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<blockquote data-quote="Kurotowa" data-source="post: 7281369" data-attributes="member: 27957">I subscribe to the philosophy that game mechanics are player abstractions for the actions and events of the game. The target of a Fireball doesn't just stand there as the flames wash over them and happily announce &quot;Made my save!&quot; That Dex save means they're agilely throwing themselves to the side or behind a stray piece of cover just before the explosion hits, which is obvious to all involved.Now, mental effects can be a bit less clear, especially when it's meant to be subtle even if it works. Generally I'd default to anything with a duration giving the caster a clear sense of if it took or not, even without concentration. For most other things there's the old standby of &quot;their eyes briefly glaze over before they snap out of it with a start&quot; descriptions.Of course, there are always edge cases. If someone wants to make a Deception check to pretend they failed their save to a mental effect, that's also a classic. But on the whole I lean towards transparency in action results. It's the same principle where martial PCs should always be able to instantly recognize when they're hitting something with damage resistance.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Kurotowa, post: 7281369, member: 27957"] I subscribe to the philosophy that game mechanics are player abstractions for the actions and events of the game. The target of a Fireball doesn't just stand there as the flames wash over them and happily announce "Made my save!" That Dex save means they're agilely throwing themselves to the side or behind a stray piece of cover just before the explosion hits, which is obvious to all involved. Now, mental effects can be a bit less clear, especially when it's meant to be subtle even if it works. Generally I'd default to anything with a duration giving the caster a clear sense of if it took or not, even without concentration. For most other things there's the old standby of "their eyes briefly glaze over before they snap out of it with a start" descriptions. Of course, there are always edge cases. If someone wants to make a Deception check to pretend they failed their save to a mental effect, that's also a classic. But on the whole I lean towards transparency in action results. It's the same principle where martial PCs should always be able to instantly recognize when they're hitting something with damage resistance. [/QUOTE]

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