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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pukunui" data-source="post: 7251155" data-attributes="member: 54629">There may be no specific references to phrasing things this way in the PHB or DMG, but the rules do talk about when to call for a check and when not to. If the portcullis (or whatever) is simply too heavy for any one character to have any chance of moving on their own, regardless of their strength, then asking for a check is pointless.IIRC the portcullis example even states that the thing weighs 600 lbs or something. It makes sense that you'd need multiple people to lift it. I haven't bothered to do the math myself, but I wouldn't be surprised if the combined Strength score is the amount needed to lift that weight according to the carrying capacity rules in the PHB.EDIT: Yes, I guessed correctly. Here's the example I was thinking of: The door in area 4a of Shagambi's shrine (see page 100) "hangs heavy on its hinges". It weighs 600 lbs, and a total Strength score of 20 is needed to push it open. (There's actually a whole bunch of doors that weigh 600 lbs and need a 20 Strength to open in the adventure.)According to the PHB (see page 176), a character can push, drag, or lift a number of pounds equal to thirty times their Strength score. 30 * 20 = 600. Viola!Another example is the portcullises in the yuan-ti lair. They require a combined Strength of 30 to open. But it talks about how doing it this way breaks the mechanism that raises and lowers them, so I'm guessing it's not so much that they weigh 900 lbs on their own, so much as one needs to exert 900 lbs of force (or whatever) to overcome the mechanism's brakes and get the portcullis to lift without using the lever.Personally, doing it this way makes a lot more sense to me than using a random die roll. It's one thing if the door is just stuck, but even then, there's usually not much point in actually rolling a die to see if the PCs get the door unstuck if there's no pressing danger. They can just keep throwing themselves against it until they get it open. But in the above case, where you've established how heavy something is, it makes sense that you'd go with the rules for how much weight a character can move around based on their Strength score. I wish there were more situations like this in the official adventures (and am hopeful there will be more in future adventures).</blockquote>

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