Missing Rules

[smbakeresq]

The idea is make quick fast decisions at table to keep the flow going along.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Passive checks, people. It is the 5E version of the 3E Take 10 rule.

10+all modifiers that apply to the check. Advantage adds 5 to the total and Disadvantage subtracts 5 from the total. If the total equals or exceeds the set DC, it is an auto-success.

This solves a lot of things and cuts down on the dice rolling.

 

[Charlaquin]

Passive checks, people. It is the 5E version of the 3E Take 10 rule.

10+all modifiers that apply to the check. Advantage adds 5 to the total and Disadvantage subtracts 5 from the total. If the total equals or exceeds the set DC, it is an auto-success.

This solves a lot of things and cuts down on the dice rolling.

I don’t think jumping is really an appropriate use of a passive check. Unless you’re condensing an extended travel sequence that for some reason involves a lot of jumping into a brief narration, usually jumping isn’t something you tend to do continuously over a long period of time.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I don’t think jumping is really an appropriate use of a passive check. Unless you’re condensing an extended travel sequence that for some reason involves a lot of jumping into a brief narration, usually jumping isn’t something you tend to do continuously over a long period of time.

Read the whole rule first. That is only one suggestion on what to use passive checks for:

"A passive check is a Special kind of ability check that doesn’t involve any die rolls. Such a check can represent the average result for a task done repeatedly, such as searching for secret doors over and over again, or can be used when the GM wants to secretly determine whether the characters succeed at something without rolling dice, such as noticing a hidden monster."

5E is a DM-driven game and a DM can use a passive check in whatever situation they think it applies to.

 

[Reynard]

As I've explained, a player can make a Strength (Athletics) check to jump an unusually long distance IF:

1. What the player described affords the character a chance to do that;
2. The DM thinks what the player described has an uncertain outcome;
3. The DM thinks what the player described has a meaningful consequence of failure.

If the player has described nothing more than what can otherwise be construed as the typical approach for jumping, then the attempt to jump further or higher simply fails, no roll - the character only jumps to the limits of his or her Strength and speed.

I might be ascribing tone when it is not intended, and if so I apologize, but it seems like you are making an absolute statement here. This may be the way you run your game, and it may well work for you, but this is not a rule. It in face goes against the whole "rulings not rules" attitude of 5E. I can run my game any way I like and to suggest I am doing it wrong because I choose to believe the description of Athletics when it says you can roll the skill to get some extra distance, that is just as valid as your "not without a giant slingshot and rocket skates" approach.

 

[iserith]

I might be ascribing tone when it is not intended, and if so I apologize, but it seems like you are making an absolute statement here. This may be the way you run your game, and it may well work for you, but this is not a rule. It in face goes against the whole "rulings not rules" attitude of 5E. I can run my game any way I like and to suggest I am doing it wrong because I choose to believe the description of Athletics when it says you can roll the skill to get some extra distance, that is just as valid as your "not without a giant slingshot and rocket skates" approach.

Everything I stated in what you quoted is, in fact, taken from the rules. Whether you choose to run your game by those rules is completely up to you. You should not read my statement as an imperative that you must do so, only that this is what the book says. And it takes into account what you're referencing in the Using Ability Scores section in a way that dovetails with the basic conversation of the game and adjudicating actions.

 

[Maxperson]

Everything I stated in what you quoted is, in fact, taken from the rules. Whether you choose to run your game by those rules is completely up to you. You should not read my statement as an imperative that you must do so, only that this is what the book says. And it takes into account what you're referencing in the Using Ability Scores section in a way that dovetails with the basic conversation of the game and adjudicating actions.

I don't recall #3 being a rule. I know where it says the players describe their action, and then the DM narrates the results. And I know where it says that you only roll if the outcome is uncertain. I don't see where it says that there has to be a meaningful consequence of failure.

 

[iserith]

I don't recall #3 being a rule. I know where it says the players describe their action, and then the DM narrates the results. And I know where it says that you only roll if the outcome is uncertain. I don't see where it says that there has to be a meaningful consequence of failure.

DMG page 237: "When a player wants to do something, it's often appropriate to let the attempt succeed without a roll or a reference to the character's ability scores... Only call for a roll if there is a meaningful consequence of failure."

The section goes on from there about determining uncertainty.

 

[AlViking]

Everything I stated in what you quoted is, in fact, taken from the rules. Whether you choose to run your game by those rules is completely up to you. You should not read my statement as an imperative that you must do so, only that this is what the book says. And it takes into account what you're referencing in the Using Ability Scores section in a way that dovetails with the basic conversation of the game and adjudicating actions.

Isn't it also ignoring the rule which says: You try to jump an unusually long distance or pull off a stunt midjump?

I don't remember if they say it in this edition, but I assume specific overrides general.

 

[Charlaquin]

Read the whole rule first. That is only one suggestion on what to use passive checks for:

"A passive check is a Special kind of ability check that doesn’t involve any die rolls. Such a check can represent the average result for a task done repeatedly, such as searching for secret doors over and over again, or can be used when the GM wants to secretly determine whether the characters succeed at something without rolling dice, such as noticing a hidden monster."

Are you suggesting that you make Athletics checks to jump in secret?

5E is a DM-driven game and a DM can use a passive check in whatever situation they think it applies to.

Granted, and I use them outside of continuous activities and secret checks too, but you seemed to be suggesting that using passive checks for jumping was an obvious thing the rest of us were missing, rather than a personal call you make at your table.