Demiplane of Dread OOC thread, the second.

[TristenC]

Hehe. You make a good job of it too
He's the crazy-glue that holds the group together. Funny how often that happens with kenderfolk...

[Chris1234]

...We must speak soon, [/color] he says hastily before rushing to follow the others...

@Tristen - Who did Merrick say that too?

[TristenC]

Artanis

[Jenara]

Sorry people, had a cub pack to run.. should be online to post in a while.

[Nocturno]

I really hope Pyros finds something in the cells... lol while everyone is concentrating upstairs...

LOL is that guard going to jump out of his shorts?

[Jenara]

Oh dear, perhaps calling The Guards wasn't the best idea.

[Chris1234]

With respect, I'd suggest that

Jerry looks politely serious and looks around. {OOC: Alertness (15), Observation (19), + Detect Secret Doors}

does not involve any physical activity other than wandering within 10' of a wall and so

Jerry begins to poke around...

is a GM extrapolation of stated intent. The reference to "Detect" was in the context of the name of the skill which can be used to find secret doors merely by walking past them (albeit 17% lower chance of success.) i.e. "Poking Around" is 10x more obvious than wandering around and certainly would be unlikely to definitively indicate door detection.

[TristenC]

Fair enough. No door was found, however

[Chris1234]

It's fine. Just let's her feel like she's being potentially useful.

[TristenC]

To be clear, though, I always check for elves and half-elves when they pass by concealed doors because it is automatic as long as they aren't rushing. Secret doors must always be searched for, and merely glancing about won't do it.

[Jenara]

It's fine. Just let's her feel like she's being potentially useful.

She is useful, the whole group are in different ways. No need to worry.

[Chris1234]

Ahh I'd always played it that the was a 1/6 differentce, so 1 on 1d6 for concealed would mean 0 on 1d6 for secret. But the boost from Observation means 1-2 on 1d6 for concealed would mean 1 on 1d6 for secret.

[TristenC]

Secret doors require searching, searching in this sense requires touching. Concealed doors do not require searching merely passing nearby.

Dmg:
"Searching a 20-foot section of wall takes about 10 minutes, during which the characters tap, thump, twist, and poke, looking for secret catches, sliding panels, hidden levers, and the like."

[Chris1234]

The preceding sentence (p130) does say "With the exception of elves, characters must search for secret doors to find them." And this was in the section (ok 6 paragraphs) headed "Secret doors" (in bold) followed by the final two paragraphs headed "A concealed door" in bold.
That was the basis of the rationale for how I'd always handled it.

However, GM is always right.

Thank you for clarifying. All good.

[TristenC]

In the PHB under Elves it specifically refers to Concealed doors only when speaking of '"Merely passing within 10 feet". In my interpretation this completely disqualifies secret doors from being found without touching.