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<blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 7000732" data-attributes="member: 97077">I'm not a math guy, but from a player's perspective, it would seem to me you're no less uncertain after the roll because I can't be sure the DM is telling me the truth. Depending on implementation of the house rule, the die may have instructed him or her to &quot;lie.&quot;Regardless of risk, you earn it by making a good judgment on what to do in the situation and for succeeding at the ability check. In some cases, the action declaration alone will earn the removal of that uncertainty. Not having to roll is a reward for the player.I think it helps if you examine the practical outcome of doing it this way as I've mentioned with regard to pig-piling skill checks or otherwise repeating tasks with uncertain outcomes. Further, in this sort of interaction, the player is establishing information about his or her character, typically about the character's background. I find this a much better place for players to flesh out the character than in their own heads or in a backstory that nobody, least of all me, wants to read.As I see it, the tension lives in the stakes and in the moment between the action declaration and the die roll. Combat is exciting in my view because there's so much at stake, usually life and death. If you make the stakes of an exploration or social interaction challenge at least as important as that, then I imagine you'll get what you want without fiddling with how the ability check resolves uncertainty.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="iserith, post: 7000732, member: 97077"] I'm not a math guy, but from a player's perspective, it would seem to me you're no less uncertain after the roll because I can't be sure the DM is telling me the truth. Depending on implementation of the house rule, the die may have instructed him or her to "lie." Regardless of risk, you earn it by making a good judgment on what to do in the situation and for succeeding at the ability check. In some cases, the action declaration alone will earn the removal of that uncertainty. Not having to roll is a reward for the player. I think it helps if you examine the practical outcome of doing it this way as I've mentioned with regard to pig-piling skill checks or otherwise repeating tasks with uncertain outcomes. Further, in this sort of interaction, the player is establishing information about his or her character, typically about the character's background. I find this a much better place for players to flesh out the character than in their own heads or in a backstory that nobody, least of all me, wants to read. As I see it, the tension lives in the stakes and in the moment between the action declaration and the die roll. Combat is exciting in my view because there's so much at stake, usually life and death. If you make the stakes of an exploration or social interaction challenge at least as important as that, then I imagine you'll get what you want without fiddling with how the ability check resolves uncertainty. [/QUOTE]

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