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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BoldItalic" data-source="post: 6852579" data-attributes="member: 6777052">It speeds up play if you don't roll dice unless and until it is established that you definitely have to.This can be illustrated with the example of the dungeon door. There is a door, the player wants to open the door and says so.Most doors open trivially; they don't require any particular feat of strength or door-opening skills, they just open. A few doors are made purposely difficult to open, however; they might be locked or stuck, perhaps. The player doesn't know, when attempting to open the door, if this is an ordinary door or a special one. He finds out when he tries to open it.Now, you could play the game that before opening any door in the dungeon the player makes a strength roll and a unlock roll just in case, accepting that in the majority of cases the rolls were superfluous. If the players enjoy rolling dice even when they don't need to, that's kinda fun but it slows down play.Or, you can speed up play by establishing that the default is not rolling anything until the DM says that, because of exceptional circumstances, there is a problem with opening this particular door.Having established that this particular door does not open easily, it is then up to the players to decide what, if anything, to do about it. They could walk away, use a key, batter it down by brute force, speak a secret password, find a passing goat, burn it down with flaming oil, or any number of creative solutions. When they say what they are doing next, the DM can decide if a skill roll is appropriate and, if so, what kind.In short, the players don't know beforehand if there is even a problem and, if there is, the DM doesn't know how the players will tackle it. You can't sensibly call for dice rolls until that is established.It avoids this kind of grind:Player: I move 5 feet and prod the wall with my pole. *makes perception roll*DM: You find nothing special. It's just a wall.Player: I move 5 feet and prod the wall with my pole. *makes perception roll*DM: You find nothing special. It's just a wall.Player: I move 5 feet and prod the wall with my pole. *makes perception roll*DM: You find nothing special. It's just a wall.Player: I move 5 feet and prod the wall with my pole. *makes perception roll*DM: You find nothing special. It's just a wall.Player: I move 5 feet and prod the wall with my pole. *makes perception roll*DM: *facepalm*</blockquote>

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