D&D 5E Roleplaying in D&D 5E: It’s How You Play the Game

[Charlaquin]

You sure you didn't mean to grab this image?
View attachment 148400

That one doesn’t have an e at the end, so I’ll give Max a pass there.

 

[Oofta]

That one doesn’t have an e at the end, so I’ll give Max a pass there.

Better?

 

[clearstream]

Sure - but, as a player, wouldn't you rather wait for the DM to ask you to roll? I mean, the DM could just declare you hidden. Done.

For me to go that route would be underwhelming. To not see the power available in the rules for unexpected, surprising, and effective narrative whose twists a DMs hasty declaration would deaden.

So not really, no.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

For me to go that route would be underwhelming. To not see the power available in the rules for unexpected, surprising, and effective narrative whose twists a DMs hasty declaration would deaden.

So not really, no.

Let’s take that a little further out of the white room for a moment, shall we? Say you the player roll to Hide and it beats whatever number - same result as the DM granting auto success, right? Say you the player roll and the result is a failure - now your PC is not successfully hidden, can be targeted by enemies, and foregoes the chance for advantage on an attack next round. I think there can be many rolls in a session that allow for unexpected, surprising, and effective results. I don’t think failing to hide is one of those examples. YMMV

 

[Swarmkeeper]

As a DM if I thought being hidden was going to be automatic and a player asked for or rolled a stealth check, why would I change my mind other than to be an a##hole?

If the DM declared the Hide action successful, why would the player then ask to roll?

 

[Bill Zebub]

If the DM declared the Hide action successful, why would the player then ask to roll?

BECAUSE DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS MEANS ROLLING DICE, FOO!

 

[prabe]

WE ROLL THE DICE BECAUSE THAT'S THE ONLY WAY WE KNOW WE'RE ALIVE

 

[Oofta]

If the DM declared the Hide action successful, why would the player then ask to roll?

Correct me if I misunderstood but your scenario is as follows: the DM indicates that the PC needs to sneak past the guard, but hasn't called for a check. Player says "I make a stealth check <rolls dice> 10 to sneak past" or some variation. Yes? No?

If the check would have been automatic, then any number the PC gives you is going to be a success. Doesn't matter if it's 0 or 30, the player just rolled a dice that wasn't necessary for the scenario. Unless the DM changes the fiction because the player rolled it should not matter.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Correct me if I misunderstood but your scenario is as follows: the DM indicates that the PC needs to sneak past the guard, but hasn't called for a check. Player says "I make a stealth check <rolls dice> 10 to sneak past" or some variation. Yes? No?

If the check would have been automatic, then any number the PC gives you is going to be a success. Doesn't matter if it's 0 or 30, the player just rolled a dice that wasn't necessary for the scenario. Unless the DM changes the fiction because the player rolled it should not matter.

If the DM hasn't already considered it and decided the DC is 0, and the player just bursts out, "I try to Stealth! I roll a...4, rats!" the DM might just say, "Yeah, you fail."

Whereas if the player says, "I'm going to try to sneak past the guards. If I stay on the other side of the room and move from crate to crate* when they aren't looking, can I stay hidden?" then maybe the DM will consider that and say, "Yeah, they're distracted so you can do that easily."

It doesn't make sense, but it's very human.

*Because, as we all know, crates abound in any dungeon.

 

[iserith]

Not for nothing, but if my game had a lot of inconsequential rolls going on such as for color or flavor instead of effect, I would expect my players wouldn't work hard to avoid them either.

But because ability checks come with the meaningful consequence for failure, my players will instead work to avoid them if they can and try to earn Inspiration to mitigate the swing of a d20 when they can't. As earning Inspiration requires playing to the character's established traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws, this creates a positive feedback loop during play, perhaps as intended.