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Message: <blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 7161167" data-attributes="member: 97077">A passive check is an ability check resolving a task that is performed repeatedly when that task has an uncertain outcome. So the process of adjudication is something like this:The DM describes the environment. The players describe what they want to do. The DM considers whether the outcome of the tasks are uncertain. If not, the DM narrates the result of the adventurers' actions. If uncertain, then an ability check is called for, unless that task is being performed repeatedly, in which case it's a passive check. Once the check is resolved, the DM narrates the results of the adventurers' actions.I think the confusion some folks have with passive checks - and maybe this doesn't apply to you, but I will explain it for anyone else - is that they think characters aren't doing something actively. "Passive" refers to there being no roll. A passive check is an ability check and ability check resolves uncertainty as to the outcome of a task the character is attempting. So working backwards, a character must necessarily be doing something actively in order for a passive check to resolve an outcome.So in a practical sense, the DM asks what ongoing task each PC is doing as they travel or delve including when they are pouring over a "secured room." This choice comes with an opportunity cost of not performing some other beneficial or necessary task. Passive checks are used to resolve these ongoing tasks when the outcome is uncertain. The upside for the player is that they can't roll less than a 10 here and anyone Working Together adds a +5 to the resolution. Players naturally want control over outcomes via their decisions. The smart play for players is to reduce the need to roll dice because randomness is not their friend. If the game features a lot of randomness because the DM is asking for more rolls than average, then it is natural for the players to all train in those skills and pump them up because that is the only way they can have any control over the outcome.The downside to performing a task repeatedly is that it comes with the expenditure of the resource of time (if nothing else). If there are time pressures, such as deadlines to meet or wandering monster checks at set intervals, the players are trading not rolling less than a 10 for the risk of, say, not completing their mission in time or running afoul of wandering monsters. If they instead attempt to perform a task with an uncertain outcome once, then an ability check may be appropriate at the cost of no longer performing the ongoing task for however long the other task takes or the risk of a bad outcome. Alternatively, they can sink 10 times the normal amount of time into a task and gain success automatically, but this can be a significant cost if time as a resource is precious.With all of these trade-offs and considerations, it does make the choice of task, who in the party does what, how much time to spend on it a meaningful decision for the players with an important impact on outcomes. It also makes Perception good, but not a Must Have and even tones down the oft-maligned Observant feat (if you use feats). When it comes to the exploration pillar of the game, I cannot recommend it strongly enough.</blockquote>

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