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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 9545472" data-attributes="member: 7006">Really for me... ability checks and skills are there for only one true purpose-- roadblocks to the story.  To slow down how quickly the party gains knowledge or advancement towards their goals.  Which means I guess if I was to think about it, every check I throw up does in fact have a "consequence of failure"... the characters just don't get perfect information or advancement of their goals the instant they want it.  Instead... they oftentimes have to wait before moving forward.Something like a locked door?  That's just a roadblock in the narrative.  The party wants know know what's behind it or move past it... the lock tells them they can't until they "solve" the lock issue.  Whether that's picking the lock, breaking the door down, finding another path around the door, casting a Knock spell, digging a hole through the wall etc. etc., these are just are delays to the forward momentum to the story.  At some point they probably all WILL get past it somehow and somewhen depending on how important it is to them to move forward in the narrative... and thus the mechanics behind "solving" the issue don't really matter.  The game mechanics aren't the "encounter"... what lies past it is.  And thus the game mechanics used to get past it can be as simple or as intricate as I want it to be.Same thing with social ability checks... the die roll is not the reason for the social encounter, the conversation and the acquisition of information is.  The NPCs are merely the roadblocks to the characters getting what they want.  So if the players in-character can convince, intimidate, or deceive the NPCs they deal with with reasoned argument, intimidating effect, subtle manipulation (as per how I play each NPC and what I think are good verbal communications given to me by the players)... there's a good chance I might not even bother asking for a check.  The players got past the roadblock of an NPC without even needing to roll.  Or if their exaltations were okay but not totally convincing, then I might have them roll an ability check to help "grease the wheels" on the discussion as it were-- that way it's not always just about me as the DM making the arbitrary decisions on whether their social acumen was "good enough".  Oftentimes it might be... other times I'll have them roll.  And if they fail their roll, then their current tactic is not working and they'll need to find some other way around the situation, then same way they might need to get around the locked door.  But at the end of the day... the entire purpose of this is to move them forward in the story, not to just "play the game mechanics".  Which I know is an anathema to a lot of other players... they feel the roleplaying "game" is the actual game mechanics and thus are what are truly the important part of the whole thing-- the rolling of dice and the success and failing of rolls.  Which to me is what I call the board gamification of D&D and misses the point of what makes an RPG an RPG.  The game isn't about rolling dice... rolling dice is just one facet of how the characters move forward in the narrative.</blockquote>

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