D&D 5E: Passive Skills

D&D 4 and 5 introduced a few concepts into roleplaying, which did more than change the game; they changed the fundamental expectations of the interactions between referee and players. The game and how it is refereed wholly changed as a result.

One of these changes was passive skills, introduced in D&D 4 as an extension of the “taking 10 and taking 20” rule of D&D 3.5. I never liked the “taking X” rules in D&D 3.5 because they assumed a player would sit there and repeatedly roll until they made the check. For our table, all skill checks were one chance, pass or fail. If you did not do it, someone else could try, but you needed to figure out another way forward if all else fails.

This is where “fail forward” is such a tremendous innovation, and it eliminates the need for the “taking X” rules entirely. Passing or failing forward is the way to go.

So the passive skill in D&D 4 was “passive perception,” which meant the players calculated a threshold number where perception checks would always be made, acting as an “always on” radar for anything in the area needing a perception check. The burden of keeping track of a party’s passive perception scores was now shifted to the referee. D&D 5 added insight (like a sense motive), and we now have two passive scores. They feel like "gotcha" mechanics and force referees to "take back" events the party says, "we shoulda..."

I get why this is in the game; it is to eliminate the endless "I check for traps" behavior of players every ten feet, and this speeds up play. Or with NPCs, the first thing said by players is, "I roll sense motive!"

The Modified OSR Way

I use a modified OSR method of passive skills in 5E-style games, and I don't even require them to be this "always on" thing. If you are moving carefully (different games have different rates, I assume half or quarter speed), you, for the most part, are alerted to the presence of any trap (or I will drop a huge hint). No passive skill needed, no need for a referee to constantly compare numbers, no nothing. The next time you move through there, and you know there are no traps, move full speed.

I assume careful movement means using the 10' pole, poking at strange stones with a dagger, examining the way forward carefully, and all the careful things players do. Otherwise, what are they doing when they say "careful movement?" Careful is careful.

Careful movement equals trap detection. If I wanted to mix this with a purely descriptive OSR method, I would drop good clues (cracks in the floor, loose flagstone) during careful movement and not during normal movement.

If a trap is really that hidden (and most aren't), I will make a secret roll for it. This won't be used for every adventure and is a special case.

Passive Insight

The passive insight I don't use since I feel it gets in the way of roleplaying. If someone is lying, I roleplay it and hope they pick up on my speech and body language. Either that or I will flat out tell them, "you notice he is acting strangely," and let them react without needing a radar skill. They can react however they want, and I am not hiding anything based on how less insightful your character stats say your character is. I am harsh, but that is what passive insight does; it puts your stats first and minimizes roleplaying to a numbers game. I assume everyone is a hero enough they can tell when someone is being shifty or manipulative.

Assume they are heroes. Don't hide information based on stats, and make one player feel their character is too dimwitted to pick up on the obvious.

I can also just use wisdom and tell the player with the highest score, "You notice..." Hey, high wisdom means you are wise, right? You should pick up on those things, wise guy. Let the ability scores work for a living.

The 5E Passive Skills

Otherwise, you encourage builds around the radar skills, and the entire concept is pointless. Someone in the group will be required to be the passive perception trap radar, and another player will be required to be the passive insight roleplay expert.

And just like that, you have excluded the other characters from meaningful roleplaying or exploration discovery around the table. The mechanics let one player specialize to the exclusion of everyone else. That is unfun. The passive rules that allow you to lean into specialization only help one player and hurt the rest of the players around the table.

Let everyone poke and prod at the scenery. Let everyone roleplay.

Do not let passive skills become exclusionary, which is what they are today.

If I play 5E-style games, I typically go by the OSR methods; if I ask for a roll, it will be very important and have consequences if it fails. You do not roll perception or insight every 5 minutes. At most, you roll them only once per game in that critical moment.