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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“Give me a perception check.”
“Fourteen total.”
“You don’t notice anything different .”
“I get out my shovel.”
DM quietly raises encounter difficulty in response to metagaming
loudly smacks DM with the shovel
DM should have rolled for the player secretly if they didn't want to call attention.
Sometimes I ask for perception checks when there is nothing to notice out of the ordinary just to see them squirm.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This is how you get to the underdark as a dwarf.
Anytime I see Survival Check Failed, I have shovel hotkeyed to 3 and get it out to start digging.
But can you wield it like an axe yet? I'm not buying it at full price if I can't play an undertaker-turned-fighter.
That gives me an idea for a necromancer who has a “staff” that is really a shovel for unearthing his servitors.
What the hell?! I didn't know about this either! I guess it makes sense from a realism standpoint, but damn, that's good to know that its possible in game as well.
Can shovel(the quazit) dig or find chests? I'm curious "beefy".
No. Shovel is only interested in murderizing, and I love her for it.
I haven't been able to play much yet, but I've been able to dig up a chest. I also had the option to dig up a grave, but I didn't go for it.
Today I learned Thanks, I'm deep in Act 3.
What's the TTP on that thing?
You can also summon scratch and he will find it for you. Apparently he even finds chests that don't have a visible survival check. But I can't confirm that because I never have him summoned.
That's the only reason I tried the shovel. I started using Scratch more and figured there had to be a way to reveal what he's pointing at if you fail.
You can summon Scratch?!