Hey everyone! I'm still fairly new to D&D, but I've had the opportunity to DM a few games now (which is fun as hell) and I was hoping some of you more experienced DM's can give me some insight on something. I'm trying to find the balance between good narration and when the players should roll for info. I often feel like I end up giving away a little too much info "for free" instead of making them roll for it. However, I don't want to bog down the game with constantly telling them to roll for every little thing. I am assuming that I'll get a better sense of this as I get more experience with D&D/DMing, but is there anything I can do now to be a better DM for my players?

I don't think there is a completely "right" answer for this, but the easy answer would be to ask yourself a couple questions:

Is the answer common knowledge within the world?

If it's not, is there a danger that any sort of investigation for the truth could lead to a wrong or incomplete answer?

If the answer is "yes" to the first or "no" to the second, then you might not want to let them roll. If the answer might still take some time to find and time constraints are an issue, you can always still roll a check to see how fast they can find the information.

Oh I like that! I'm definitely going to try and keep that in mind for the future. Thank you!

It really all depends on you. Some GMs like to make players “work for” everything, even simple descriptions like “this character is an elf” (“roll perception to see if you can tell the race” vs. “she is an elf”). No one can really give you an answer because it is all down to what your players like or don’t like, and your own personal style.

One thing I try to do is be consistent. That is... if there is a room with a secret door, say, I would try not to give any more or less information about the room’s description with a secret door, vs. without. Such as... I don’t spend all this time talking about how “unremarkable” the walls are in the secret door room, and then not mention the walls at all in the regular rooms. That’s a dead giveaway, which ruins the fun, but also, it’s unrealistic that the players would notice more about the walls of one room vs. another. (Unless something remarkable draws their eye to it, like blood splatters!)

If you're reading a published adventure there should be blocks of text that tell you what to tell your players outright when they enter an area and then in below that what they can perceive or investigate and the required DC.

Whether or not you are reading a published adventure, you, as the DM need to paint them a picture of everything that they do and everywhere that they go. Don't be too vague but don't tell them about the secret lever behind the curtain.

Generally, let a player roll for each task only once (because if they can roll more than once then there is no point -- unless it's a 'timed' situation, then sure, let them roll. Like if they're trying to escape a horde or avoiding detection and there is a locked/blocked door ahead of them, they can roll multiple times but each failed roll is one step closer to them getting caught).

A lot of players ask if they can roll perception as SOON as they enter a room. (SO MANY times before you even have a chance to describe it). If the players just roll, let them roll. If players are lazy or just uncertain what to ask for then leave their fate to their dice but if the players like to 'actively' investigate or look you can add a modifier (in your head just add +3 or +5 to what they roll), lower the suggested DC or just outright tell them. Like if they ask you, "I look behind the curtain, what do I see"... Other than being behind the curtain, the above lever isn't obscure so just tell them. If there is a secret lever but it is behind the curtain then lower the DC to make it easier because it is still hidden but they're looking in the general area (as opposed to rolling to perceive the entire room). I would say allowing them to roll with advantage is also good but then they sort of get a clue to 'something' being there as opposed to just looking at a hotspot.

Also I've noticed that a lot of DMs (new & old) are unsure whether to ask for investigation or perception... Honestly, the only thing that really matters is whether the player has a higher INT or WIS. but I generally like to hold that if the players are using their eyes to just look, its perception, if they're using their hands and actually manipulating and figuring out something in particular then it would be investigation.

My rule, and again this is just MY way of doing things and not in any way meant to be something I think everyone should do... My rule was, if it can be detected (seen, heard, etc.) upon casual inspection, it does not require a roll. You walk into a room. You can see there is a couch against one wall, a TV against the other, and there are two doors leading out. I would not make you make a perception check for that.

However, if you want to figure out if there “is anything unusual about the couch” or “is the door trapped?” Then you have to make perception or investigation checks.

Under those definitions then I have always run a “player centric” game. That is, I don’t allow “we search a room” as a general proposition. Or if they insist, I will only give general answers. You *might* be able to find a secret door the size of a whole wall doing that, since “searching the room” would probably reveal that as it is a huge item (several feet across, 8 feet or so high). But if there’s a Ring of Invisibility under the cushion of that arm chair in the corner, it will only be revealed if they search the armchair (or at least, in that corner over by the armchair or something). IMO, “we search the room” with the expectation that I will rattle off every single item of potential interest makes it not even worth doing the roll.. I may as well just narrate everything got interest from the start. But again, that is how I view things, and should not be taken as me saying that is how it should be done.

