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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin" data-source="post: 8721777" data-attributes="member: 6779196">Fundamentally it’s the same thing. I’m just applying different mechanics than you would to resolve the action.True, those things are differences between rolled ability checks and passive ability checks. There are also differences between ability checks and saving throws, but you don’t get to ask if you can make an acrobatics check instead of a dexterity save because you want to apply your expertise feature. It is the DM who determines what mechanic to use to resolve an action, according to their best judgment and understanding of the rules.You say “clues” like there’s some sort of mystery to be solved, that I have laid intentional clues for the players to find so they can figure it out. That’s just not how I run games. Are there things in the room? Yes. Are some of the things hidden? Sometimes. If there are, I will probably try to telegraph that in some way so the players have the information they need to decide whether to spend their time searching for stuff or not. If they miss the telegraphs, that’s perfectly fine, that’s how the game goes sometimes.Move around, look behind things, maybe try to spook the goblin out of hiding, whatever. Imagine the world and how you would interact with it if it was a real place, and then describe those interactions. That’s how roleplaying works.Well I don’t know what else to tell you. A player can apply their proficiency bonus to a check if they think one of their proficiencies applies. If they aren’t sure, they can ask, but I advise them to trust their instincts; they probably know what they intended better than I do.I really don’t think it’s helpful to discuss actions at my table in terms of skills, because doing so does not accurately reflect the gameplay at my table. You did say you were trying to understand that, didn’t you? One of the things that’s key to understanding gameplay at my table is that players at my table don’t “make skill checks.” They describe what they want to accomplish and what their characters do in the imagined space to try to bring that about. Sometimes, I ask them to make ability checks to find out if a consequence occurs as a result of something a player described their character doing.It’s hard for me to give you an example because I don’t have enough context. What action would I describe my character doing in the shared imagined space? I can’t answer that because we haven’t established any shared imagined space. We’re talking in vague abstractions and broad generalizations, which makes anything that resembles gameplay at my table kind of impossible. Hopefully the chasing the goblin example helped.Ok,I don’t, but go on.I mean it can be used on any check they make in the next minute, if I recall correctly.That’s how it goes sometimes. Your plans don’t always work out like you thought they would, and then you have to come up with new plans.I just told you learning different information is a consequence for a failed roll, as per the DMG recommendation of progress combined with a setback as a possible consequence.I mean, goofing around still happens plenty (they’re 10 in-game minute turns, not 10 real-life minute turns), but yes, the time pressure absolutely does discourage spending in-game time on superfluous actions. I’d consider that a feature, not a bug. It creates (in-game) urgency and keeps gameplay moving, which are good things in my opinion. People wonder how you’re supposed to get 6-8 encounters in a single adventuring day? This is how.“With no roll” is an assumption you’re bringing to the table. I explicitly said in an earlier post that I wouldn’t deprive a player of the opportunity to make a save because their blind guess of how to avoid a trap was wrong; because that would suck.It absolutely matters that they’re attempting to find and avoid traps. It also matters how they’re trying to do so. I use those two pieces of information to determine when and if a game mechanic (such as an ability check) is needed to resolve the action.I know plenty of things about it, I just don’t know what, if any of it, is important. That’s not really up to me to decide, because I’m not telling a story. Maybe some of that information will end up being important later, maybe it won’t. We (the players and I) are going to have to play the game to find out, together.Ok, sure. If they say something like “I search the wardrobe for hidden items,” that tells me what they want to accomplish (find any hidden items in the wardrobe) and how (searching through it). If there’s nothing hidden there, I tell them they don’t find anything. If there is something hidden there, I might call for a Wisdom check to see if they find it within 10 minutes (and they can add Perception, or Investigation, or… I don’t know, woodcarver’s tools if they want to). And if they fail to find it, they’re welcome to spend another 10 minutes trying again, for as long as they’re willing to risk doing so as the next roll for complications draws closer.</blockquote>

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