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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cernor" data-source="post: 6506341" data-attributes="member: 6780066">I think that both active and passive skills have a place, so you shouldn't completely replace one with the other... But I am in the camp that prefers to use passive skills where possible.Rolls (active skills) are used for situations when you're actively trying to do something (sneak past a guard, look for a hidden door, climb a cliff, keep your balance while running across a slippery surface, etc.), especially when the task is one with a degree of risk if you fail. If the guard sees you, he'll raise the alarm and you'll be overwhelmed by reinforcements. If you fail to find the hidden door, the monster in the lake will eat you. If you fail to climb the cliff, you'll hurt yourself falling, and so on. These don't necessarily have to consume your action: keeping your balance is made while moving, and trying to intimidate someone arises from making a threat.Taking opposed rolls out of the system is a consequence of using solely passive skills that I disagree with, but I'm perfectly willing to admit that having not seen it in play, I dislike only in principle. IMO having a variable DC from opposing checks is one of the easiest ways to add tension to a situation. Taking the most extreme example I can think of, if two people are both trying to influence a crowd to help them instead of the other, it definitely feels like a cop-out if one person wins just because his Passive Persuasion is higher than the other person's, and a little arbitrary if one person gets an automatic 10 on her check (using a Passive score) while the other has to roll.That being said, I'm a fan of using passive skills, if for no other reason than to speed up play. Despite not looking for it specifically, you can still be observant enough to notice the traces of a hidden door, or you can extrapolate the effects of a trap based on its trigger and location. IMO the knowledge skills should be passive rather than active (with a few exceptions) to make knowledgeable characters consistently more knowledgeable than others. Or, in other words, because you're a knowledgeable character (proficient in Arcana, History, Nature, or Religion), you can more easily draw connections between related phenomena (in your proficient field of knowledge) and recall information about them, so you have a passive score with the option to roll instead, whereas others have to roll to see if they recall information.</blockquote>

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