Pineapple Express: Someone Is Wrong on the Internet?

[Hussar]

I honestly have never seen that many sock puppets in one place.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

This is a real gift to angry gatekeepers. I'd say you all need to chip in on a fruit basket, but I'm sure you'd argue about who was doing fruit baskets wrong.

 

[overgeeked]

Tell me you haven't got a damn clue about what you're talking about without telling me you haven't got a damn clue about what you're talking about.

 

[trappedslider]

I bet Zeus became more open minded after having Athena @Snarf Zagyg

 

[CleverNickName]

Anyone else use skill checks to give hints and info to the players?

This happens at least once every battle in my home games.

Me: "The skeletons shamble closer toward you, and you notice they have runes carved into their bones. These runes begin to smolder with a dirty orange light. Doug, you have the initiative."

Doug: "Well that's creepy. Have we encountered this sort of creature before? This sounds familiar."

Me: (knowing they haven't) "Let's find out. Make an Intelligence (Religion) check."

Doug: (rolls) "Woot, 21!"

Me: (mentally calculating, 10 + the monster's CR = 13, that's a pass. I give them one free bit of info.) "You haven't seen this kind of skeleton before, but it's definitely an undead monster. You recognize the runes from some of your spell scrolls--you suspect these skeletons can use magic."

Doug: "Oh great."

Me: (doing more mental math. The check passed by 8, and 8 divided by 4 is 2.) "With a roll of 21, I can tell you two more things about it. What would you like to know?"

Doug: "Um, what spells can cast, and how many hit points does it have?"

Me: "The skeleton closest to you can cast several spells, but the one you immediately recognize is Magic Missile. It has 22 hit points."

 

[Ryujin]

Anyone else use skill checks to give hints and info to the players?

This happens at least once every battle in my home games.

Me: "The skeletons shamble closer toward you, and you notice they have runes carved into their bones. These runes begin to smolder with a dirty orange light. Doug, you have the initiative."

Doug: "Well that's creepy. Have we encountered this sort of creature before? This sounds familiar."

Me: (knowing they haven't) "Let's find out. Make an Intelligence (Religion) check."

Doug: (rolls) "Woot, 21!"

Me: (mentally calculating, 10 + the monster's CR = 13, that's a pass. I give them one free bit of info.) "You haven't seen this kind of skeleton before, but it's definitely an undead monster. You recognize the runes from some of your spell scrolls--you suspect these skeletons can use magic."

Doug: "Oh great."

Me: (doing more mental math. The check passed by 8, and 8 divided by 4 is 2.) "With a roll of 21, I can tell you two more things about it. What would you like to know?"

Doug: "Um, what spells can cast, and how many hit points does it have?"

Me: "The skeleton closest to you can cast several spells, but the one you immediately recognize is Magic Missile. It has 22 hit points."

Out of combat, yes, and in combat if they take the time to do so. I generally consider giving up movement or one attack to be sufficient time. I don't get as specific as hit points, though. I keep it to character based descriptors.

 

[Umbran]

Anyone else use skill checks to give hints and info to the players?

Sure.

Me: (doing more mental math. The check passed by 8, and 8 divided by 4 is 2.) "With a roll of 21, I can tell you two more things about it. What would you like to know?"

But maybe without the math. That 4 seems arbitrary.

 

[CleverNickName]

But maybe without the math. That 4 seems arbitrary.

Oh it totally is. That 4 works pretty well for my table, but I'm sure it's just one way of several.

 

[overgeeked]

Oh it totally is. That 4 works pretty well for my table, but I'm sure it's just one way of several.

You guys play a lot of Savage Worlds?

 

[TiQuinn]

Anyone else use skill checks to give hints and info to the players?

I like running mystery games in D&D and I’ll usually create clues that can be found based on skill checks with players finding out some information no matter what, but beating a higher DC results in more direct, obvious clues. I like it because even if the roll is bad, the players can still come away with something useful and often make their own deductions, which is also really fun to see.