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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bill Zebub" data-source="post: 9811916" data-attributes="member: 7031982">I get that, and I know most people play that way, and I played that way for years, and honestly I sometimes still do when I'm caught flat-footed by my players.But some people on this forum...who weirdly all seem to have actually deleted their accounts ([USER=16814]@Ovinomancer[/USER], [USER=97077]@iserith[/USER], I can't think who else)...eventually persuaded me to rethink that.The question I started to ask is: if the character has a reasonable chance of picking a lock then obviously it must not be game/adventure/plot breaking for them to succeed.  So if there's no danger to trying to pick the lock, why not just let them succeed?  What does it actually add to the game to make it a random outcome?  If you want them to not be able to open the door so they will explore the other direction, then don't put a pickable lock on the door.  If it genuinely doesn't matter which way they go, then...it genuinely doesn't matter.  Let them pick the lock if they want.  The role that lock should play is not a challenge to be overcome (because it's not; it's random, not challenging) but rather a signal for the players that something important is beyond it.I know that what I'm saying is...unusual.  "What?  Just remove random chance and let them open all locks, recall all lore, find all secret doors, track all prey, bend all bars and lift all gates?  All they have to do is declare the action and they succeed?  That's crazy talk!"But...yes.  I do it, and it works not only fine but great.  It means I have a LOT more work to do to prepare, because I can't just sprinkle some traps here, secret doors there, locked portcullises over here, slap on some DCs, and let them loose.  It means my traps have to be challenging to deal with once discovered.  The secret doors need to have interesting mechanisms to open them.  Again, locked doors primarily are indicators of intent, not difficult obstacles to overcome.  And if I actually want to stop them, if I actually want them to have to work to get through a door, then I can't just put a normal lock on it.  Which....is what adventure design does anyway.  If a designer wants you to have to go visit areas C, D, and E before opening the door from A to B, they don't just slap a higher DC on the lock.  They make the lock rusty and broken, or whatever. So what I'm really saying is that I think it's better to put design energy, and game session time, into the important doors, and stop trying to make a "game" out of rolling dice for things with no consequence.</blockquote>

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