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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 8567040" data-attributes="member: 6790260">Overall, the character almost always knows better than the player. We do this literally all the time with attacks. Nobody (well, almost nobody) demands their players give an exacting account of the fencing motions the Bard uses to land a blow. Almost nobody expects the zweihander-wielding Paladin to go into precise detail about which medieval sword style she's using and whether she is employing hand-on-blade techniques or the like. It's extremely clear that for at least some areas, even someone who earnestly and fervently uses that old, tired canard "ROLEplaying not ROLLplaying" is quite happy reducing SOME actions to purely "I roll to do X."But...just because a character should know better does not always mean that they would choose better. Which is why I do not necessarily immediately leap in with "<char name>, you know better than to do that." I will do so when appropriate, but I try to be judicious about it. E.g., our party Bard has spent a significant amount of time (on the order of five years or more) among the Nomad Tribes, he knows their ways and actually achieved the rank of Storyteller among them. He would know whether doing X is respectful or not, even if the player might not (heck, even if I might not!) Sometimes that means I'll follow the player's lead, giving him an opportunity to describe a Nomad tradition heretofore unknown to the party. Sometimes that means I'll provide a friendly "hey, that might be unwise, are you sure?" Sometimes, I'll take it as an opportunity to pull another character into the action--e.g. the Druid, who actually belonged to a Nomad tribe, might have an impulse to intercede on his friend's behalf; or the Ranger, scion of a chieftain who is trying to integrate her tribe into the cities, might want to cover for the Bard's error as a display of his growing influence among the Nomads. Etc.Overall though, I tend to be pretty liberal with "your character would know X..." or the like. As much as possible, I try to encourage my players to explain why they would do or know something, because that enriches the world. Much, much better than me simply telling people what the world is all of the time. (I mean, I obviously DO tell them about parts of the world, that's a significant portion of every session, but integrating those player-driven ideas is super important.)So...if no one among the players can figure it out, the party just doesn't progress at all? That sounds even worse. At least with the option (not requirement, the option) to roll for hints, you can potentially break through those times of "none of us has any idea how to solve this puzzle."</blockquote>

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