Do you tell player's what the DC is for a check?

[ThirdWizard]

Depends if the PC would know.

DC for a spell? No.
DC for a climb check? Yes.

Caster level doesn't normally change a spell DC. Thought I'd point that out just in case.

 

[LostSoul]

If they ask, yeah, or if the odds are really crazy, then I'll tell them.

I recall a game where a Bard cast Hideous Laughter on an tough NPC - I would only fail on a 1 or a 2. I told them this, then I rolled... it came up a 2. I think the fact that the players knew beforehand made that roll even cooler for us all.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Skills? Yes, unless its a really high one.

Saves? Almost never. PC's need to estimate from experience. I like the slow "aw heck" feeling that come come from realizing just how high they need to roll to succeed. Same applies with armor classes - I don't tell them what they need to hit.

 

[Graybeard]

Saves, no.
Skills, sometimes. It depends on the skill. Spot, Listen, Search, no.
Spell save DCs, no.

 

[DreadArchon]

It depends. If the character has no way of estimating the difficulty, I don't tell the player.

If the character has some general idea of the difficulty, I typically tell them how much they pass or fail by after the roll.

If the character has a very good idea of the difficulty, such as if he's picking a lock, tumbling, or appraising, I just say "Roll me a DC X check in Y." There's no point spending two minutes trying to flavorfully describe how difficult something will be when there's already a number to equate it to (given that the players are familiar with those numbers already). If I tell the Dwarf to make a DC 30 jump check, his character knows that this is a dang hard jump. I don't need to start going over wind conditions, jump distance, how good of a running start he can get, how strong he is, how much experience he has jumping, similar jumps he's made in the past, his character's depth perception, the surface he's jumping from, the area spells going on in the area, how motivated or desperate the character is based on the situation, the character's ability to grab the ledge if he just barely misses, magical bonuses, etc.

 

[MarkB]

Never. We use action points and I don't want the PCs to know the target number so they can always know the best times to use the action points.

Likewise. I use Eberron action points, for which the rule is that you can roll the AP die after you've made the d20 roll, but only if you don't know whether you've succeeded or not. So, if I tell the players the DC, I'd be denying them the option to 'top up' a marginal roll with an action point.

What I will typically do, in the case of skill checks where the character would be able to estimate his chances (climbing a rock face, balancing on a tilting cart, etc.), is to describe it as "easy", "moderate", "difficult" or "very difficult" (roughly equating to DCs around 5, 10, 15 and 20+ respectively), to give them an idea of their chances of success.

 

[kensanata]

I let them know the numbers they need to beat because my players are superstitious and believe that knowing the number improves their chances.

I think of it this way: If I tell them, and it's hard, rolling the dice in a tight spot is tense. If I don't tell, and it's hard, the only tense moment is when the DM says: "You failed." I try to avoid situations where the DM directly communicates the bad news.

 

[Nyeshet]

It depends. If it is something they need to roll a natural 20 to succeed on or something they can take a ten on I'll likely tell them, especially if there is a penalty for failure. Their characters should know their limits, after all, and they should similarly know whether something is a cakewalk for them or not. Anything in between, however, I'll likely keep silent on. For things they cannot take a ten on - saves, AC, etc, they will not be told the DC.

Telling them the DC in such situations as that takes away a lot of the suspense. "Will I make it? Can I make it? etc

 

[was]

sometimes

 

[Laman Stahros]

Never. We use action points and I don't want the PCs to know the target number so they can always know the best times to use the action points.

QFT.

Action points rock.