Also in my time I have been with DMs who are even more specific. If you don’t say “I search the couch for potential treasure” but just say “I search it” you might not find that ring. Or most especially, if you say “I search the door” without saying “for traps,” those DMs would not tell you there was a trap. When you then objected “but I searched the door!”, they’d say, “You didn’t say you were searching specifically for traps.” To me that is a little too extreme but then it all depends on your taste.

Awesome! All of this is really helpful. Thanks so much everyone!

As others have said.. I use passive perception, all the players have it, to tell them what they see in an area or room. From there they roll. Trick is to give the person with the highest passive a little more than the others. Then let them talk about it and tell each other what they see.

From there is a dice roll for active perception to see more. This is either one person or another helping them. Not everyone rolling. If they fail then they fail. Passive didn't show the book that they could read, but active might unless they roll bad. Is the book important? Can be. But if players roll bad it can be missed.

So take it how you will she have fun with it.

It takes a little practice, but if you track the players' passive perception, you can kind of tailor your comments so everyone gets the same description, but it's understood that the rogue or the wizard notice the interesting details and its understood that for the sake of game flow, they're pointing things out to the paladin who's checking his hair in the mirror or the Drunken Monk.

If there is something that you need the characters to know in order to be successful I include that in the narration without making them roll for it. The worst possible night of D&D is spending the whole night trying to solve a mystery where the DM hasn’t given out all of the necessary information to solve it.  

Lots of good stuff. If they HAVE to know or even do something for your story, don’t leave it to chance. You can still make them work for it, but only ever allow a roll if you can live with the consequences of it going either way. 

Consider that it’s not either / or. The roll helps determine what you narrate. 

Finally, if the players don’t know the DC, don’t tell them they definitively know or don’t know something and don’t use “it seems like...” language. Let them infer how confident they are based on the roll they made. Just tell them what they see or perceive without that leading language. 

I feel like a good rule of thumb is give your players the information that they need, have them roll for information that is beneficial. E.g. They "need" to know that they have come to a fork in the road they're on, it would be beneficial for them to know that goblins  have set up an ambush on the left fork (roll).

A couple of my own points, some of which are already mentioned above.
1: Don't let players roll for stuff they MUST know.
2: Make a list of what information they might gain and split it by the roll result. For example:
        DC15 - location of treasure
        DC17 - who/what are guarding treasure
        DC20 - traps?
        DC21+ - secret entrance
*the above are just examples to give you the idea. Don't get hung up on how hard the actual DC's are that I've used above.
3: There are some things that are impossible to do, so don't let that info come out. Even with Charm spells etc. A charmed priest for example, is NEVER going to break the privacy of the confessional, no matter how "friendly" an acquaintance is. So bear that in mind.
4: Blood out of a stone. Don't. If an NPC wants the party to go rescue his son from the den of goblins, he's going to give them as much info as he possibly can to make the rescue a success. he has a vested interest in it. So don't make the party role insights or persuasion or whatever. If the NPC knows that they are headed up by a bunch of orcs or something, he's going to include that. If he has a healing potion that would be handy for the party, he would give it to them (he may require it to be returned if it's not needed, of course).
5: Don't be afraid to give boosts for good RP or logical thinking. players should be rewarded for playing well. After all, what's the worst that could happen? They get some extra info.

If my players want to ask an npc, or investigate something, or try to see something of in the distance that might be hard to see in current conditions I will have them roll/make a skill check. Depending on the the toll ill give then something in a narrative way, or not give them something in a narrative way. Whatever the case is I personally like to use skill checks. They are there for the players to explore their strengths and weaknesses. I think that it would simply be a wast to disregard the skill checks. I like it when my players try to convince an npc into handing over some info using skill checks/challenges for example. Same when they are attempting to climb a tree to get over a wall as well for example. Some characters will be far better then other characters in areas. And on that they may, and most likely be lacking behind in other areas. This can make teamwork interesting and fun. Its also fun for the whole table when a character pulls off what seems impossible in a given situation due to a really good roll. Just paint the picture in a narrative way based on the result of the dice roll and weather its a pass or fail. I like my players to be descriptive with their characters actions as will. After all its their game too. As far as saving time and skipping the rolls? How much time are you really going to save and is it worth it? Those dice number results are part of the fun and it can add some interesting player reactions to the game. In the end its your group and your group should play how it wants. Just run changes by everyone before making them.      

