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<blockquote data-quote="GnomeWorks" data-source="post: 6283581" data-attributes="member: 162">The DM shouldn't be deciding whether or not players roll the dice, anyway.The DM should be determining what challenges and obstacles are present in the world, assigning them sensible mechanics that are sensible in terms of the world in which they are placed, then simply present them as such to the players.In the game I'm running right now, I could hardly tell you what level most of the PCs are, much less what their individual skill bonuses or various abilities are. As a DM, knowing that is not my responsibility - that's the player's job.My job is to make the setting internally consistent, and to describe the world as they interact with it. If they decide to try to do something beyond them, that's not on me - that's on them. Things that are significantly more dangerous or difficult typically have signs indicating such, so they're unlikely to blunder into something they can't handle... but even if they do, this is not my fault nor my problem.Because the world exists beyond the PCs' sight-lines.Relying upon the player's ability to explain the character's actions is a slippery slope that leads to treating characters as pawns and making mechanics obsolete in favor of who can fast-talk the DM the best. If the weakest person in the group can play a Str 18 fighter and cleave goblins in half, then the shy introvert should be able to play the Cha 18 faceman and convince people of anything, regardless of his/her ability - or lack thereof - to roleplay in the traditional sense.Yes. Say it with me: &quot;the d20 is a horrible die, and I don't want to play games that use it anymore.&quot;This discussion, while grounded in D&amp;D, is not exclusively the purview of D&amp;D. The notion of being able to &quot;take 10&quot; or &quot;take 20,&quot; in whatever form, in various games is interesting, and this discussion speaks to those concepts even while grounded in the lingua franca that is D&amp;D.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="GnomeWorks, post: 6283581, member: 162"] The DM shouldn't be deciding whether or not players roll the dice, anyway. The DM should be determining what challenges and obstacles are present in the world, assigning them sensible mechanics that are sensible in terms of the world in which they are placed, then simply present them as such to the players. In the game I'm running right now, I could hardly tell you what level most of the PCs are, much less what their individual skill bonuses or various abilities are. As a DM, knowing that is not my responsibility - that's the player's job. My job is to make the setting internally consistent, and to describe the world as they interact with it. If they decide to try to do something beyond them, that's not on me - that's on them. Things that are significantly more dangerous or difficult typically have signs indicating such, so they're unlikely to blunder into something they can't handle... but even if they do, this is not my fault nor my problem. Because the world exists beyond the PCs' sight-lines. Relying upon the player's ability to explain the character's actions is a slippery slope that leads to treating characters as pawns and making mechanics obsolete in favor of who can fast-talk the DM the best. If the weakest person in the group can play a Str 18 fighter and cleave goblins in half, then the shy introvert should be able to play the Cha 18 faceman and convince people of anything, regardless of his/her ability - or lack thereof - to roleplay in the traditional sense. Yes. Say it with me: "the d20 is a horrible die, and I don't want to play games that use it anymore." This discussion, while grounded in D&D, is not exclusively the purview of D&D. The notion of being able to "take 10" or "take 20," in whatever form, in various games is interesting, and this discussion speaks to those concepts even while grounded in the [i]lingua franca[/i] that is D&D. [/QUOTE]

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