Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Failed passive checks should not be shown, and shouldn't be rolls in the first place.

This has been being brought up since the beginning of early access, it is NUTS to me that the game still works the way it does.

When a person fails to notice something, they just fail to notice it. They don't also notice that they didn't notice.
Noticing that you didn't notice, is the same as noticing. It invalidates the very premise of having not noticed.

You are not supposed to enter a room and know that you didn't see the traps. You're supposed to enter, think there aren't any, and set them off.
You are not supposed to walk down a path and randomly realize there's a buried chest you can't dig up. You're supposed to walk by and never be aware there was something to find.
Instead, when entering a room, you always know there's traps; the perception check is irrelevant.
Instead, you always know when there's something buried, and just just go back and forth to camp until someone makes it diggable.
We always know somebody is lying, regardless of insight checks. As soon as there is a check, you know. There's no need to pass the check.

And on top of the sheer idiotic design of being shown failed passive rolls, they aren't even supposed to be rolls in the first place.
Rolling is only supposed to be for things a character actively does, in response to player decision in the pc's case.
Passive checks are supposed to be the dc vs a flat passive stat.
That's how you mechanically reflect the unintentional and automatic aspect of what passive checks are, as opposed to the willful and manual aspects that bring rolling to regular checks.

Edit just to plug the following:
In such an rpg, whether tabletop or video game, anything that doesn't happen for the character shouldn't happen for the player either.

They player shouldn't see anything the character doesn't. The player shouldn't know anything the character doesn't.
How many times have I pressed buttons or pulled levers because the character's failed perception check was irrelevant, because I had already seen it myself, since it wasn't actually hidden?
If something is supposed to be hidden, actually hide it, so I can't just see it on camera after failed checks.
Conversely, I do appreciate the existence of detection and ping playing out for the player, in that if something is *not* supposed to be hidden, i.e. the character is meant to be able to see and interact with it without having to pass a check, then the player should see it too. In which case passing the passive check in the game is akin to a dm just saying "you see a lever" with no check in tabletop. And in this case, the check should be auto-passed.