this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2023
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Baldur's Gate 3

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Baldur’s Gate 3 is a story-rich, party-based RPG set in the universe of Dungeons & Dragons, where your choices shape a tale of fellowship and betrayal, survival and sacrifice, and the lure of absolute power. (Website)

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[–] [email protected] 81 points 1 year ago (2 children)

“Give me a perception check.”

“Fourteen total.”

“You don’t notice anything different .”

“I get out my shovel.”

[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 year ago (2 children)

DM quietly raises encounter difficulty in response to metagaming

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago

loudly smacks DM with the shovel

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (3 children)

DM should have rolled for the player secretly if they didn't want to call attention.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

It depends on your table, but I disagree.

If I ask the party for a perception check and they all fail the party should be aware of their choices (in this case, perception is important). If I then surprise them with an enemy they are clear why that happened.

Alternatively in this case it's to locate something, maybe they want to spend a luck point, flash of genius, or other similar ability.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sometimes I ask for perception checks when there is nothing to notice out of the ordinary just to see them squirm.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

My old DM would do this.

He would also sometimes hand players little notes: often full of info that their character would know but had to be kept secret from other players.

But sometimes, the note would be empty aside from a request for the player to not say anything.

The level of tension when the DM hands out a note to everyone but you is... something.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Better still, use passive scores since this is what they're for. If you want your players to make active checks, give them a narrative reason.

But I'm also of the opinion that the more you run your D&D like you'd run anything Powered by the Apocalypse, the better it becomes.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

One of the reasons why, as a DM, I like the Passive Perception mechanic in 5e. It takes some of the thrill of a roll away from the players, but it gives me the tools to resolve these sorts of situations without tempting the players to metagame.