D&D 5E When do you hide and when do you reveal DCs?

[Professor Murder]

So this came up at my game this week and it has me thinking.

When do you reveal the DC for a roll made by the PCs? Do you tell them say AC or the DC for a saving throw or skill check before the roll? After the roll? Wait until after the encounter is over? Not reveal at all, just success or failure?

I habitually hide DCs for the most part, and when I recently put it to my players if I should just reveal all, there was pushback.

Thoughts?

 

[bloodtide]

Never. The players will only know if the made it or failed it when I tell them.

 

[Hriston]

I always reveal the DC of a rolled check (and disclose the consequence of failure as much as possible) because I enjoy the tension it brings to the game.

I never reveal the DC of a passive check.

I keep monster stats secret, including AC.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Usually, I don't tell my players a creature's armor or HP during combat, but I'll give them hints or descriptions that evoke such things without explicitly saying them. For example:

Battle Master: "Alright, I'm going to lunge forward at the one Spellslinger just shot at--changing tactics to Hammer-and-Anvil." [He rolls: success!] "I'm going all out on this guy, he's clearly tough and needs to go down, and I've got Bard's buff on."
Me, the DM: "Sounds like a solid strategy. Roll that beautiful dice footage."
BM: [He rolls: partial success!] "Hmm. I'll take the hit, I could use another point of Gambit." [Damage roll: very high!] "Oh, and that's with +2 piercing." [AN: this is Dungeon World, so armor is DR, and piercing lets you ignore some amount of armor.]
Me: "Wow, that was a SOLID hit, like that hurt a LOT, your sword cleaves through the outer layers of the monster's carapace. Once you withdraw the blade, you can already see the blood coagulating, but it's a BIG wound. Another hit like that and it's definitely toast--and I think Fighter over there is looking ready to kick some butt. What do you do?"

 

[JiffyPopTart]

I reveal as much as possible. Some things have to remain hidden (like a DC to tell the mayor is lying gives away the mayor's lie) but things like combat DCs, most skill checks, or really anything is open to the players.

In practice I may forget sometimes, but my aim is to be open about info.

 

[Blue]

This literally came up in a discussion yesterday for me.

When the character can make a reasonable assessment, I give them the DC. "How hard will it be to run across the tightrope?" or "how hard is it to track three men and a donkey in this terrain?".

When the character doesn't have information about how hard it is, I don't give them the DC. "Is the [just met NPC] bluffing or will he light the hostage on fire with his torch?" or "Can I find the recipe for making a Luckblade in the Infinite Library?"

 

[Shiroiken]

I almost never actually state the DC, with the exception of saving throws. We play in Roll20, and the macros show the save type and DC by default. I could fix it, but then I'd have to repeat myself for AOEs, so I don't bother.

 

[DeviousQuail]

I don't bother sharing AC and saving throws. Process of elimination during a battle and hints like what armor they are wearing is usually enough.

For skill check DCs or saving throws that are not in a battle I will sometimes give them the exact number if I feel they've done enough to earn that level of information. Otherwise I'll just say easy, medium, or hard. Easy means close 10, medium is close to 15, hard is close to 20. Anything in the 25+ range and I'll bust out a thesaurus.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I always announce the DC of any ability check I call for. Every time.

I also make all my rolls in the open, no matter what I’m rolling for.

With ACs, I don’t necessarily announce it, but I don’t try to keep it secret. It’s only a matter of time till they figure it out, so I just share it. “17? Oh not quite, he’s got an 18.” That kind of thing.

I prefer to be open with all this as I find any advantage gained by keeping it secret not to be worth sacrificing being open about all the math.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

So this came up at my game this week and it has me thinking.

When do you reveal the DC for a roll made by the PCs? Do you tell them say AC or the DC for a saving throw or skill check before the roll? After the roll? Wait until after the encounter is over? Not reveal at all, just success or failure?

I habitually hide DCs for the most part, and when I recently put it to my players if I should just reveal all, there was pushback.

Thoughts?

I never hide them anymore. If I don’t say the DC it’s just that I forgot to say it.