iserith
Magic Wordsmith
If there is no cost to retrying other than time and the task isn't impossible, then there's no reason to roll. Just narrate the result.1e was the first place I saw it, in the write-up for bend bars/lift gates*.
The problem of allowing infinite retries of the same approach - i.e. lots of dice rolling - until a high-enough roll comes up.
Not sure it can, as the one-roll solution is already about as elegant as it gets. 3e tried going the other way and assuming a 20 would eventually occur, with the take-20 mechanic. This, while admittedly just as elegant, brought about the (IMO unacceptable) side-effect problem of every task becoming a purely binary you-can-do-it-or-you-can't setup: any uncertainty was removed.
* - I originally mistyped that as "bend bard/lift gates", which brings to mind a few interesting visuals...![]()
The "one and done" approach is inelegant in my view because it doesn't seem to be well-rooted in the fiction. To the extent that I recall the conversation, @Charlaquin showed why that is way upthread. While I'm sure you've justified it in your mind these many years and are used to it, I find it to be an odd fit for someone seeking "immersion." As well, the uncertainty as to the outcome occurs before the roll as established by the DM. The roll resolves the uncertainty into success or failure (or progress combined with a setback). I'm not really sure what you mean by a binary in this case or why that is bad. That's just how it is in D&D - you win or you lose or you win with a setback.