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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 8441238" data-attributes="member: 6801845">There is no one true way, DMs and groups should try out different options and see what works for them.  In no way am I saying my style is better than any others.   <img class="smilie smilie--emoji" alt="🤷‍♂️" src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f937-2642.png" title="Man shrugging    :man_shrugging:" data-shortname=":man_shrugging:" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" /> Personally I prefer that people state what they're trying to accomplish but my preference doesn't work for all my players.  So if they simply state "I make and insight 18, can I tell if they're lying" I'm not going to make a big deal out of it.  They simply took a shortcut because they knew I'd call for an insight check if they told me they suspected the NPC was lying.  Another example would be if they roll an athletics check to climb a wall, after the fact I may say something like "It was easy to climb the wall, there are plenty of handholds and no athletics check was necessary." to let other players know a roll isn't necessary.  If a declaration isn't clear I'll ask for clarification.  In other cases I'll explain that it doesn't matter if you rolled a 20 to climb the wall, it can't be done without magic.  Rolling the dice just reflects an attempted action by the PC.But just because following a strict pattern doesn't work for me, if someone else finds following a different pattern works better for them then good for them.Back to the OP, I think the DM needs to work in some checks that have varying levels of success and failure.  Sounds like the players miss the challenge and potential setbacks.  A lot of times I'll try to work in some kind of setback.  If a PC's skill is high enough picking a lock may be inevitable but there's a difference between getting it open in a few seconds and taking half an hour.</blockquote>

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