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Mearls on Balance in D&D
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<blockquote data-quote="T. Foster" data-source="post: 3378588" data-attributes="member: 16574"><p>That's a move in the right direction, at least, and I'd be happier playing in a game where my actions could at least affect the DC of the roll in this manner (though of course Taking 20 on an "I search the room" would grant the same result, so the effort seems only marginally worth it), but it still seems to me that if there's a scroll case hidden in the bedpost and someone specifies that he's searching the bedpost for secret compartments that he should be able to find it without requiring any roll at all.</p><p></p><p>Which brings up another point that I'm probably remiss for not mentioning yesterday (but I forgot, and that's the true reason -- I'm not just making this up now, shucking and jiving and changing my position in response to criticism, as I've too often been accused of): that as a DM I'll tend to let a player substitute roleplaying (by which I mean not just in-character interaction but also things like calling out specifically how he's doing a search, solving a puzzle, etc.) for die rolls and if he succeeds (finds the trap, solves the puzzle, convinces the NPC) without requiring a roll then he succeeds, but if he doesn't succeed he can still fall back on the die-roll as a second-chance or "insurance" and possibly still succeed (but control is then out of his hands, of course). </p><p></p><p>I think it's more fun when the players themselves are actively involved, not just calling out abstract actions and rolling dice ("I bluff the guard," "I search for traps," "I solve the puzzle") and want to encourage them to play that way, but I also realize that sometimes you'd rather just cut to the chase and roll a die (especially if your character sheet is better at a particular action than you as a player are -- as a low or moderate-Cha character I'd rather play out negotiations with NPCs, but as an 18 Cha paladin you can damn well bet I'll be wanting to make as many Cha-based die rolls as possible; likewise as a 1st level thief with a 10% find traps skill you can be sure I'll be trying to roll that as little as possible where I can get away with roleplaying out the searches -- "I use my mirror to do x," "I use my ball of beeswax to do y," etc. -- but when I'm 10th level and my chance is 80% I'll be more willing to trust fate (but not <em>totally</em> -- a 1 in 5 chance of instant death (the likely result of most traps at 10th level) is still too much in my book...)). </p><p></p><p>This approach makes the game a bit easier (since players get essentially two chances to succeed at just about everything -- once as players and as characters) but I don't mind terribly since it allows me to create tougher adventures for lower-level characters, to include more traps and puzzles and secret doors and monsters that must be negotiated with, i.e. more of the things I find fun about the game.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="T. Foster, post: 3378588, member: 16574"] That's a move in the right direction, at least, and I'd be happier playing in a game where my actions could at least affect the DC of the roll in this manner (though of course Taking 20 on an "I search the room" would grant the same result, so the effort seems only marginally worth it), but it still seems to me that if there's a scroll case hidden in the bedpost and someone specifies that he's searching the bedpost for secret compartments that he should be able to find it without requiring any roll at all. Which brings up another point that I'm probably remiss for not mentioning yesterday (but I forgot, and that's the true reason -- I'm not just making this up now, shucking and jiving and changing my position in response to criticism, as I've too often been accused of): that as a DM I'll tend to let a player substitute roleplaying (by which I mean not just in-character interaction but also things like calling out specifically how he's doing a search, solving a puzzle, etc.) for die rolls and if he succeeds (finds the trap, solves the puzzle, convinces the NPC) without requiring a roll then he succeeds, but if he doesn't succeed he can still fall back on the die-roll as a second-chance or "insurance" and possibly still succeed (but control is then out of his hands, of course). I think it's more fun when the players themselves are actively involved, not just calling out abstract actions and rolling dice ("I bluff the guard," "I search for traps," "I solve the puzzle") and want to encourage them to play that way, but I also realize that sometimes you'd rather just cut to the chase and roll a die (especially if your character sheet is better at a particular action than you as a player are -- as a low or moderate-Cha character I'd rather play out negotiations with NPCs, but as an 18 Cha paladin you can damn well bet I'll be wanting to make as many Cha-based die rolls as possible; likewise as a 1st level thief with a 10% find traps skill you can be sure I'll be trying to roll that as little as possible where I can get away with roleplaying out the searches -- "I use my mirror to do x," "I use my ball of beeswax to do y," etc. -- but when I'm 10th level and my chance is 80% I'll be more willing to trust fate (but not [i]totally[/i] -- a 1 in 5 chance of instant death (the likely result of most traps at 10th level) is still too much in my book...)). This approach makes the game a bit easier (since players get essentially two chances to succeed at just about everything -- once as players and as characters) but I don't mind terribly since it allows me to create tougher adventures for lower-level characters, to include more traps and puzzles and secret doors and monsters that must be negotiated with, i.e. more of the things I find fun about the game. [/QUOTE]
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