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<blockquote data-quote="DND_Reborn" data-source="post: 7617287" data-attributes="member: 6987520"><p>Maybe you aren't getting the concept? Your last statement about the same idea in combat reflects that. If a player says my character is looking, they roll. Passive has nothing to do with it once the player is active.I'll give you an example:The party is meeting with a local magistrate. They walk into the room and an aid is hidden with a DC 20 to spot him. None of the players say their characters are looking for someone hidden, because they have no reason to suspect the magistrate is really a bad man. So, none of them roll because they aren't looking. However, one character with Observant has a Passive score of 21. So, the DM tells THAT player to roll for Perception. If the roll is 20 or higher, that character notices something to tip them off that there is someone hidden in the room.Now, with Observant, their passive score is 5 higher, so it is basically like saying they roll a 15 all the time instead of the passive 10. That is fine, but it also means their passive ability is BETTER than their active ability. They are more likely to make it when they aren't trying then when they are. It makes no sense and our table doesn't like it.Anyway, the DM doesn't tell a player they can't roll. The player can always roll if they want to. If your passive score was 13 and the DC is 18, the DM won't tell you to roll, you have to say that you want to. Otherwise, you won't even think about looking for whatever is there. But if your passive score is 20, you don't automatically find it, but the DM will tell you to roll even if you don't ask to. Why? Because your character might notice something you didn't even think of was there.It works for us. Very well. We like it. You aren't going to ever convince me or our table otherwise. If you continue trying to do that, you are wasting your time. But for others who don't like how passive scores work, this is a nice solution that we happen to love a lot. (( Sorry for the lack of structure. For some reason the post is removing paragraph and line breaks so it is just one big paragraph... Hope they get this fixed.))</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DND_Reborn, post: 7617287, member: 6987520"] Maybe you aren't getting the concept? Your last statement about the same idea in combat reflects that. If a player says my character is looking, they roll. Passive has nothing to do with it once the player is active.I'll give you an example:The party is meeting with a local magistrate. They walk into the room and an aid is hidden with a DC 20 to spot him. None of the players say their characters are looking for someone hidden, because they have no reason to suspect the magistrate is really a bad man. So, none of them roll because they aren't looking. However, one character with Observant has a Passive score of 21. So, the DM tells THAT player to roll for Perception. If the roll is 20 or higher, that character notices something to tip them off that there is someone hidden in the room.Now, with Observant, their passive score is 5 higher, so it is basically like saying they roll a 15 all the time instead of the passive 10. That is fine, but it also means their passive ability is BETTER than their active ability. They are more likely to make it when they aren't trying then when they are. It makes no sense and our table doesn't like it.Anyway, the DM doesn't tell a player they can't roll. The player can always roll if they want to. If your passive score was 13 and the DC is 18, the DM won't tell you to roll, you have to say that you want to. Otherwise, you won't even think about looking for whatever is there. But if your passive score is 20, you don't automatically find it, but the DM will tell you to roll even if you don't ask to. Why? Because your character might notice something you didn't even think of was there.It works for us. Very well. We like it. You aren't going to ever convince me or our table otherwise. If you continue trying to do that, you are wasting your time. But for others who don't like how passive scores work, this is a nice solution that we happen to love a lot. (( Sorry for the lack of structure. For some reason the post is removing paragraph and line breaks so it is just one big paragraph... Hope they get this fixed.)) [/QUOTE]
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