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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin" data-source="post: 8721055" data-attributes="member: 6779196">So, first of all, the degree of detail in the description is unrelated to the possibility of success. The action of checking the bottom of the chest to see if it’s false succeeds without a roll, not because it meets some arbitrary threshold of detail, but because the approach (examining the bottom of a box) doesn’t have a reasonable chance of failing to succeed at its goal (finding out if the bottom is false).Now, I agree with you that attack rolls are procedurally comparable to ability checks. So let’s go through that procedure with an attack. The player declares an action like attacking an orc  with their sword. We know the player’s goal (kill the orc) and we know their approach (stick it with the pointy end). Can this approach succeed in achieving this goal? Sure, the sword could hit a vital spot and the orc could die from that. Can this approach fail in achieving this goal? Sure, the sword could fail to penetrate the orc’s armor, or the orc could dodge out of the way, or parry the attack with its own weapon or shield, or the attack could hit a non-vital spot, thus wounding but not killing the orc, etc. Is there a consequence for failing to achieve this goal? Yes, the player will have used a limited resource (their action) for no benefit. Accordingly, it should be resolved with a dice roll, and in this case the rules indicate that the appropriate roll to call for in situations like this is an attack roll against the target’s AC, and if successful, roll the weapon’s damage die, add the appropriate ability modifier, and subtract the result from the orc’s current hit points.Now, we could change the parameters slightly. Maybe they’re not in combat, maybe the orc is sleeping. In that case, could the approach fail to achieve the goal? Well, maybe… You could certainly argue that if the blow isn’t lined up just right, the orc could survive it, and retaliate. But, is that a reasonable chance of failure? I think in most cases probably not, I would probably just let that succeed without a roll. Pretty messed up of the hypothetical player to kill a defenseless sleeping orc in cold blood like that, but sometimes that’s the way it is.</blockquote>

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