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[Mephisto]

I'm a fan of a good backstory as much as the next person but I'd never allow it to just arbitrarily give you skills, knowledge, and equipment like in the Henderson story. It's at that point where the rules of the system get thrown out the window and he's not even playing the same game as the other players anymore.

[Rowanas]

I'm a fan of a good backstory as much as the next person but I'd never allow it to just arbitrarily give you skills, knowledge, and equipment like in the Henderson story. It's at that point where the rules of the system get thrown out the window and he's not even playing the same game as the other players anymore.

That's why my oldest character, Charles Babworth the 60-something, ex-army, gentleman rogue would often say "back in Kandahar..." which entertained the group and was a way of saying "my character has lived, but no it isn't useful to the story".

[Rolan7]

My first serious DND character was an old elf - 300 years old in fact.  Yet he was level 1, despite the world having been almost covered in undead for most of that time.

The DM and I worked it out, though.  There were already isolated pockets of life in the world, holding back the undead in various ways.  The city we started it used martial force and paladin magic.  An enclave of monks hid in an antimagic field.  The elves and feyfolk, it turned out, resided on a remote volcanic island in tune with the 4 elements.  It wasn't magically hidden, just so remote that the three lichlords didn't even know.  They barely cared about any survivors actually, more interested in their bizarre personal research/goals and keeping wary eyes on each other.

But anyway, my character was a diplomat to the fey from the elves.  It basically involved playing games and being pranked for 250 years.  Sounds sorta horrific, actually, but apparently he came away with a fanatic belief in the innate goodness of all creatures.  And like, no actual worldly knowledge.  Just a Vow of Poverty and a high diplomacy skill from his painful naivety.

Getting sent to check on the paladin city and its constant war for survival was a pretty rude awakening, heh.  And we almost had a party fight when our fighter murdered some captured Asmodeus cultists.

Turned out surprisingly well, though.  Around level 12, I think, we had a climactic battle with a demon we'd unleashed.  Our CN fighter sacrificed himself to seal it in Limbo, our LE bard (I know, multiclassed) left to study the Book of Vile Darkness, and my Exalted NG druid gave up his Exalted status as naive.  But remained NG, and became governor and protector of his home (the Everfree Isles), enlisting the aid of several unsavory sorts to help protect that very naivety.

After all, it's kinda his fault that the Lichlords learned of the Isles.  But a rocky alliance with a Machiavellian vampire... well, that's a long story, which we mostly experienced third-hand as a new party.

He did have to say goodbye to Duskwing, his celestial owl companion.  But she's waiting for him in Elysium.
I *love* retiring characters.

(His son, my next PC was a Satyr and had no mother, and eventually became an alienist heehee)

[Mesa]

Last week we had my Open Legend session (even though the premise is pretty much identical to that of Scum & Villainy, which in turn is literally "Blades in the Dark in space"). Gonna have to wait for another week or two until we can play again though. ;o;

Spoiler: "A report" (click to show/hide)

A ragtag bunch of space criminals, thrown onto a prison ship, on course to the Solar System, or more specifically, Pluto, which is now a prison planet, where criminals from across the galaxy get dropped off.
The cruise was going mostly fine, until the ship left hyperspace in the Solar System improperly, causing the ship's reactor to overload and go into stasis, leaving most systems on the ship offline - an opportunity the party took advantage of to break out of their cells (using the psychic alien's amazing innate telekinetic powers, pushing the doors off their hinges), cause chaos in the cell block and run into the next section of the ship, the lower-security cell block, which also happened to contain a sort of lobby that the prisoners could hang out in...sometimes.


Said cell block was being occupied by some guards, which were blocking the party's way towards the next area of the ship, so after a bit of thinking, the same psychic alien came up with the idea of using her illusory powers (which she cannot do 'vision' stuff with, only taste, smell, touch and sound) to make the crew (and all other inmates) think there's a dangerous mutant crawling through the vents.
This did scare off the guards in the lobby, which gave the party some time to break out a few other inmates (specifically, those from a gang whose leader was locked up right next to them at the start), but also exhausted the psychic and caused her to collapse.


They were about to wrap up and start heading towards the cargo bay (where most of their gear was located, which a lot of them could really appreciate having because the psychic was kind of the only one capable of using most of her abilities 'innately') when they saw guards coming back to investigate the purported mutant.


And we had to end it on that cliffhanger, but I already have some devious ideas in mind.
(Namely that the mutant is real, which the party did already suspect, and has indeed broken out. All while, the ship's reactor is slowly being repaired, and may go online soon, which the party may or may not appreciate - I'm using a Blades-style progress clock to let the party be aware that it's happening, and keep the tension up a bit.)

[Sirus]

What's the rule of thumb for Perception checks in tabletop games? One per player, one per situation?

[Kagus]

What's the rule of thumb for Perception checks in tabletop games? One per player, one per situation?

Cool guys don't roll Perception for AoE blasts.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Three per area, party-wide, for my group.

[Jimmy]

I roll that each character gets an individual Perception check after selecting marching order, then I apply LOS and distance penalties to either determine the distance the encounter begins and who acts in a surprise round, or if nobody beats the DC, the positions of the party for the ambush. New encounter, new Perception checks. Typically I'll get the players to work out the details of their order and checks while I draw the map, so it doesn't take too much time out of the game.

[Sirus]

I'm more asking about Perception checks to find traps or clues. Like, one rolls and fails to find anything. Do I allow someone else to roll Perception? Do I let the entire party have a shot?

[GiglameshDespair]

In 5e, unless they're actively searching you just compare it to their passive perception, which is handy.

[wierd]

I am always that guy who has to investigate EVERYTHING.

"Oh, an ORDINARY DOORWAY eh?  No-- I disbelieve that it is ORDINARY until AFTER I have detect magic'd it, checked it for suspicious drafts, examined it for unusual grooves, holes, mysteriously different flooring near or inside it, etc!"

because "innocuous looking objects" are like the "Death du-jour" of dungeon of doom interior decorating.

[NullForceOmega]

Detect magic activates contingent teleport, weird is transported to a 10'x10' room filled with completely generic items.

[wierd]

"SHIT! NOBODY MOVE! There's some SHIT going on here! I *KNOW* it!"

LOL!!

[Digital Hellhound]

My group alternates between obsessively checking everything and carelessly waltzing right into traps, depending on mood. My paladin prefers the latter. My god will protect me! I’m not too fond of dungeon crawls with a ton of traps, anyway - just feels like a waste of time going through the ’discuss-search-disarm’ cycle constantly.

I generally let as many players do Perception checks as they want. If there’s a trap or an ambush, their caution is likely rewarded. If there’s a clue or a hint, well, they’re better off seeing it so they can actually use it. I rarely use traps anyway - I feel like their existence channels players into an overcautious and slow playstyle that I don’t care for. We have limited time and opportunities for sessions and going slow keeps us in the same adventure for real-time months.

[sjm9876]

I run similar to DH. Anyone can make perception checks, any time, but I rarely use more minor traps, instead preferring bigger more obvious one, and perception checks giving hints as to the nature (so for example an isolated plinth with a reward on top, or a mangled corpse in a hallway, perception check might reveal the slight depression of a pressure plate). Essentially I'll drop something in that might prompt a perception check. Though mangled corpses may equally be from monsters, and a perception check might reveal bite marks instead, so they never know quite what to expect.

Passive perception is a thing in some systems, though it always feels a bit odd to me using it in home game content as I already know who can and can't detect each trap.