, but they are not well-written and thus largely miss the mark. Even if you use them, you have not gained much without a broader structure to govern the whole process.</blockquote>

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