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<blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 8441822" data-attributes="member: 97077">Agreed. One only need look at how the game is designed to see that trying to make ability checks is not a good strategy for success. There's nothing in the game that suggests support for this way of playing. Now, in D&amp;D 4e, it was expected that players would ask to make checks and the DM should almost always say &quot;Yes&quot; - it said so in the rules - but there's nothing like that in D&amp;D 5e. Rolls are meant to resolve uncertain and consequential matters and the best strategy, assuming success is a priority for the player, is to work at removing uncertainty as to the outcome and/or the meaningful consequence for failure by way of an effective statement of an approach to a goal. If that fails short, the player can then fall back on the character's proficiencies and other resources to improve their odds of success.If I as DM call for ability checks to resolve inconsequential matters like narrating color, what I'm doing is making it potentially harder for players to understand when and how to use their resources. It also removes tension from checks in general since at least some of them don't really matter all that much. One would hope in these instances the DM is making the stakes clear prior to the roll. I really don't want to waste my Inspiration on testing whether the shawarma was dry. I may need it later when I'm doing something uncertain and meaningful.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="iserith, post: 8441822, member: 97077"] Agreed. One only need look at how the game is designed to see that trying to make ability checks is not a good strategy for success. There's nothing in the game that suggests support for this way of playing. Now, in D&D 4e, it was expected that players would ask to make checks and the DM should almost always say "Yes" - it said so in the rules - but there's nothing like that in D&D 5e. Rolls are meant to resolve uncertain and consequential matters and the best strategy, assuming success is a priority for the player, is to work at removing uncertainty as to the outcome and/or the meaningful consequence for failure by way of an effective statement of an approach to a goal. If that fails short, the player can then fall back on the character's proficiencies and other resources to improve their odds of success. If I as DM call for ability checks to resolve inconsequential matters like narrating color, what I'm doing is making it potentially harder for players to understand when and how to use their resources. It also removes tension from checks in general since at least some of them don't really matter all that much. One would hope in these instances the DM is making the stakes clear prior to the roll. I really don't want to waste my Inspiration on testing whether the shawarma was dry. I may need it later when I'm doing something uncertain and meaningful. [/QUOTE]

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