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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 7981185" data-attributes="member: 16814">So, the real difference between an active check and a passive one is how you want to approach it as a GM.  You could ignore passive checks altogether and ask for rolls whenever they're needed, or roll them in secret.  Not sure that's the best approach, but you can do it.  Passive checks come in handy for repeated tasks, like being on watch, or looking for traps as you move through the dungeon.  If you did active checks for these, there'd be a lot of them, or you'd clearly be rolling for important things, or you're now doing dummy rolls to hide the real ones, etc.  Passive checks are good for these things.The thing to realize is that there's nothing passive about Passive checks -- the character still has to be doing the action, just over a length of time or repeatedly.  A dog on watch uses the Passive check not as a default, but because it's the averaged out value of lots of repeated checks.  There's no such thing, really, as an active check, because checks are just checks -- there's no opposite or conflicting states between a check and a passive check.  Passive checks are just averaged checks over time.Dogs make excellent guards because they have scent.  Scent is one of those things that is hard to hide.  I generally rule that unless the character is taking specific actions to avoid being scented (staying downwind, using some form of scent masking, etc.) that they have disadvantage on Stealth checks with regards to scent.  This won't stop a high level rogue at all, but it does mean sneaking the party past some guard dogs suddenly because a challenge moreso than "I roll stealth."</blockquote>

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