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Roleplaying in D&D 5E: It’s How You Play the Game
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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 8487946" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>Actually, I'm a bit puzzled by this whole statement. It is quite apparent to me, given 5e's structure at least, that a PC going through a whole campaign without ROLLING a stealth check, while doing things that have the color of 'stealthiness' is technically perfectly feasible. They player will simply have to accept the limitations of each situation. The Crystal Skull is held in the Library, which has a squeeky wooden floor. You can either NOT GO THERE or you can make a Stealth check! Guess what you won't steal? I mean, OK, you could instead cast Silence, or Fly, and avoid the problem, and that is just GOOD TACTICS, right? </p><p></p><p>Anyway, this is really something of a 'Spherical Cow' (theorycrafting) because the chances of an ENTIRE CAMPAIGN going by in which the GM is never able to highlight the PC's fundamental lack of talent at sneaking, while presenting scenarios filled with both reasons and opportunities to do so, is nil. Eventually the player will make choices and will need to be guided by a lack of a Stealth bonus, and this is exactly as it should be!</p><p></p><p>This makes sense, I think its just a fact of gaming that player skill exists. Players should, ideally, create characters and put them in situations (here I point out the value of player-directed play) where the things that the player wants to do and does well can be applied in a way that makes a good coherent narrative in concordance with the mechanics of the game. This is an ideal though, and for various reasons won't be achieved in the real world (often players create a character and don't really know exactly what they will feel like doing later, for example). </p><p></p><p>I'm not 100% sure about the last sentence though. I mean, 5e DOES use the sort of criteria you all are discussing, checks are meant to model the statistical probability of character success given the situation at hand. In something like BW or DW that is definitely not the case, or at least not entirely the case. In DW (PbtA generally I assume) the check is more about how the STORY PROCEEDS vs if the character can succeed (there are no 'DCs' in PbtA). DW does have ability bonus, but it only applies in a minority of moves, and otherwise the bonuses you can get are 'hold' or 'forward' which are related to fictional position and acquired by making moves related to the current situation.</p><p></p><p>I personally am not super fond of the idea of adding bonuses to checks based on these sorts of specific declarations. I don't think it can ever be discounted, because of the factors touched on above (good tactics has to get some sort of reward, if a player says "My PC takes cover" the game pretty much requires the character gets a benefit). OTOH I'm not fond of the acting out a speech sort of thing.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 8487946, member: 82106"] Actually, I'm a bit puzzled by this whole statement. It is quite apparent to me, given 5e's structure at least, that a PC going through a whole campaign without ROLLING a stealth check, while doing things that have the color of 'stealthiness' is technically perfectly feasible. They player will simply have to accept the limitations of each situation. The Crystal Skull is held in the Library, which has a squeeky wooden floor. You can either NOT GO THERE or you can make a Stealth check! Guess what you won't steal? I mean, OK, you could instead cast Silence, or Fly, and avoid the problem, and that is just GOOD TACTICS, right? Anyway, this is really something of a 'Spherical Cow' (theorycrafting) because the chances of an ENTIRE CAMPAIGN going by in which the GM is never able to highlight the PC's fundamental lack of talent at sneaking, while presenting scenarios filled with both reasons and opportunities to do so, is nil. Eventually the player will make choices and will need to be guided by a lack of a Stealth bonus, and this is exactly as it should be! This makes sense, I think its just a fact of gaming that player skill exists. Players should, ideally, create characters and put them in situations (here I point out the value of player-directed play) where the things that the player wants to do and does well can be applied in a way that makes a good coherent narrative in concordance with the mechanics of the game. This is an ideal though, and for various reasons won't be achieved in the real world (often players create a character and don't really know exactly what they will feel like doing later, for example). I'm not 100% sure about the last sentence though. I mean, 5e DOES use the sort of criteria you all are discussing, checks are meant to model the statistical probability of character success given the situation at hand. In something like BW or DW that is definitely not the case, or at least not entirely the case. In DW (PbtA generally I assume) the check is more about how the STORY PROCEEDS vs if the character can succeed (there are no 'DCs' in PbtA). DW does have ability bonus, but it only applies in a minority of moves, and otherwise the bonuses you can get are 'hold' or 'forward' which are related to fictional position and acquired by making moves related to the current situation. I personally am not super fond of the idea of adding bonuses to checks based on these sorts of specific declarations. I don't think it can ever be discounted, because of the factors touched on above (good tactics has to get some sort of reward, if a player says "My PC takes cover" the game pretty much requires the character gets a benefit). OTOH I'm not fond of the acting out a speech sort of thing. [/QUOTE]
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