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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hriston" data-source="post: 6835993" data-attributes="member: 6787503">I guess I misinterpreted what someone said. If that's the case, and I'm not arguing that it isn't, I'm sort of wondering why there's so much concern about there being "consequences" for having a low score, as if this gives the character a benefit elsewhere that needs to be paid for.Well, sure. It sounds much easier for the DM than attempting to replicate every detail of the Underground as it is in real life. Or you could just assume that what the player knows is known by the character. Then it isn't metagaming. I find the deliberate separation of in-character from out-of-character knowledge breaks immersion and that it's better for the DM to use novel approaches or make such details have little bearing on the game, but that's just my preference. Is it indiscernable? I don't think so. The situation you presented is that a riddle is part of the adventure, correct? Now, as a DM, I don't see what the point of putting a riddle in my adventure would be if I was just going to give the players (or their characters) the answer if they roll high enough on an Intelligence check. A riddle in an adventure is there for the players to solve, so the choice isn't going to be between auto-success or roll. The choice is between auto-success (because you solved the riddle) or auto-failure (because you didn't). Now, if Otto's player declares that he's searching for clues that will point him towards an answer or trying to recall some piece of information that will do the same, then his Intelligence score will come into play through an Intelligence check, but that's not the same as solving the riddle. Putting an entry fee on solving the riddle by saying, "Your Intelligence must be at least X for you to solve this riddle or you're roleplaying badly," excludes a player from fully participating in an encounter which presumably was put there for the fun of the group. Not letting a player participate doesn't sound fun to me and neither does "Roll to see if your character solves the riddle." My point is the condition for auto-success (i.e. producing the answer to the riddle) is completely different from the uncertainty that requires a roll (searching for clues) and will produce different results, that is the players will still have to solve the riddle themselves. At least that's how I do it.</blockquote>

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