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

[DragonLancer]

If a player needs to roll a save vs a spell, do you tell them what DC they need to roll in order to save vs that spell? Or do you keep it secret and just tell them if they fail or not?.

Never. Giving the DC target out spoils some of that game mysticism and makes D&D a game of number crunching.

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

It depends. Sometimes if I set a really high DC on purpose cause I want the player to be higher level to say enter a certain Door i'll tell them tehy cant make it. See people in my group will push and push until they get their way. So instead of wasting 20 minutes on trying to say pick a lock, ill say they just cant do it yet unless they can make over a certain number that i usually have about 5 points less than the actual DC.
As far as DR, SR and Resistances go, sometimes if I want them to take it into account during combat so I dont have to recalculate based on such things. Same goes for AC. Sometimes I just want things to hurry up so i'll tell them.

 

[Bardsandsages]

If a player needs to roll a save vs a spell, do you tell them what DC they need to roll in order to save vs that spell? Or do you keep it secret and just tell them if they fail or not?

I'm just wondering how often players think a DM is cheating when the DM knows he's not. So I was wondering if DM's tell players what a DC needs to be in order to earn trust.

If my players think I'm cheating, I have a bigger problem than whether or not I am sharing the DC.

During combat, I tend to tell them the DC/AC/SR etc up front so that it speeds up combat a bit. That way they can just let me know "I'm casting a spell, but I failed to get through the SR" without having to drag it out. During regular questing or NPC interaction, I don't tell them anything so as to allow the natural roleplaying to happen.

 

[FireLance]

Never. Giving the DC target out spoils some of that game mysticism and makes D&D a game of number crunching.

It might not be your cup of tea, but there is nothing inherently wrong with a game of number crunching. Some players like the challenge of working out (not guessing) "the best strategy", even if it does not always work out in actual play because of dice randomness.

 

[Rawhide]

we never tell the dcs, we just descipe the problem

but we all know the rules well enuf to figure out the dcs from what the dm says

 

[wayne62682]

It depends. Usually for skills, but not for saves except once in a while if the DM forgets and says "You need a 16 or better" or something.

 

[Fieari]

Almost never. Exceptions are when they need to make the roll repeatedly, say, for a long difficult climb up a glass mountain under an antimagic field, or for tightrope walking across the grand canyon (things that have been known to come up in my games). Then I'll just tell them, "DC is XX, fail by Y or less and you make no progress, fail by more than Y and you fall." or some such. Speeds things up.

Otherwise, no. They don't get to know. If they figure it out, say because they have to keep making it, and sometimes fail and sometimes succeed (and have found the exact threshold), I don't mind them knowing, but a table rule is that you don't say it outloud. Breaks the mood.

 

[Arnwyn]

If a player needs to roll a save vs a spell, do you tell them what DC they need to roll in order to save vs that spell? Or do you keep it secret and just tell them if they fail or not?

Pretty much never. If it's a DC for a common use of a skill, then it's right in front of their faces in the PHB. Anything else is still a no.

I'm just wondering how often players think a DM is cheating when the DM knows he's not. So I was wondering if DM's tell players what a DC needs to be in order to earn trust.

Has never been an issue for us.

 

[Stormtower]

I had fallen into the habit of always telling DCs and was forced to change my habit when I implemented action points IMC. One of my players actually pointed out that I needed to do it more. You've gotta love players who are that dedicated to fair play.

Now that I've changed my method and DCs not commonly available in the PH are kept secret. A high Knowledge check might provide an estimate - descriptive, not numeric - of a DC for a foe's ability under certain circumstances (dungeoneering for aberrations, religion for undead, etc.). The players' feedback indicates that it adds good tension to encounters.