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Message: <blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 9290192" data-attributes="member: 11">At my table players rarely say "I roll an X check." Instead, they describe what they want to do and the DM tells if they need to roll and based on what skill (though the player may then suggest that another skill may also work).So no one says "I roll stealth," they say, "I ty to sneak up to the gate without the guards seeing me."Similarly, they don't say "I roll to persuade the guard to let us through" or even "Can I roll persuasion to get the guard to let us through? Instead, they might say something like "I walk up nonchalantly like I am supposed to be here since I am dressed like one of the court entertainers." And then I might say, "Okay, roll a deception check." If they succeed at the DC I set then they go through (though if they encounter others they may need to roll again). Or if they fail (by less than 5 or whatever I set as the threshold), I would have the guard stop and question them. As a result of this conversation, I might call for a Persuasion check (with a higher DC b/c of the botched deception) or another deception depending on what the player has their character say and their goal. If they fail spectacularly, then the guard's demeanor might be more aggressive and suspicious in blocking the character's entry.It is also totally possible that depending on the circumstances I might call for no roll at all. For example, the baron has given an order than everyone who tries to enter the castle must be questioned due to earlier events so it doesn't matter how deceptive you are OR the PC has already been going in an out as one of the entertainers all day and so their entering now (despite being a little late or whatever) goes unnoted.What I like about (a little) die rolling is how it supplements improvised and freeform roleplay by providing a structure to work off of that I find easier to work with than just making up what the reactions might be whole cloth since realistically, while I am pretty good at creating a personality for "random guard" on the fly, there is a limit to my abilities to do that with enough diversity and unexpected outcomes without leaning on my own patterns too often.So for example, I have a tendency to make all town guards into suspicious bullies (probably b/c of my own experience of police in real life) but while I can lean on that characterization when I need it, if I have every guard in every town act that way, play not only becomes repetitive, it will drive player action to always react to guards in a particular way, which is limiting to outcomes. The die rolls help me to add nuance and range to that general characterization without me having to come up with social tags or personality traits for every random NPC that the PCs might need to have a social encounter with.So a successful die roll can help me improvise the interaction as can a failure - serving as the foundation of a longer social scene (or series of scenes) to have fun playing out - esp. if you delay the consequences a little bit. Maybe that guards knows you're lying, but lets you in where more guards can surround you - but that might also give the PC a chance to hide or slip away or to convince another more gullible person, and so on.</blockquote>

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