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Message: <blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 7000254" data-attributes="member: 97077">Regarding your example, I don't think that even needs to be a consideration. Either the character succeeds at the proposed action or does not.Except that there is: What do you do now that you know the guard is lying?This also helps the scene move forward to the next stage of the conflict. Leaving things uncertain might have the effect of causing the players to hesitate and the scene does not move forward. That's something I care about, personally, but others might not.It appears to be a concern that stems from the desire for there to be uncertainty even after mechanics are applied to resolve said uncertainty, not create it. Which, to me, means I have to go back and address that desire in some fashion."I examine the guard's mannerisms and body language in an effort to see if he's lying.""The guard's body language reveals that he is being untruthful."That is the character interacting with the environment. I don't need to tell the player what his or her character is thinking, right?No, I don't think it necessary to develop a schematic. The player just needs to be specific enough that the DM doesn't have to assume what the character is doing and establish that for the player. I'm sure we've all seen situations where the player gives a vague action declaration or asks a question that suggests action. The DM then establishes for the player what the character actually does. (This is a very common way of playing in my experience.) Only sometimes the player says "Wait, I wouldn't have done that." This is a situation to be avoided in my opinion, but is something of a side issue to the overall discussion of course.And so I'd much rather get reasonable specificity out of the player with regard to goal and approach, decide if there's uncertainty as to the outcome, ask for a check if there is, and definitively narrate the result of the action taken. The uncertainty lives in whether the approach will be successful in achieving the goal. I don't think the uncertainty should exist past the roll.</blockquote>

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