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<blockquote data-quote="Benjamin Olson" data-source="post: 8178338" data-attributes="member: 6988941">Very true. I call out checks by the skill because that is what is written on people's character sheets, and even many experienced players aren't really used to thinking about what is theoretically going on with game mechanics to give them that particular bonus.Now this might be overly constraining, except that the one to three times per session when they are actually doing something that best suits a check not run as they appear on the character sheet &quot;skill menu&quot; I just explicitly talk through what we are doing and why. &quot;Okay, you're proficient in performance, so to impress people on the beach with your muscles roll a strength check and then add +3 from your proficiency bonus.&quot;I do appreciate the &quot;no skill checks, only ability checks&quot; distinction, and think it is a valuable one to understand as the DM. I just think it comes up rarely enough that most players don't really need to worry about it. I'd rather lean into the play that naturally arises from the character sheet, and just talk through the parts that it doesn't work well for when they come up.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Benjamin Olson, post: 8178338, member: 6988941"] Very true. I call out checks by the skill because that is what is written on people's character sheets, and even many experienced players aren't really used to thinking about what is theoretically going on with game mechanics to give them that particular bonus. Now this might be overly constraining, except that the one to three times per session when they are actually doing something that best suits a check not run as they appear on the character sheet "skill menu" I just explicitly talk through what we are doing and why. "Okay, you're proficient in performance, so to impress people on the beach with your muscles roll a strength check and then add +3 from your proficiency bonus." I do appreciate the "no skill checks, only ability checks" distinction, and think it is a valuable one to understand [I]as the DM[/I]. I just think it comes up rarely enough that most players don't really need to worry about it. I'd rather lean into the play that naturally arises from the character sheet, and just talk through the parts that it doesn't work well for when they come up. [/QUOTE]

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