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Let Characters Automatically Succeed Sometimes

by Mike on 13 January 2025

My friend and Forge of Foes partner, Scott Fitzgerald Gray, wrote a great post called Embracing the Awesome (subscribe to his newsletter here!) extolling the virtues of letting characters automatically succeed at ability checks more often than we typically do.

Letting characters auto-succeed sometimes is a useful way to keep the pace of your game moving forward and showcase the characters' role in the world. When should you let your characters auto-succeed at a check?

When it makes sense that they could just do it.
When failure isn't an option or a failure is boring.
When the task isn't very difficult.
When doing so spotlights the characters' proficiency in the task.

Certain character capabilities make them more likely to auto-succeed on some tasks. These capabilities include a character's

background.
class.
subclass.
species, ancestry, or race.
skill proficiencies or specializations.
tool proficiencies.
religion.
family or regional background.
ability bonus.
feats.
spells.

Focusing on these character features means we can spotlight individual characters and what they're good at.

"You Succeed but Roll Anyway"

Sometimes one or more of the characters are going to succeed on a task but we want to know how well they succeed. Those trained in history may know most of what they need about the gods of the underworld but those who roll significantly higher than the difficulty class (DC) can learn even more.

We often treat the d20 roll on a DC check as a binary pass or failure but there's no reason we can't think of it as an analog gradient. The higher the result, the more the characters learn or the better they succeed. The lower the roll, the more clumsy it is even if they succeed anyway.

Move Things Forward and Spotlight Characters

A friend of mine once described a game in which the GM had them rolling checks to put on every article of clothing before making it to the briefing for the actual adventure. All the characters came with a hodgepodge of shirts, pants, underwear, and one sock. Putting on one's pants does not a hero make.

Have characters automatically succeed on some checks. It helps you move the game forward when failure isn't interesting and spotlights characters and their unique roles in the world. Such powerful tools are the perfect addition to the lazy dungeon master's toolbox.

More Sly Flourish Stuff

Last week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Twelve Types of Medieval Artwork for your fantasy RPGs and Unending Thirst Part 2 – Dragon Empire Prep Session 8.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with time stamped links to the YouTube video.

Talk Show Links

Here are links to the sites I referenced during the talk show.

Patreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patrons. Here are last week's questions and answers.

RPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as RPG tips. Here are this week's tips:

Break up long sequences of narration with clear opportunities for player-driven decisions.
Call for ability checks to keep things moving.
Let characters break out of debilitating effects by taking damage.
Know the purpose of an NPCs appearance. Why are they in the scene?
Review your prep notes right before your game.
Break up a long series of roleplay scenes with exploration or combat.
Offer multiple vertical connections between the levels of a big dungeon – sinkholes, collapsed floors, waterfalls, and, of course, staircases.

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