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Message: <blockquote data-quote="T. Foster" data-source="post: 4531363" data-attributes="member: 16574">Ad-hoc DM judgment, taking into account the circumstances of the specific situation, the class/level, stats, and background of the character, and perhaps a die-roll of some kind as a randomizer (if the former two aren't sufficient to make the result obvious) and/or player-level negotiation, observation, questioning, and decision-making. To take your two specific examples:Sensing the bluff of an NPC -- the DM acts out the NPC's part in-character; the player observes (and asks questions: "does this guy seem nervous or fidgety?" "what are the other people around him doing?" etc.) and decides whether or not he believes what the NPC is saying. The DM takes into account the background and personality of the character being bluffed -- a quick-witted city-dweller is probably harder to bluff than a callow barbarian youth -- and factors that in both in the way he portrays the NPC (more exaggeratedly if he thinks the character would notice more, more neutrally if he thinks he wouldn't) and in the answers he gives to any questions the player might ask ("yeah, he's blinking a lot, fidgeting with the ring on his finger, and there's a bead of sweat running down his left temple" vs. "you don't notice anything particular"). The DM might even ask the player to make some kind of die roll before deciding how much info to give the player -- better roll (which could be either lower or higher, the player shouldn't necessarily be told) gives more info/hints. Sneaking -- the DM considers some/all of the following: what is the light like (are there lots of shadows)?, how observant or attentive is the person/monster the character is trying to sneak past?, how well would this character be able to sneak (is he wearing metal armor or carrying lots of noisy gear (like a bag of loose coins), is he wearing heavy boots or bright-colored clothing, is he an elf, hobbit, or "roguish type" (i.e. giving his character a background and personality of that type))? are there other factors that might make sneaking more or less difficult than usual (leaves and twigs on the ground, something that might distract the observer, etc.)? and either makes a fiat yes/no decision or calls for a die roll. A d6 roll, giving the character 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 chances in 6 to succeed , as the DM feels is appropriate, is simple and usually sufficient though in some circumstances the DM might want more detail or granularity and call instead for another type of die roll (d20 or d% most commonly) or might even decide that an opposed roll is appropriate -- the player rolls 1 die for his character's sneakiness, the DM rolls another (possibly the same type, possibly different) for the guard's watchfulness, and the results are compared to see which side won. Note that in the rules the basic chance for surprise for characters who aren't making noise or carrying a light source is 2 in 6, so that's a very good rule-of-thumb to use for such a situation (since sneaking past someone is pretty much the same thing as taking them by surprise, even if the intent is different). The player can perhaps (at the DM's discretion) improve his chances by describing his actions in more detail (not "I sneak past the guard," but rather "I carefully remove my boots, make sure I don't have anything loose on me that's going to jingle or make other noises, look at my path to make sure there are no loose twigs or other obstacles in it, watch the guard from my position crouched down behind the stump, and as soon as I see him yawn or look in the other direction or otherwise be distracted or not paying attention I quickly scurry over to hide behind that next big tree" (DM thinks, "OK we'll give another +1 on the die-roll for all that"). The operative principle, as very well explained by Matt Finch in his <a href="http://www.lulu.com/content/3019374" target="_blank">Quick Primer for Old School Gaming</a> (go ahead and download it -- it's a good read, it's short, and it's free), is "rulings, not rules." The DM is considering the situation (with input from the player) and making a decision that feels appropriate, not following a specific pre-defined procedure. It takes more mental effort and engagement, and probably takes a little longer to resolve (though more experienced DMs can shuffle through all these considerations and come up with a ruling very quickly), but the result is a more organic, more immersive, feel that a lot of us really like.Hope this helps <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=":)" /></blockquote>

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