GM4Him,
I was talking specifically about that quote, i.e. how to make sure the player isn't locked out of the content.
Unless you were answering to someone else?
I was responding to everyone in general trying to explain what dice rolls actually represent. I just want people to understand that they represent a chance of failure. If there is a chance of failure, a dice roll should be made to take into account all the potential variables that the players and the DM cannot account for.
Here's another example. You might be able to lift a rock in the game because of your strength being 17. But if you are going to do something with that rock like try to throw it at a statue to break its head off, there is a chance you might fail to hit the head. Therefore, you need to roll to see if you hit. You don't need to roll to determine whether you can lift it or not because either you can lift it or you can't.
That said, I as a DM might make a player roll to see if they could lift a rock that they normally could lift if some circumstance made it so that there is the possibility they might not succeed. If Dawn, who is a barbarian, can normally lift a boulder over her head, but it is raining and the rock is slippery, I would probably have her role to see if she can still lift The Rock because now there's a chance The Rock will slip.
