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Message: <blockquote data-quote="turnip_farmer" data-source="post: 8196092" data-attributes="member: 7029365">I don't do checks for any of this. That just feels weird. Ability checks are rolled when a player does something, and there is a possibility of success, a possibility of failure, and a consequence of failure. 'I look at that rune and think really hard' doesn't meet those criteria.I've started doing a lot more pre-session prep on handling what players know about stuff. If I know the players are going to find an idol of Jinglybubwub, I define levels of knowledge about Jinglybubwub, usually something like this:0 - never heard of10 - know the basic details15 - know all the detailsThen I'll compare those numbers to my players' passive Religion score with modifiers like +2 for 'from the area where Jinglybubwub is worshipped' and -5 for 'from some made-up place on the other side of the world because you refused to pick one of the races you're supposed to used for this campaign'.And then it all makes sense. Characters know stuff that fit in with their backgrounds. Intelligent characters with relevant proficiences know all sorts of stuff. The special snowflake who has to a be a weird outsider knows nothing about anything because that's what you get. No rolls needed, fiction maintained, and investment in proficiencies and ability scores rewarded.</blockquote>