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<blockquote data-quote="Greenstone.Walker" data-source="post: 7252794" data-attributes="member: 6788312">Umm, I hate to sound harsh here, but passive perception is the solution to that problem. It is a tool that the GM can choose to use to reduce the number of time dice need to be rolled, either to reduce tedium (roll Perception please, once for each 10 feet of tunnel, for the next quarter of a mile) or to decrease metaknowledge (hey, the GM asked us to rol Perception, everyone be on alert!).Replacing characters rolling for each observable thing with the GM rolling for each thing solves the metaknowledge problem, but doesn't reduce the workload for the GM (in fact, it increases it).The problem is that there is this massive misconception that passive skills are for when characters are not being active. Passive perception has nothing to do with characters actively searching or not. Characters are always searching unless they are doing something that takes all their attention (like navigating or foraging).From the PHB: A passive check is a special kind of ability check that doesn't involve any die rolls. Such a check can represent the average result for a task done repeatedly, such as searching for secret doors over and over again, or can be used when the DM wants to secretly determine whether the characters succeed at something without rolling dice, such as noticing a hidden monster.Now the PHB doesn't help this misconception by contradicting the above quote in the same chapter, but that's a rant for another time.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Greenstone.Walker, post: 7252794, member: 6788312"] Umm, I hate to sound harsh here, but passive perception [I]is [/I]the solution to that problem. It is a tool that the GM can choose to use to reduce the number of time dice need to be rolled, either to reduce tedium (roll Perception please, once for each 10 feet of tunnel, for the next quarter of a mile) or to decrease metaknowledge (hey, the GM asked us to rol Perception, everyone be on alert!). Replacing characters rolling for each observable thing with the GM rolling for each thing solves the metaknowledge problem, but doesn't reduce the workload for the GM (in fact, it increases it). The problem is that there is this massive misconception that passive skills are for when characters are not being active. Passive perception has nothing to do with characters actively searching or not. Characters are always searching unless they are doing something that takes all their attention (like navigating or foraging). From the PHB: [I]A passive check is a special kind of ability check that doesn't involve any die rolls. Such a check can represent the average result for a task done repeatedly, such as searching for secret doors over and over again, or can be used when the DM wants to secretly determine whether the characters succeed at something without rolling dice, such as noticing a hidden monster.[/I] Now the PHB doesn't help this misconception by contradicting the above quote in the same chapter, but that's a rant for another time. [/QUOTE]

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