D&D 5E How do you handle secret doors?

[overgeeked]

In 5e, there is no default procedure for secret doors afaik.

I ask my players to describe exactly what they are doing, and if they are doing a thing that might reasonably find the secret door, I'll let them find it and describe how the opening mechanism is hidden (so they could use again if they want). If they are doing something sort of close, then I'll let them roll perception or investigation.

How do you handle?

Same as you, basically. I want them to interact with the world as much as possible and their character sheet as little as possible.

Have the players describe as much as possible.

If they'd find the secret door with their described action, they find it. No roll required.

If their description is close but not quite right, perception or investigation depending on the description. Best guess the DC from their description and how far removed it is from the "facts" of the secret door.

If their description wildly off, wrong side of the room, looking in the wrong direction, etc, they don't find it. No roll required.

 

[Bill Zebub]

As a player, I don't find it satisfying or fun when I roll Int (Investigation) or Wis (Perception) and the DM tells me I found a secret door. It's way more satisfying when I actually find it.

In one case the DM described some irregularities in the stonework that I was convinced was part of a large-scale trap, and while fiddling with it I accidentally opened a secret door. That was genuinely exciting, and felt like the classic scene in movies where the visitors in the castle stumble across a secret door.

 

[Shadowdweller00]

There kinda is an established procedure? Secret doors are precisely what passive perception is for. On rare occasion if I feel it's more fun to let the PCs have a chance to find or not find a secret door, I'll roll randomly behind the screen using the highest perception bonus for passive detection. Usually once (Probability being what it is, using 3+ individual rolls is almost certain to find the door regardless of difficulty - well.... regardless of difficulties needing a natural roll in the extreme upper end). Active searching is always performed individually at the players' discretion, of course.

Sometimes I merely provide clues and let the PCs play around actively until they find out what's going on. "You feel an odd draught of air as you pass the corner here". "There are some scratches on the floor along this hall." "The stonework looks a little different in this area." "You notice a trail of faint smudges that extend partway along the east wall." "It looks like there's a piece of hair stuck between the wall planks over there." "The thumping of your footsteps sounds off for a second." "You notice a place where it look like the cobwebs have been torn away."

 

[Shadowdweller00]

It's too bad Darkvision and magical light sources are so commonplace, because torch consumption would be an awesome time constraint.

Not really, IMX; if you get rid of those it tends to result in PCs carrying chests or even wagons full of torches and oil. Kinda like the whole crates full of arrows thing. That said, I think it's fun to play up / dramatize the dimness of "dim light". "There's a grunt from the shadows and a glint of metal. Roll initiative" You don't really need to give the full suite of information that you would for something in bright light. "You see an orc". As long you don't overload the PCs with so much detail that it slows down play. Like in real life while walking with a flashlight or driving with headlights at night there's a range at which you can only really detect movement or flickers of shape.

 

[Lanefan]

In general I try to ask myself, "why am I putting in a secret door?" and the only really good answer (I think) is for its narrative impact.

I instead ask myself "why would the builders/inhabitants of this place put in a secret door?", to which there are three common answers:

--- to hide something, up to and including the whole complex. Think of a typical spy movie setting where there's a huge room full of tech behind a secret door in the back of an ordinary-looking shop.
--- as a defense mechanism. A secret door bypassed by invaders can allow defenders to take them en flanc, or from behind. Or, as you suggest, a hidden passage could bypass all the nasty traps and other defenses.
--- as an escape route and-or to delay pursuers.

But if the answer is, "To make it harder to get to the treasure" then I probably won't bother.

Yet that would in fact be a good reason for the builder to put one in: to hide the vault.

 

[Lyxen]

Technically, exactly as 5e does it, passive perception and active investigation when they are really looking for it, and I place them where they would be logical to hide secrets, so in turn the players have a chance to guess that there would be one (or can find clues to that effect).

 

[Azzy]

In 5e, there is no default procedure for secret doors afaik.

There is, actually, in the DMG, pp. 103-104.

Secret Doors
A secret door is crafted to blend into the wall that surrounds it. Sometimes faint cracks in the wall or scuff marks on the floor betray the secret door’s presence.

Detecting a Secret Door. Use the characters’ passive Wisdom (Perception) scores to determine whether anyone in the party notices a secret door without actively searching for it. Characters can also find a secret door by actively searching the location where the door is hidden and succeeding on a Wisdom (Perception) check. To set an appropriate DC for the check, see chapter 8.

Opening a Secret Door. Once a secret door is detected, a successful Intelligence (Investigation) check might be required to determine how to open it if the opening mechanism isn’t obvious. Set the DC according to the difficulty guidelines in chapter 8.

If adventurers can’t determine how to open a secret door, breaking it down is always an option. Treat it as a locked door made of the same material as the surrounding wall, and use the guidelines in the Running the Game section to determine appropriate DCs or statistics.

 

[Aldarc]

In 5e, there is no default procedure for secret doors afaik.

I ask my players to describe exactly what they are doing, and if they are doing a thing that might reasonably find the secret door, I'll let them find it and describe how the opening mechanism is hidden (so they could use again if they want). If they are doing something sort of close, then I'll let them roll perception or investigation.

How do you handle?

If secret doors had handles, they likely wouldn't be very secret.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I find that handles kind of defeat the purpose of making a door secret. What you see a handle just randomly sticking out somewhere... you know a door is probably there as well.

EDIT - GAH!!! @Aldarc BEAT ME TO THE JOKE BY 5 SECONDS!!! DAMN YOU @Aldarc! DAMN YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!! ** shakes fist at sky **

LOL

 

[hawkeyefan]

I no longer use them. Problem solved.