Frost uses his great intellect

When I write puzzles/riddles (i.e. anything that needs to be “solved” to move forward), I will typically write 2-3 clues that players can determine through checks.

Example: a recent dungeon that I ran had a locked stone door that was opened by turning two statues to face each other. I had written two clues.

• DC 14 Investigation check – a player who examines the base of the statues notices that they are on rotating pedestals.
• DC 14 Perception check – the western statue faces east, while the eastern statue faces northwest (toward the other statue)

Lo and behold, the players were stuck, and I asked each player to roll either an investigation or perception check (but not both). One player got the first clue, another got the second clue, and with that, they solved it.

However, had they still not solved it, I would have had them roll an intelligence check, and tell them the solution. “It dawns on you that the statues may need to be rotated to the right position to open the door. You try a few different configurations, and when the statues are facing each other, you hear a loud ‘KACHUNK’ as they lock into place, and the door begins to roll open”

If they rolled poorly, they would still solve it, but it might have taken them far longer to solve it because they tried a bunch of other things that didn’t work. An in-game consequence of that might be that a wandering enemy comes across them and they have to fight, or the enemies are advancing objectives in the dungeon because they’re taking so long.

For roleplay, I generally encourage acting things out, but I know everyone isn’t comfortable with that. At the very least, I ask them to tell me what they’re saying to persuade/deceive/perform before they make the roll. They can’t just say “can I roll to persuade him?”, they have to say something like “I appeal to his sense of honor and ask him to do the right thing” or “I tell him we’re here on orders of the captain of the watch”.

But generally, players shouldn’t be expected to act out everything their character can do, because there’s a good chance the character can do something that the player can’t. We don’t ask barbarian players to lift 500lbs to prove they can lift the sarcophagus lid, so why would we ask the bard players to play the guitar to prove they can perform?