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Sep 8, 2011 -- 10:06AM, iserith wrote:

But that made me wonder of all you other DMs out there - what bad habits have you noticed in other DMs that you've felt the need to address? What are your pet peaves when you play in someone else's game? If you are frequently in the DM's chair, how do you transition easily to being a "just a player?"

There are two parts to the issue, one may be the fact that he's setting the DC too low or that your skill is so high it beats the toughest DC with even a low roll.

Level one Easy DC is 10, Moderate is 15 and Difficult is 20.

Which means a level one fighter character of mine would pass an easy DC for Athletics on a 2, a moderate on a 7 and a Hard DC on a 12.
The same character would pass a non-trained skill like History on a 10 for Easy skill checks, 15 for Moderate DC's and 20 for Hard DC's.

The same character at 20th level would again have the same potential to deal with skills at this level, not including modified ability scores for the level increases which would often give the character some distinct improvements to his\her skills.

The other options available to the discerning DM is to offer a low DC for Basic information and give improved information for Higher DC's. I usually use a ratio of 10. So a basic History check at level 1with a DC of 10 would give some basic detail about a local lords family and past (family are renouned for winning a battle against an orc army, lord has led the people well etc), a DC 20 would give much better information about the lords activities (was suspected of having relations with the butchers wife and a noble lady(not his wife!!) and a DC of 30 would give detailed intimate information about the lord or his family(bastard children, the fact that his father fled the battle that he was hailed as a hero in etc).

Sep 8, 2011 -- 10:06AM, iserith wrote:

I mostly DM and very rarely get a chance to play. When I do get to play, I sometimes get annoyed with certain approaches, but of course, one has to give the DM the benefit of the doubt as much as possible. However, there is one thing in particular lately that has annoyed me.

When one of my friends DMs, he'll tend to ask for skill checks to share information. That's fine and all. What bothers me though is that there doesn't appear to be a chance at failing that check. Here's the scenario: The party encounters something - monsters, an event, an artifact, whatever. DM says, "Make an Arcana check." I roll. The result is a 6. And the DM gives me the information on the artifact. Later on, it's a Perception check. I roll a 4. And the DM gives me the information on what I see. In both cases, way more information than what a 6 or a 4 would justify.

So, okay, I like information and all. It's how I perceive the campaign world and the things going on within it. But if there is no chance of me failing the check to get that information, why did you even ask me to make a roll? What's more, if all my skill checks to get information always succeed no matter what, why then pray tell did I even bother to train that skill and where is my incentive to make that skill better through feats and items if I can't fail it? If the players must have the information for the adventure to continue, then why would you leave that up to chance? And, therefore, why would you ask for a roll?

I made my case to the DM after the game. He certainly understood and recognized that what he's doing is not necessary, but subsequent games have been a challenge for him to break that habit. He's getting better at it and that's all I can ask for. We all have our habits and they can be hard to break.

But that made me wonder of all you other DMs out there - what bad habits have you noticed in other DMs that you've felt the need to address? What are your pet peaves when you play in someone else's game? If you are frequently in the DM's chair, how do you transition easily to being a "just a player?"

In your example is it possible that the roll determines how MUCH info you're getting?