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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 6785473" data-attributes="member: 29398">OK, but I-as-player have no way of knowing that; and nor should I.  To me there should always be a question hovering over something like this...did I not find it because it isn't there to find, or because it's there and I missed it?And as a side note: this is why these rolls should ALWAYS be made by the DM and kept hidden.  And even when a roll will auto-fail because the trap is 30 feet away the DM should still go through the motions of making one, to preserve the mystery.Then again, trap-searching probably isn't the best example for a fail-anywhere discussion as it's pretty binary - you find it, or you don't; with the only other question being if you don't find it by search do you find it the hard way?Which all means you're probably best off just reacting to what the players give you.  If they give you more detail than is really needed, resolve at that level of detail as it's probably what they want.  If they give less than is needed, ask for more until the detail level is enough to give a resolution.After you describe an ornate bedchamber to the players "I search the room." is most of the time not enough detail; you're quite justified in asking "How much time are you giving it?  And what are you searching for?" to give you a basis for resolving how successful the search might be (assuming there's anything there to find); the "what are you searching for?" question gives you a focus, as someone who is specifically searching for valuables is less likely to notice a secret door than someone specifically searching for secret doors.The flip side would be a player's response to your description being "I search the bed first for valuables, including underneath it; I then move to the credenza and after checking it for traps I search it completely looking for anything either valuable or with writing on it, after which I check under the rug and behind (and in) the picture frames for papers; I'll also check the walls behind the pictures for hidden compartments.  I then check over any other furniture, after which I search the walls for secret doors.  If I've so far found nothing, I pull up the rug and check the floor carefully for any hidden compartments or exits."  This is probably a bit more detail than you really need, but it's sure easier to resolve! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Lan-"does fail-forward mean you get to skip a grade in school?"-efan</blockquote>

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