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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chaosmancer" data-source="post: 8723647" data-attributes="member: 6801228">Deciding which proficiency applies is fair. But, again, you have decided that it must be a passive and that it cannot possibly be active. This bothers me, but you keep saying it shouldn't bother just because the DM can make up whatever justification they want. That's not a good argument in my mind.Let's say that they make the decision to search then. Why not just say "You don't find anything of note" and move the clock hands forward? If you want to give them a consequence for choosing to search a room with nothing in it, you totally can without having them actually search anything. So, why do you not do that and instead have them search the room manually when you know there is nothing noteworthy in it.Why do you not know? If there is nothing going on involving Shar, then an idol to Shar wouldn't have any importance to what is going on, correct?And I have done so when taking an action that I do not take repeatedly. Which isn't a passive check.Wait. The only way that arrow would be important is if they end up encountering a dragon later and they use it? That has NOTHING to do with what I'm talking about. I'm talking about things like the Dragon-Slaying arrow being in the secret room because it is a clue that the Duke was once secretly an adventurer, a secret he is hiding. It is important because it informs something else and gives them context or reveals things about the location or an ongoing plotline. It sounds like you are using "important" to mean something like "I didn't know that pipe was going to be important until they used it to bar the door". It wasn't important when they found it. They found something unimportant and utilized it (which is why my inventory is always full of miscellanous stuff) I'm talking important as in it tells the PCs something they didn't know before, or confirms something they suspected. If you just have random treasure that may or may not be worthless, that's not actually important.But you heard them make the plan. The plan that you knew you would regulate to a passive check and would not be a roll. Would you not tell them that?They declared an action, with a clear goal and approach. That action was to search for traps by moving to the center of the room. They could succeed in finding the trap. They could fail to the find the trap. And it has consequences for failing to find the trap. Since the trap happens to be in the center of the room, do they get to roll to find the trap?Yes I did. Moving to the center of the room to look for traps. That is an action, you clearly can picture it, it gives positioning. It has every single factor you have asked for. Do they get to roll to find the trap?Clearly. If someone told me they were going to search a room, I'd know what they are doing and where they were. Seems reasonably specific to me.Why does it matter EXACTLY how they are searching the room? There are many ways I could go about running too, multiple techniques and styles, each with pros and cons. But I don't need to ask someone HOW they are running. They are running, that is good enough.And here it is again. What matters is "did they declare an action which springs my trap". It isn't about not understanding or not knowing, it is that you want them to state exactly what they are doing, so there is no question if they triggered the trap. Even if their action is to specifically look for traps so they don't spring them, you need to know if they randomly guessed the wrong thing to say, so that they actually sprung the trap before they get the chance to look. And if this isn't the case? Then you could just remind them that failing the roll could result in any hazards in the room being activated. If they agree, then they also can't complain to you about the fact that they triggered the trap. Simple fix.Because unless you state "This is from Tyr" to a group of people who aren't from Tyr, no one knows to make up the fact that they are from Tyr.Because "you fail without even getting a chance to try" sucks. I'd rather have some chance of success than zero chance of success.I can get the same backstory of people and relationships in magic school without them needing to make up a new fact every time they encounter something magical in the world. And it will be far more coherent and far easier to work into the story naturally than something they made up on the spot so they didn't need to risk rolling when they encountered swamp magic for the first time.</blockquote>

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