D&D General "I make a perception check."

[iserith]

So, you don't enforce players who dump stats?

No concerns about STR 8 PC and how much they can carry? And so forth...?

If you don't, that's perfectly fine, but if you do I find it odd you would enforce one dump stat but not others...

Certainly part of the DM's role is to mediate between the rules and the players, so a character carrying too much weight under the Variant: Encumbrance rules may suffer penalties to speed or worse, but there is no rule that excludes particular action declarations given a character's Intelligence score. The rule is that the player determines how the character thinks, acts, and what they say.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Certainly part of the DM's role is to mediate between the rules and the players, so a character carrying too much weight under the Variant: Encumbrance rules may suffer penalties to speed or worse, but there is no rule that excludes particular action declarations given a character's Intelligence score. The rule is that the player determines how the character thinks, acts, and what they say.

Then as I said, I find it odd you would use rules to enforce penalizing one dump stat, but not fairness of play to enforce another.

Thank you for your answer.

 

[iserith]

Then as I said, I find it odd you would use rules to enforce penalizing one dump stat, but not fairness of play to enforce another.

Thank you for your answer.

There is no concept of a "dump stat" in the rules to my knowledge nor anything related to needing to use ability scores in some sort of equitable way. That's something you're bringing into the game due to preferences I don't share.

 

[DND_Reborn]

There is no concept of a "dump stat" in the rules to my knowledge nor anything related to needing to use ability scores in some sort of equitable way. That's something you're bringing into the game due to preferences I don't share.

So let's drop it then, shall we?

 

[Warpiglet-7]

Wow. Just read a sidebar about searching for an object. Skilled play is not dead.

You get to roll perception if you say “I am searching the drawer” and it’s in the drawer.

Pacing around a whole room and saying I look “all around” is really not specific enough.

Pays to read the rules…not to self…

 

[Mort]

Then as I said, I find it odd you would use rules to enforce penalizing one dump stat, but not fairness of play to enforce another.

Thank you for your answer.

In a game with well distributed challenges, this kind of thing catches up with the player.

regardless if how he plays the character, the INT 8 character is still penalized when there's an INT saving throw (there aren't as many as the other stats, but the consequences of failure tend to be nasty!).

And if the player does find himself in a situation where the result is in doubt (such as an opposed roll involving INT) he's penalized, again regardless of how he plays the character.

So, IME, it tends to balance out ok.

 

[DND_Reborn]

So, IME, it tends to balance out just fine.

IME, it doesn't. But, as I've said, it is something I am upfront with players about, they understand my view, and I rarely ever have to enforce it. Most enjoy downplaying to the lower scores as a role-playing experience.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I don't think that's quite it.

The Roll the result style assumes you ARE trying every specific approach your character (rather than you, the player) can think of. It's just that, if you roll low, your character might have missed something - but you're stuck with it.

As @GMforPowergamers said, it minimizes player skill in these instances. For better or worse.

yeah it also strikes me as odd that someone would take 'can we skip this and just roll' and then turn around and be like 'wait now I don't want to skip it'

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Fair enough, and I would certainly respect that. But, this does seem to be something that your method relies on the social contract to address.

i guess... I just don't see why someone would want to waste time like that

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I was watching an episode of Stargate: Atlantis recently that had an interesting idea (IMO) for a secret door.

There is a hallway with a solid wall at the end.

As you walk to the solid wall at the end of the hallway, there are 3 lamps - set about 5 feet apart (one after the other - along the way to the solid wall). If you touch each lamp 1 after the other, as you are walking, (if you stop it doesn't work) and THEN walk "into" the wall, the wall is not solid (even though it still looks solid) and you walk into the next room.

@Charlaquin , @GMforPowergamers , @iserith - or anyone who wants to really.

If you were DMing, how would finding this "secret door," likely, work in your session? How would it look?

okay game night up date... 1 player said if I did it that it better be over roll20 cause he would hit me if I was in arms length... it is needlessly complex and hard for no reason.

2 other players came up with how they would run it (palying off each other) with the light fixtures being brass and the only ones lit in the dungeon and the wall being the only clean wall and lots of things people could notice... but even they said it was just too complex.

finally I said it was from stargate and the asked what I will now ask you... HOW DID THEY FIGURE THAT OUT IN THE SHOW?