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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Perception, Search Rolls, and Game Style (thinking about expectation for how rules play out at the table).
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<blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 8249046" data-attributes="member: 6801845"><p>If someone is doing a medicine check to see how someone died, I wouldn't expect them to be trained as a coroner. So I don't expect the person playing a rogue with high investigation skills how they're investigating the room. </p><p></p><p>The other issue I see is that I often have very broad descriptions because honestly creating detailed locations is overkill for me 90% of the time. So let's talk about a scenario, a furnished bedroom of a moderately wealthy merchant. There could be pictures on the wall, a wardrobe, a dresser, a chest, maybe a fireplace, jewelry box, nightstand, bed of course, some rugs on the floor and a candelabra. If I want them to describe in detail where they're searching and how, I have to start going into detail on everything. But what if there's nothing to find? Or what if there's a false bottom on the second-to-the-bottom shelf? Or maybe the stolen necklace is hung on the candelabra? Wait, I forgot to mention that the candelabra has sparkly cut glass for decoration? Oops!</p><p></p><p>So instead I ask how thoroughly they're searching the room. If there is no time constraint and they want to take as much time as they want I'll have a fairly low DC to either find what they're looking for or a clue that something needs further investigation (depends on group and real world time constraints). </p><p></p><p>If they find a clue I may start asking for rolls (especially if trapped) as I describe that something seems off about the dresser but they're not sure what. So I narrow down the focus to something interesting to avoid "pixel bitching". Even then, it's up to the player to decide if they're describing what they do or not. I encourage descriptive, but I never require it.</p><p></p><p>TLDR: Sometimes I just use passive checks with DC based on time spent, sometimes I do a hybrid where the passive checks will lead to a more detailed set of checks/rolls.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Oofta, post: 8249046, member: 6801845"] If someone is doing a medicine check to see how someone died, I wouldn't expect them to be trained as a coroner. So I don't expect the person playing a rogue with high investigation skills how they're investigating the room. The other issue I see is that I often have very broad descriptions because honestly creating detailed locations is overkill for me 90% of the time. So let's talk about a scenario, a furnished bedroom of a moderately wealthy merchant. There could be pictures on the wall, a wardrobe, a dresser, a chest, maybe a fireplace, jewelry box, nightstand, bed of course, some rugs on the floor and a candelabra. If I want them to describe in detail where they're searching and how, I have to start going into detail on everything. But what if there's nothing to find? Or what if there's a false bottom on the second-to-the-bottom shelf? Or maybe the stolen necklace is hung on the candelabra? Wait, I forgot to mention that the candelabra has sparkly cut glass for decoration? Oops! So instead I ask how thoroughly they're searching the room. If there is no time constraint and they want to take as much time as they want I'll have a fairly low DC to either find what they're looking for or a clue that something needs further investigation (depends on group and real world time constraints). If they find a clue I may start asking for rolls (especially if trapped) as I describe that something seems off about the dresser but they're not sure what. So I narrow down the focus to something interesting to avoid "pixel bitching". Even then, it's up to the player to decide if they're describing what they do or not. I encourage descriptive, but I never require it. TLDR: Sometimes I just use passive checks with DC based on time spent, sometimes I do a hybrid where the passive checks will lead to a more detailed set of checks/rolls. [/QUOTE]
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