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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celtavian" data-source="post: 6774277" data-attributes="member: 5834">It very much does say the DM determines how the check works. You keep citing pass/fail. I'm not arguing that at all. What I'm telling you and everyone else on this thread is that I write different DCs for different characters based on something I consider substantial in the game world, I can do that and it is within the rules. Not a house rule. I do not have to let everyone roll. It has stated in the skill and ability section that I decide how something works and when a roll is needed. That includes saying a 7 foot goliath doesn't need to make a climb check to pull himself up up a 10 foot wall because he's strong enough to pull himself up while making a gnome make a DC 10 or 15 climb check because he can't reach the top easily. In in the 5E skill system, I can very much look at the challenge from a viewpoint that a PC with with a different ability might have a much easier time doing something than a PC without that ability. Yes, I can very much do that. The skill and ability system is a pass/fail system. But nowhere does it say everyone gets to roll. Nowhere does it say every check is the same for everyone. It doesn't say that at all. It's very much encourages the use of the skill system to enhance the game including highlighting someone's character by making them the only one capable of doing something if you as a DM think it will make for an interesting play.So this whole, "It's pass/fail" has nothing to do with what I'm talking about. That passage very much says "It's your job to establish the DC for an ability check or saving throw." That means I write it as I want it to work. It doesn't mean I have to say it's a DC 20 check Knowledge Arcana check, everyone can roll. Nowhere does it say I have to do it that way. So don't try to tell me it does.If all you're going to do is say again, "It's pass/fail" when that isn't the discussion, I guess we're done. What I'm looking for is someone to show me where it says the DM can't write a skill or ability check in a fashion that provides more information to a person with the actual skill. In fact, I'm looking for someone to show me any limitations on how I write a skill or ability check or a monster as a DM. I'm looking for them to show me where I can't write a check to make a particular PC standout. I'm looking it where it says everyone gets to roll even if they have no reason to know anything about what is being rolled for. Or that everyone gets to pick locks or the like. I'm looking for the rule where I have to write a DC in that fashion. I'm sure not seeing it anywhere in the books like I did in Pathfinder/3E.Pathfinder/3E had DCs listed for locks, doors, traps, break DCs, diseases, poisons, just about everything had a DC listed that was hard-coded into the system and objectively meaningful. There was very little latitude for going outside those parameters without having to change a few things. It was very clear who was able to roll for what. Pathfinder/3E had an objectively meaningful skill and ability check system meant to provide a touchstone for player and DMs to follow that didn't leave the DM much room for interpretation. I'm not seeing that in 5E at all. I'm seeing a skill and ability check system that is meant to have impact. If it doesn't, you don't even bother using it. You hand wave it and let the players move on. So the only time you're using a skill or ability check is if it has meaning. If you want to use a skill and ability check to highlight a particular PC, you can write that skill or ability check so they are the only one that can take a crack at the skill or ability check. There is no rule I've seen that indicates I cannot do skill and ability checks in this fashion. Until I see that rule produced by someone, I'm going to keep doing it the way I do it. I won't be having someone tell me it is a house rule when they can't point to all these objectively meaningful DCs. Skill and ability checks should be used to enhance the game. Anyone that is using them in the same fashion as 3E/Pathfinder where everyone gets to roll is not utilizing the system to its fullest to enhance the player experience, to really make the rogue feel like a rogue or the egghead wizard feel like an egghead. I won't be forced into that box now that I'm not playing Pathfinder/3E.</blockquote>

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