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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Crimson Binome" data-source="post: 7830033" data-attributes="member: 6775031">This used to bother me, too, until I started thinking more about those unknown factors.There's no real necessity that those unknown factors must change over time. Unknown does not mean uncertain. It doesn't necessarily reflect things like your hand twitching, or the sun getting in your eyes. It could reflect particular traits of the construction, which will remain fixed after we determine what those are; and if you can't do something the first time, then you wouldn't be able to do it by trying a second time, since those same variables are still in place.As an example, let's say you have a 25% chance of lifting a specific box. You can't see what's in the box. You try to lift it, and fail by a significant margin. Why did you fail? Apparently this particular box was actually filled with old RPG books, and it's far too heavy for you to lift. You could try again, but you'll definitely fail again, because you're still not strong enough.Basically, the uncertainty of the die roll is being used to fill in unknowns that the GM overlooked when designing the world. If they hadn't left that unknown, and instead written down what was in the box, then they could have skipped straight to telling you that you fail instead of rolling.</blockquote>