Why there should be more passive skills in D&D

#dnd #dnd5e #dungeonsanddragons
My D&D character just really wants to be passively good at petting animals, is that too much to ask?!

[EVERYTHINGELSEWASTAKEN]

Use both at the same time to make a animal think you're some sort of ghost sending them on a quest

[gavrigilboa]

Passive Charisma:
Making sure that people like you, too low, and npcs won't talk at all

[Verillionmiles]

At my table we’ve played around with almost all of the skills as passives, here are the favourites we kept.

Passive Survival: How good are you at surviving in the wild without needing to remember what is poisonous or toxic.

Passive History/Religion: Having data on-hand that you don’t need to research or recall at length.

And the most popular: Passive Medicine, which determines if a PC knows what a potion does (provided it’s above a pre-set DC) the moment they pick it up. It can also be used to determine if a body is a corpse or unconscious since we don’t reveal failed death saves publicly.

[RhysticTutor]

This feels like a thing we’ve all ignored but is probably right in the PHB

[HallowedKeeper_]

Fun Fact there is naturally 3 passive checks. Passive Perception, Passive Insight and Passive investigation, but most people only use Passive perception

[GigaBoost]

Passive insight is certainly a thing for any good dm

[TheDemonBrothersMeiz]

You can do passive of any skill. It just how to integrate it into things.. passive sealth is more of people not acknowledging you /forgetting you are there

[sovest]

Honestly even though Passive Insight is technically a thing, it rarely gets used.

[Luna-Chan]

Passive Subduction:
Pretty much the powers of a harem protagonist

[iradavies]

OK hear me out passive intimidation you get it for being much taller than the other person, or being a particularly horrifying monster such as beholder or undead

[Raistling]

There ARE passive everything.
Passive perception Vs passive stealth for example
Smoke cloud and no one can see anything. Person A needs a higher passive perception than person Bs passive stealth in order to know where B is. If it's not he has to guess the square that he is in. Note here I don't count vision, so A does not get disadvantage on perception (because it's about hearing) and B does not get advantage on stealth (because they are already not seen. The other person is trying to hear where they are), so things like heavy armor is very disadvantages in a situation like this.

Passive history for an idea of how well versed he might be in earlier events he has heard or read about.

And charisma is already used in earlier editions as well as this to guage how well liked a person is from an NPCs standpoint.

Passive acrobatics to see how well they walk normally on a ship.

Passive initiative (or just Dex in most cases) if a lot of people are trying to reach out for something.
Passive arcana to know whether a random magical trap or effect is harmless or harmful and whether it is an aoe or a line that it affects, so that they can get advantage on the save against it.

Passive animal handling to see how animals are toward them. Sort of like charisma is toward other people. (Animals here are the sort that can't speak. So 4int or lower)

Passive athletics to see whether or not the barbarian needs a check to barge down a door. If he's raging and has advantage which gives +5 to passive skills, then the barb will easily get 20 passive athletics at lvl 1. Maybe a 15 athletics roll is needed, but a 20 passive means you can just do it 🤷‍♂️

Just some of the passives I can think of while taking my lunch break:)

[frgotten_phantm]

Passive involuntary screaming at the top of your lungs

[thedude]

Passive invisibility and your character has to cope with no one knowing their existence.

[BunchONanners]

Passive skills are cool, and I've played and Dm'd a few games where things like stealth, charisma, etc were passive. And like, yeah, it cuts down on a lot of rolling, but it also makes the game a lot more "gamey". It depends on who it is but I most enjoy the unpredictability of dice rolls, I feel it always leads to better roleplaying moments.

[sentrineergaming]

Damn I guess I've always had passive stealth

[Eaglefield_]

We have a rule at my table. If a player wishes, they can declare to use the passive stat instead of rolling. You are not allowed to roll after and you don't gain any benefits towards the DC.

[LumenFox]

What people forget about passive perception is you technically can't roll lower than your passive perception. So you *really* shouldn't do what passive perception and passive insight believe as well work but 100% passive intimidation should be a thing. Passive animal handling should also exist as just how much animals naturelly like you.

[platonicvulpine]

Passive checks run counter to the concept of the game - they take decision-making away from players and make the outcomes arbitrary.

This is why they are reduced to an easy way of building tension through passive perception checks.

Sometimes hidden checks are appropriate for this purpose, but reworking various scenarios to actively engage players will be more rewarding overall.

[lexmasu]

Doesn't rogues have an ability that let's any skill roll instead be passive instead?

[jacobthompson]

I've been excellent at passive stealth all my life the trick is to not care and act like you're supposed to be there and have somewhere to go. People will either not see you, or see you goung somewhere and just not care. Be sure not to pass by the same location 3 times within the span of an hour so the bathroom will be your friend. To successfully make sure nobody questions it, always carry a cup of water with you, about ⅓ full. Di this and pret3nd to take a drink periodically. These things will allow you to be at any social gathering without ever having to talk with someone. Unless that someone is your Aunties, Grandmas, or Cousins. If you encounter any of those people, you're screwed. Your best option is to just eat the entirty of the dry Thanksgiving Turkey, but even then they might ask you if you're sleeping. That's a trick question, you never answer that. I did once in my sleep and I got pushed by my Grandma and the falling sensation awoke me. So if you are a sleep talker, train yourself not to talk in your sleep. That's all i have on this, good luck