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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 8059211" data-attributes="member: 16814">The baseline assumption, stated in the rules, is that characters are usually alert for danger.  I'm not going to require my players to add, "oh, and I look out for danger" to any action declarations they make, they get that as assumed -- if it's compatible with the action declared, at least.  This last is a pure GM judgement call, which isn't surprising in that 5e's unspoken core mechanic is "GM decides."  I'd recommend making sure a player understands that a given action would preclude being alert to danger, but that's advice, not rules.I think, though, that I might detect an issue hovering off-stage around "action declaration."  This is jargon for the player telling you what their PC does.  It's used to isolate a specific "do" so you can look at how the resolution mechanics would work there.  Most of the "action declarations" a player gives in a game never rise to the level of consideration for use of mechanics.  "I walk across the room," for instance, is an action declaration, but, unless there's something in the scene (or in the GM's notes) that would complicate that, no time is spent and the GM narrates it so (or allows the player to do so and continue).  There's nothing mechanical about an action declaration -- it's not a call for a roll or anything like that (and, in 5e, players should not be calling for rolls according to the rules, although many allow it as a holdover from previous editions).  It's just a statement of what the PC is doing.This isn't resolvable with the information provided -- something's missing.  Why is the player watching the crowd, for instance?  A good action declaration requires both a method -- the how -- and a goal -- the why or what.  You've given a method, but not a goal, so I don't know if calling for a check (or refering to a passive score) is appropriate in this situation.  If it's a roll to add flavor, that's not how the system is presented, but it's a fine way to use it to determine if something interesting is present.  Not my style, though, but I can see it.</blockquote>

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