Out of Character Talk

Here are some examples that come to mind:
- You are in a library and there is a secret door. You take time to look at the books and get an idea of what is here. As you are here a few minutes, you notice a draft coming from the northern wall. You aren't sure where the door is specifically, but you are pretty sure the draft has to be evidence of the door. You then try to figure out how to get it open, which is something you are actively doing and thus roll investigation. On a success you notice a statue of a bust can have its head twisted and the door opens. If you had failed the roll and never said "I mess with the bust" then the roll represents you not considering that possibility and giving up before trying it.

- You walk down a hallway and your passive perception helps you notice soot on the walls. If you didn't have a torch you might not have noticed (-5 to PP if using darkvision in darkness). You use investigation at a safe distance and deduce that some of the floor panels cause the walls to slide and reveal flame jets. You then either jump far enough to jump over all the plates or use thieves tools to see if you can jump the pressure plates so they will stay put under your weight. if you failed the thieves tools, you either damage your tools or "think" you did a good job and find out the hard way you didn't.

As for things like passive insight, you might talk to someone and your passive insight is your "gut feeling" of if they are friendly, neutral, or hostile and if they are faking or hiding anything. However, you might need to actively roll insight to see why your gut tells you that. Perhaps they have a tell you didn't see until now, like ringing their hands or scratching an ear.

As for stealth, I mentioned earlier but if you sneak up on someone who is unaware of you, it is active stealth vs highest passive perception of those who could see/hear you. If you are in combat and you meet the condition of 3/4 or full cover or heavily obscured or invisible and make an active stealth roll, it is compared to the highest passive perception of those who would not want to lose track of you. On a failure, someone might go "hey, he's trying to get away!" and point you out of there are different passives. Once someone is hidden, unless they give away their location (typically attacking or casting a spell with a verbal component, etc.), you must use your action to perform an active perception check against the active stealth check they rolled earlier. Generally, hiding is easiest against distracted enemies. If someone attacks someone other than you or seems to be doing things actively that don't involve you, they are probably distracted, but they still get their passive perception.

I woul hold off on passive insight as i dont think RAW even brings that up. Just opening another can of worms... what you see is what you get with insight unless you are actively using the skill

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Tbh, I am now concerned about any ruling that is not straight weapon combat by you. I appreciate your "fair warning" so that spells may be traded but that is not to say I don't feel limited to cast damage dealing spells. I didn't want to be a fighter that did my damage with magic. I wanted to be a possible alternative to answering every problem with a sword but I don't believe we have have anywhere close to the same definition as "reasonable" as I like to take creative liberties perhaps a bit too far. But the example in the book has a knight giving his warhorse to a beggar. That example seems extreme and yet it is the example.

Temp hps vs Actual Hps

You are correct in that Hps from the Aid spell are "Temporary" but in this case there is a difference between temporary and Actual HP Maximum

Imagine 2 buckets of water… One is always full.. that is your actual hp level that you rolled up. Now imagine a second bucket that only fills up when it rains… that the Temp hps.

Temp hps are a buffer that once they are used up they are gone and can’t be healed back. When you take damage these hps are subtracted first. Certain spells and abilities grant "Temporary" hps.

The Aid spell increases the maximum in your actual hit points, makes your bucket bigger. These are treated like normal hit points and can be healed back.



Some examples of Actual and Temp HP modifiers:

Hard disagree. You've never heard someone talk and just knew they were full of crap? Honestly, I feel like Insight might be the hardest to justify as an active skill. Outside of some game mechanics that require rolls (i.e. the Insightful Fighting ability for the Inquisitive Rogue), it's almost entirely passive.

I would also make the case that the way the PHB explains passive checks (p. 175) they can be used with any skill. Passive Acrobatics? Passive Arcana? Passive History, Religion, or Nature? Passive Athletics? All are possible.

I thought of that... but then I felt a properly narrated scene would convey the obvious without the need for a extras. At the very least it might prompt and active check. Somestimes less is best.

He sounds like he is full of crap....but then again....

Also making everything passive all the time is pretty much giving everyone the 11th level Reliable Talent ability and cheapens what would otherwise be an amazing class specific (Rogue) ability.

The issue is, just because you automatically know someone is full of crap doesn't mean someone else would.

Example: Heard a boy talking to a girl on the city bus recently. Mid to late teens. He was trying to impress her by saying his uncle was friends with a minor celeb who lives in our area. He was absolutely full of it, but she was buying every word.

So, I think if a scene were narrated properly, the GM would simply play the boy and say what the boy said. He'd make his Deception check, and based on results a private note would be addressed to the character with high enough passive insight explaining the boy is obviously lying to impress the girl. The girl, with a low passive insight score, gets no such note and believes the story the boy is telling.

Edit:

As for reliable talent, notice I mentioned that when this whole discussion started. That said... Reliable Talent ONLY applies to skills you're proficient in.

I can appreciate the want to do creative things to solve problems, I do. I get the feeling the module The Wild Beyond the Witchlight was made with your kind of style in mind, as it advertises that it is possible to finish the entire module and not roll initiative once if the players are truly engaged in the world and think of NPCs as people who follow the rules of the feywild. That's not to say I think you don't want combat ever, but that you probably enjoy that the module heavily rewards creative solutions and problem solving over "kill the evil" like most modules.

Long story short, I want combat to be tactical and resources to be respected. If creativity mimics a resource that takes a cost, I tend to lean in favor that the resource should have a bigger impact than creativity, as one costs you something and there may only cost you something if the dice go against you.

I would prefer that passives don't become so prevalent that they are used for every skill. The act of rolling dice and embracing success or failure is, to me, a fundamental part of the game. I think the dice roll not only adds excitement but a bit of realism. The most insightful person might "misread" someone 1 out of 10 times by jumping to conclusions. The dice add that possibility in. It can make people seem like robots that always get the same result every time or that can only do things well if they invested. Also, for things like insight and such where only 1 person really needs to pass for everyone to get something, making everything passive can make skills not really a part of the game anymore.

Skills would still very much be part of the game.

Older editions had tiered information for knowledge checks.

Let's take a basilisk for example. Your character wants to know what they know about basilisks.

A 12 reveals a petrifying gaze. A 16 reveals it's limited to relatively short range. A 20 reveals a mirror and bright like can trick it into targetting itself.

Your passive is a 13. You know about the gaze no matter what... but do you know more?

@MaJunior Heya just created a character with dnd beyond 2024 rules. Looks like passive insight is a thing! Thought you might find that intereresting

That is rather interesting!

Had a hectic few days. Apologies.

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the sudden notice but I have to end the game. My life has gotten a lot busier and I have not been as responsible as I need to be. As such I will be ending my activity on gamersplane so that I can free up the time I need.

This decision has nothing to do with what anyone has done. The reason above is not an excuse to avoid any conflict. I bit off more than I can chew and so I need to focus more of my time as a husband and father. Perhaps one day I can return to the site, but if so I cannot say when.

Thank you for the good times and fun games. I pray for all of your healths and that you enjoy any game you can be a part of.

I hear ya m8. Looking forward to your return. Take care of the family. Many thanks for the heads up and not just ghosting like so many seem to be okay with.

Do what you gotta do man. This is a game, you're talking about family -- it's a no-brainer. Looking forward to rolling some digital dice with you in the future, but if it doesn't happen then let me just say thank you for the good times (both in your rolls as a GM and as a fellow player).

All the best, man!

I wish you peace and long life.

Live long and prosper!

If anyone wants me to promote them to GM and they take over, please tell me by the end of the weekend before I retire the game.

If that person wants me to tell them what I had planned I am willing to do so