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Message: <blockquote data-quote="clearstream" data-source="post: 9501033" data-attributes="member: 71699">To my reading, it's not about which book, it's about "specific beats general".DM can say yes, or call for checks with proficiency, advantage or disadvantage, based on what players describe.Yes, it makes sense to provide a reasonable DC for general cases.Alternatively, they communicated and used "specific beats general" in the way intended. Here's Net Trap from XGENET TRAP Simple trap (level l-4, dangerous threat) Trigger. A trip wire strung across a hallway is riggedto a large net. If the trip wire is broken, the net falls on intruders. An iron bell is also rigged to the trip wire. It rings when the trap activates, alerting nearby guards. Effect. A net covering a 10-foot-by-10-foot area centered on the trip wire falls to the floor as a bell rings. Any creature fully within this area must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or be restrained. A creature can use its action to make a DC 10 Strength check to try to free itself or another creature in the net. Dealing 5 slashing damage to the net (AC 10, 20 hp) also frees a creature without harming the creature. Countermeasures. A successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check reveals the trip wire and the net. A successful DC 15 Dexterity check using thieves' tools disables the trip wire without causing the net to drop or the bell to ring; failing the check causes the trap to activate. And from the 2024 DMG<h4>Falling Net </h4> Nuisance Trap (Levels 1–4) Trigger: A creature crosses a trip wire Duration: Instantaneous A falling net trap uses a trip wire to release a weighted, 10-foot-square Net suspended from the ceiling. The trip wire is 3 inches off the ground and stretches between two columns or trees. The first creature that crosses the trip wire causes the Net to fall on it. The target must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw or have the Restrained condition until it escapes. The target succeeds automatically if it’s Huge or larger. A creature can take an action to make a DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check, freeing itself or another creature within its reach from the Net on a successful check. Detect and Disarm. As a Search action, a creature can examine the trapped area and make a DC 11 Wisdom (Perception) check, detecting the trip wire and the suspended Net on a successful check. Once detected, the trip wire can be easily cut or avoided (no ability check required). Destroy the Net. Reducing the Net to 0 Hit Points frees any creature trapped in it (see the Player’s Handbook for the Net’s statistics). Set the Trap. A creature that has Thieves’ Tools and all the trap’s components (including a Net) can try to set a falling net trap, doing so with a successful DC 13 Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check. Each attempt to set this trap takes 10 minutes. At Higher Levels. You can scale the trap for higher levels by increasing the weight of the Net, which increases the save DC and the DC of the Strength (Athletics) check as follows: DC 12 at levels 5–10, DC 14 at levels 11–16, or DC 16 at levels 17–20.A significant change is that in XGE the trap requires thieves' tools to disarm, with the unfortunate possible implication that no matter what players try, if they lack the tools they can't disarm it. The update brings things back toward "skilled play". To me that seems intentional.I agree with this point. DM ought to actively disclose anything significantly bearing on a player's evaluation of features. However, incidence in printed material and incidence at table are not mandated to be identical. Some groups might prefer to steer away from what in degenerate cases could be characterised as a parlour game with DM to guess the narrative solution.While I believe the norm at many tables will be that DM can say yes when a player describes improvising a tool in a way that makes sense to the group, I haven't yet spotted specific wording in the 2024 core about that.I believe the intent (at least of this edition) is that players can describe and DM can say yes to actions beyond those listed in texts like that for the Fire-Casting Statue trap. Seeing as it's formally a trap, a DM would be on safe ground (based on other parts of core) in granting a rogue advantage on say a Dexterity (Arcana) check to both identify and safely deface the glyph were they using thieves' tools.We're dealing here with different sorts of rules. The general rules for skills and tools are game mechanics, meaning that they define how players interact with the game world. They're part of system. The Fire-Casting Statue is a collection of world description and constitutive rules that lay out salient features of some part of the game world. Players may, but do not have to, avail of the ability, skill and tool mechanics to address a Fire-Casting Statue. The better part of doubts raised here are due to reading these different rules to stand on the same footing: they do not.</blockquote>

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