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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Skyscraper" data-source="post: 6395677" data-attributes="member: 48518">I play as the OP described, and I've played this way for a long time. I like reducing the number of die rolls at the table to a minimum, and make those die rolls meaningful. Nothing bores me more than useless loss of time at a gaming table, such as Player: "my rogue attempts to pick the lock. 8. Does it work?"DM: "Nope, your rogue can't pick the lock."Player: "Can I retry?"DM: "Sure."Player: "12?"DM: "Nope."Player: "9... No. Hold on. 8 again, another miss. Ohhh... 16?"DM: "not quite, it's a tough one."Player: "7. 11. 9. 13. 15. 16. 12. 10. 8. 14. 10. Yay, natural 20!"DM: (dramatically) "you successfully pick the lock and open the door, revealing..."What I do, however, is evaluate whether rolling an ability or skill check is necessary. I try to reduce rolling dice for ability or skill checks to avoid uselss rolls. If a PC can retry a skill or ability check as much as he wants and I know that if he gets a high enough roll, and if the PC isn't pressed for time, I'll avoid the die roll entirely and tell the player that his PC succeeds, given a bit of time, at the task at hand; and go on with the game.If the PC is pressed for time and he must succeed on his first attempt; if there is a consequence for failure; or if there is the possibility that he'll simply not succeed given the time he has (or a reasonable timeframe), then I'll have him roll a single die and it's failure or success.I also usually reduce the number of die rolls that a party can make, to a single roll (perhaps with help from another). For example, it's useless to have all members of a 6 PC party roll a DC 10 or even a DC 15 perception check to verify whether anyone will note a specific detail in a dungeon. Someone will inevitably succeed. I'll just have anyone standing nearby that detail, or anyone inspecting the area, find the detail. If something is hard to find and might escape notice, I'll have a single player roll for the entire group. I pick the PC that seems like the most logical pick given the circumstances, not necessarily the one whose the best in the skill, contrarily to what the OP said. Indeed, I want the other PCs to have skills that matter.Likewise, if a party is trying to sneak by a sentry undetected, if there is no way they'll succeed, I'll roll no die (and probably hint at it pretty clearly to the players beforehand). If I see success and failure both being possible, I'll have the PCs roll a single die. I may pick the loudest PC (e.g. the paladin), or the sneakiest (e.g. the rogue) if I think that the latter guided all of his group through the danger. I might give penalties (or disadvantage) as a consequence of the number of PCs trying to sneak by.</blockquote>

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