My advice always boils down to 3 things:

1. Don't force players to roll for basic info
2. If a player has to roll to discover something, make sure its actually hidden.
3. Don't slow the game down by dozens of roles per room.

Now let me explain these in a bit more depth.

1. This basically means that players going to need to know a level of info about a room. If it's a simple room with two doors in it and a table, don't make them roll to see the very-not-hidden door. Don't make them role to see the table that's directly in front of them. If there is a secret door, then they can roll to find it! But if its just a normal door, why take the effort to role for it? Just give them the basics at least, otherwise its going to get frustrating for them and you.

2. This ties in with 1. If a player is rolling an investigation check, make sure there's a reason for it. Why would they need to roll investigation to check the drawer of a desk? Why roll to search a chest (unless its a loot table thing)? Now, if there is a secret compartment in the chest or desk, then sure! Let them roll for that. But why does someone need to roll to use their eyes? :P

3. This ties in with the other two. Don't enter a room and have people rolling left and right for everything. I did that my first session and it took us 3 hours to search one house. It was awful and slow and not fun. Rolling for special stuff is great, but don't roll for everything. A great example of this is looting bodies. It's very rare that I have my players roll to do that. Why? Simple. Most enemies have nothing of value on them. Maybe I'll toss a little gold on them, but it's not worth taking 5 minutes to roll and play out a PC looting a goblin. There's bigger and more fun things to do! So the less mundane things you can do the better.

I hope those were helpful! 

Yeah, I've never asked for any rolls to loot bodies. It's dead, you search it... you find what it has. The only exception would be if I had a reason to have made an NPC specifically hide something so as not to be found, such as a folded map inside the boot.

Quote from BioWizard >>

Also in my time I have been with DMs who are even more specific. If you don’t say “I search the couch for potential treasure” but just say “I search it” you might not find that ring. Or most especially, if you say “I search the door” without saying “for traps,” those DMs would not tell you there was a trap. When you then objected “but I searched the door!”, they’d say, “You didn’t say you were searching specifically for traps.” To me that is a little too extreme but then it all depends on your taste.

 Extreme isn't the word.. If you're looking in between your couch cushions with the intention of finding your remote but you find $0.62 cents in there what would those DMs say about that? Put them back? Bash your head against the wall until you lose your memory about every seeing the change?

Sure, with a really low roll but accurate description of your location you may only find $0.28 cents and not the rest or find a gum wrapper but you should find something. Especially if the players took time to accurately describe their actions and not rely on the catch all "I roll to see what's in the room".

Lots of good advice. It has been mentioned before, but i think the mistake most of us made a lot when we started out, was having PC's roll for information we "needed" them to have. If the players MUST find that secret door to get on with the adventure - they really shouldn't roll for finding it. However you can have them roll for instance to find the secret door IN TIME to get an advantage on the bad guys or throw something else at them as they try: "As you try to move the cupboard, it tips over - roll DEX saving throw to doge out of the way. Behind the cupboard you see the secret passage. The clue is to have some other consequence than not finding essential information.

Quote from GodrickGreat >>

Lots of good advice. It has been mentioned before, but i think the mistake most of us made a lot when we started out, was having PC's roll for information we "needed" them to have. If the players MUST find that secret door to get on with the adventure - they really shouldn't roll for finding it. However you can have them roll for instance to find the secret door IN TIME to get an advantage on the bad guys or throw something else at them as they try: "As you try to move the cupboard, it tips over - roll DEX saving throw to doge out of the way. Behind the cupboard you see the secret passage. The clue is to have some other consequence than not finding essential information.

 Good point. I myself still have them roll and if they roll really bad I just find another way to work it in. I may even let them roll again at some point. Sometimes the players just like to roll the dice. But yeah, Ill still make sure that they get the info that they need one way or another.