Spot& Search: Skill check or die Roll

[Salome]

Are a cuarcter's ability to search a skills check or a die roll? I'm curious about the mechanics. But I'm also wondering whether it makes sense to search multiple times.

[Vivanto]

Check, if you don't find it first, you won't find it later.

[Demoyn]

Check, if you don't find it first, you won't find it later.

Unless you increase your skill, then you may find it. For instance, if you fail to find something and then put on a search item you'll get another try. Then you can use your skill boost, then get a bard song, etc etc.

[Vivanto]

Unless you increase your skill, then you may find it. For instance, if you fail to find something and then put on a search item you'll get another try. Then you can use your skill boost, then get a bard song, etc etc.

That's not the same search then. Would count as 1st try again on current skill level. But tought it would be pretty obvious for the op that he/she can change numbers between 2 attempts

[Salome]

So I take it that its a skill check and not based on a dice roll?

[Vivanto]

So I take it that its a skill check and not based on a dice roll?

Yep. But as mentioned, if you don't find it first, you may just need to hit a skill boost or other buffs.

Same goes for spot, but you won't know when you don't have enough spot so that's a moot point ^^

Cause of this nature ofcourse, search/spot DCs are generally lower than disable, since for disable you got a +d20 and thieves tools, while search is only as much as you can see on character screen.

[Demoyn]

But tought it would be pretty obvious for the op that he/she can change numbers between 2 attempts

I just wanted to clarify the "you won't find it later" part in your first post. Many people could take that to mean once you fail you can never succeed.

[Absalom]

Yep. But as mentioned, if you don't find it first, you may just need to hit a skill boost or other buffs.

Same goes for spot, but you won't know when you don't have enough spot so that's a moot point ^^

Cause of this nature ofcourse, search/spot DCs are generally lower than disable, since for disable you got a +d20 and thieves tools, while search is only as much as you can see on character screen.

I have searched far and wide and haven't been able to find any definitive word from Turbine. Its all fine and good to see ppl's conjecture, but there are plenty of times I haven't changed any gear out, but ended up finding a trap or hidden door after a few attempts.

The reason, if it were still a roll, that it wouldn't show is simple. If you saw a die roll happening, you'd KNOW there was something there to search for. Which would defeat the purpose of it being hidden for any respect other than the object of in game mechanics. That is where the benefit of having a decent spot comes in. It gives you a warning to know what area its worth attempting to search in so you dont turn every corner and search 100 times to satisfy yourself that nothing is there. You have some means of narrowing down where there is some reason to seach... =the SPOT skill. If it truly is just a pure skill check number, the spot skill actually becomes fairly useless when it comes to trapfinding, etc. Whats the point of giving a warning that your acute senses detect something? You know what the DC is, so you can turn every corner, search once, and know that anything that might be there TO be found WILL be found. SPOT becomes even more pointless.

Ofc this changes once someone has been through the quest enough times to know like the back of their hand where every little trap and hidden item is. But it keeps the spot and search abilities still a tiny bit relevant other than just a number to add to the min max pile.

So if there is a mod, or any person who can officially speak on behalf of Turbine, or anyone with a link to a place Turbine themself put this to rest, plz post it. I'd love to know either way, closed case, what the facts are.

And yes, i'll edit in an apology for rezzing a long dead post, but maybe thatll grab the attention of someone who can give a definitive answer. Please don't add conjecture or opinion. I've found enough of that already. Just a link to a post from a dev or whatnot, or a dev's response directly to this thread.

[Therigar]

I have searched far and wide and haven't been able to find any definitive word from Turbine. Its all fine and good to see ppl's conjecture, but there are plenty of times I haven't changed any gear out, but ended up finding a trap or hidden door after a few attempts.

First, it isn't conjecture. This is how it works in DDO. There is no die roll. You either have enough skill or you do not. This is an absolute and undeniable fact.

Second, if you have searched multiple times without making a change and succeeded after multiple attempts then you absolutely and undeniably had something change. It is possible that it was not your skill points and that there were no boosts or other changes to your ability. Proximity also matters. Your actual location does affect whether you can sense and search out the location of the trap or secret door.

Even a minor adjustment in location can sometimes matter.

My point here is that it isn't necessarily that you are not remembering details accurately. By which I mean that I'm not going to presume that your successful searches actually did involve something that changed your skill numbers -- even if you do not remember it. I'm saying that you could have moved around during the different attempts and the first few you were not close enough -- for whatever reason -- so the search failed.

But, I will say categorically that it is not a die roll and no die roll ever occurs. You either have enough search or you do not. Same for spot. Both are straight comparisons of your current skill vs the difficulty of the trap/door/whatever.

[delsoboss]

Search and spot CHECKS are modified by distance, that's why sometimes when a newly build rogue/artificer/whatever struggles to find a trap someone keeps histerically jumping near a wall: they don't want to jump the wall they're just giving you a "free" bonus (that's really only negating the malus caused by distance) to help you locate the traps.
I had a "problem" while i was specced as a rogue mech: having spot boosting gear on all the time, having the mech bonus and having invested points in the spot enhancements i was getting traps/secret doors warning rooms ahead, so i started to search all over the place moving few inches at a time only to find out that the trap was behind the door at the end of the hallway.

EDIT: ARGH begone foul undead thread! Oh my, you got me ...

[Arianrhod]

For anyone familiar with the D&D 3.5 ruleset, Search in DDO is a "take 20" roll. The theory is that since there's no penalty for failing, you just keep doing it till you get a 20. That would be why Search checks take so long :P There is no actual die roll for it in DDO, though. You just take the time and get the result. No continually rolling dice till a 20 comes up

Oops...OK, who's necroing threads today?

[EpiKagEMO]

that box is definitely in the wrong spot! lol

[Talon_Moonshadow]

no die roll....just a check.

But distance is figured in there somewhere/how.

[Matuse]

Search has a die roll. You get a 20 every time. That's what the searching animation is doing, it's rolling repeatedly until you get a 20. They just standardized the animation and duration, and removed the nuisance of actually seeing those die rolls.

Its all fine and good to see ppl's conjecture, but there are plenty of times I haven't changed any gear out, but ended up finding a trap or hidden door after a few attempts.

I don't believe you, at all.

Either your skill did change (a buff applied, an item swapped, etc), or you moved and the other searches were within range when the first one wasn't.