NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 6510911" data-attributes="member: 97077">When the DM assigns a DC to a task, the DM is saying that resolving the task is uncertain and has a chance of failure (Basic Rules, page 58). Doing this before hearing the approach the PCs will be using to overcome the challenge is putting the cart before the horse in my view. In the game, I frame the challenge and ask "What do you do?" If the players make such good decisions that they remove any uncertainty in overcoming the challenge I've presented, then I simply narrate the result as per "How to Play," (Basic Rules, page 3).Not having to roll dice shows the players that their actions, strategies, preparations, and expertise and affecting the situation. In D&D 5e, the smart play (in my view) is to try to avoid rolling dice. A player should go for auto-success wherever possible by listening to the DM describe the environment, engaging with it, and making good decisions. Asking to roll dice is just asking for uncertainty and a chance to fail. Which can be fun, of course - I always make failure fun for the players if not the characters - but from a game standpoint, people tend to want to strive for success and certainty first. I try to balance giving out automatic success and asking for rolls so that players also strike a balance between good decision-making and relying on their character builds. I do this because I don't want players to think they have to play "Try and Guess the DM's Solution" and because I want them to feel like their decisions and characterizations matter more than the result of dice.If the DM is framing a scene well, not forcing the players to pixelbitch, doesn't see every action as a check, adjudicates with interesting failure in mind, and is telegraphing hidden threats to afford players an opportunity to make meaningful decisions, there is absolutely no need for passive Perception. I'd prefer the designers teach DMs how to do those things rather than rely on a mechanic to protect the players from DMs who do not.</blockquote>

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