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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 7910331" data-attributes="member: 16814">I fail to understand how I can possibly be ignoring skills and proficiency just by calling for checks normally.  This is a bridge too far -- that the game doesn't acknowledge or represent skill or proficiency unless a passive floor is installed.  That's just a weird thing to say.I don't allow passive checks to be a floor.  You end up with things like a passive 25 perception check with a skill bonus of +10 (observant feat).  This means that the PC autosucceeds on very hard perception checks at all times (absent disad) but can only succeed on an observation skill check actually rolled about 30% of the time.  That's just odd stuff, there.  To make that work, you'd have to have a host of other houserules to level it out, and I'm already past my limit of keeping track of PC stats if I tried to remember what their passive scores are.  Way too much work for wonky results and not much improvement over just calling for checks when appropriate.Passive scores represent constant effort over time.  It's the score you use when on watch, or if you're looking for traps down a long hall, or other, constant effort tasks.  Normally, according to the PHB play loop and using the middle path from the DMG, you'd only ever call for a check when the PC states an action with an uncertain result, the task is achievable and not trivial (this is based on the task, not the PC stats), and there's a consequence for failure.  That pretty much solves the calling for trivial checks problem, because you'll only call for checks when these things apply.  And, the neat thing, is you don't care what the PC stats are -- the DC should be based on the difficulty of the action attempted.  So, if you call for a check and the PC can autobeat it with their stat, they feel super awesome and the thing happens.  It's a neat way to do exactly what you're talking about -- making PC skills and proficiency count -- without ever even having to think about what the PC's stats actually are.  They're going to try to attempt actions that align with their abilities and PC desires, and you just adjudicate and it comes out in the wash.And, I say this after having tried what you're talking about.  I even further codified skills and bonuses to attempt to achieve skill perfection.  It took getting frustrated and then actually listening to a few other ideas from posters here (shocking, I know) to get to the point that I was doing way, way too much work to get a result I didn't actually like.  I tried the rules, and, wouldn't you know, they actually work pretty well.  I don't fret it, my players are having more fun, and I'm having more fun.  It's cool.But, that's my way, not THE way.  I'm glad you have a system that works for you, I just find it to be way too much work for not enough payoff.  Especially the knock-on effects of having to houserule other things to fit it in and the DC inflation.</blockquote>

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