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Message: <blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 8442488" data-attributes="member: 97077">It's definitely not that and I would say the degenerate form is what you later go on to say to Lanefan in your next post about the DM saying "No" to anything but the specific solution they have in mind. I don't create solutions to challenges at all and I really don't like puzzles as a DM or a player (since those are usually challenges with a single solution). In the trap I posted, for example, I created the lore for it. I know how it was used by the people who made it. I know what happens if you smash it (not good). But other than that, I have no preconceived notion as to how the chest must be gotten out from the giant skeletal hand. That's not my job.When I say an approach to a goal can't work that has to be obvious to all. You can't shoot an arrow into the moon from the ground. You can't intimidate the grass. You can't jump over the mountain. (Here I'm ruling out, for the purposes of this example, the PCs can't actually do this!) This could extend into the realm of the technical, but only to the extent the technical aspects of the situation are evident to everyone. A trap works a particular way as already established in the environment, for example, so an approach that effectively attempts to ignore or negate what was already established cannot work. Psychic damage doesn't hurt objects, so it's not going to hurt this door you're frustrated by either! There are barriers that shut out some choices. But anything else is fair game.The environment is what is being read though.The DMG says the same. It's called the Middle Path (pages 236-237). That's what people like [USER=6779196]@Charlaquin[/USER], [USER=6921763]@Swarmkeeper[/USER], and I are doing. Balancing ruling automatic success based on the player's decisions and characterizations against asking for rolls, which incentivizes the players to pay attention and engage more with the environment rather than only rely upon standard operating procedures and their character sheets. They can leverage their characters to succeed when they have to roll, but the best way to go is to try to avoid the roll wherever possible.</blockquote>

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