Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 SchaferC Nov 15, 2014 19:30:58	So this came up at our game this week, and all of us being fairly new players didn't really know how to answer.  How to passive skills work?  We noticed the passive perception on the player sheet, but do all the skills have a passive value?  If so when do you use those passive skills and how do they work?  If you roll a perception check, or any other skill, and do worse than your passive value, do you automatically take the passive value or the rolled value?   Add on any other information you think is important to shed light on the subject for myself and my friends.  Thanks for everyone's time.
#2 iserith Nov 15, 2014 19:37:34	A DM refers to a character's passive skills (any skill) when the characters are performing a task repeatedly and that task has a chance of failure. By default, you use the passive Wisdom (Perception) for characters to determine surprise by comparing a hidden enemy's Dexterity (Stealth) check to it. That is because it is assumed the characters are constantly looking around for hidden threats.
#3 El_Condoro Nov 15, 2014 23:44:42	It could also be used when characters are *not* looking for something but walk past it or near it and might possibly notice it. For example, a concealed door (or anything, really). By using the passive Wisdom (Perception) score against a predetermined DC the DM doesn't give anything away by asking for a die roll. It is called a score because "check" implies some sort of die roll and there are no dice rolls with passive skill use.   e.g. A character will notice the concealed door with a DC 15 passive Wisdom (Perception) score. Any character with a passive Wisdom (Perception) of 15 or more would notice the door without any roll being made - the DM just says something like, "you notice a door". A character with one of 14 or less would not notice it but could still find the door if they search for it.
#4 Psikerlord Nov 16, 2014 1:16:34	Passive perception is just a tool to (i) not tip your players off to secret ambushes or traps by asking them to roll perception checks on the spot or (ii) to reflect rolling an average of 10 on the d20, if a PC is doing something repeatedly over a long period of time (eg keeping watch while marching overland all day). It's not actually all that useful, and you can substitute an actual roll instead of an auto 10 whenever you like really. There was no such rule prior to 3rd edition for example and the game played just fine.    I do think it is fairly useful though as a secrecy and time saving option. (Just as long as the DMG confirms some rules for traps rolling "stealth" or DC checks to avoid the current auto detect/fail problem).
#5 Danny_Montanny Nov 16, 2014 14:02:46	When applicable, always compare the DC of the check against the passive score first. If the score beats the DC, the character succeeds. If not, they fail, or they might be able to use an action to make a check to determine success using the skill. It doesn't make sense for all checks to have a passive score, but anything that the character might attempt repeatedly without consequence of failure, you could use a passive score. Also, consider any check where another character can Help, thus granting advantage, would give a +5 to the passive score.   For instance, there's a large boulder blocking the way into the cave. It'll be hard to move, let's say DC 18. A character has the highest Strength in the party with a score of 16 and wants to try to move it. You could have the character go at it alone until they get a 15, or you could say that so long as they had some help, they'd be able to move it after a few attempts. Whatever fits and keeps the game moving.