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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BoldItalic" data-source="post: 6852371" data-attributes="member: 6777052">Indeed, that was the way people played in AD&D. And some people play 5e that way. Other people play 5e the other way, with mechanics fading into the background and the narrative taking the foreground. Some people, indeed, are capable of switching between them, depending on which edition they happen to be playing at the time.5e can accommodate both styles, but the explanatory text and examples sprinkled through the 5e PHB and the 5e DMG all seem to say that it is the DM who decides if and when an ability check is needed, not the player. In other words, 5e is a different game from AD&D. The key difference is that in 5e, the DM is at liberty to decide whether or not a roll is necessary at all. The player cannot anticipate this decision because he doesn't know all the circumstances.Player: I make a Perception roll. I've rolled a 14. What do I see?DM: I don't know. What DC were you rolling against?Player:DM:Player: You're supposed to decide.DM: Okay, I've decided that no roll was necessary right now. What is your character actually doing?</blockquote>