Which checks are made by the GM in secret?

[magispitt]

As the title. RAW, I assume most checks are made by the players - but are any made by the GM?

[Abraham Z.]

RAW, disable device is supposed to be rolled in secret by the GM, and it seems to me that Sense Motive probably should be too. In practice, I've never seen a GM do either one.

[PossibleCabbage]

Any rolls made by NPCs are made by the GM and it is the GM's discretion as to whether to make them openly or hidden. Tables will and should differ on what information they want hidden and what information they want openly.

[Curghann]

That's going to have a huge variance based on the game/table you're playing at.

Many GM's like to roll things like Percecption/Stealth/Disable Device/etc in secret so that the player can't derive information from the roll and the information they're given.

Many players will react differently if they're searching for traps and get a 1 and the GM says "you didnt find anything" than they might if they didnt know what the roll was and the GM said the same thing. Same thing for Perception.

A lot of it also simply has to do with keeping the game moving along at a good pace. Asking the table for a Perception check and hearing the results is a lot faster than the GM rolling for everyone and having their current scores handy to check against.

I'm not sure there is "RAW" for what players vs GM's should roll but many tables/games play very differently in how that's handled.

At the very least, most tables have players rolling their own attacks and saves. From there, YMMV.

[James F.D. Graham]

Disguise

[Ascalaphus]

I prefer to roll many checks in the open as GM. It builds trust and creates tension when players see the die roll, spotting natural 20 and 1s, and doing math like "you mean this beast got a 25 to hit on a 7? Yikes..."

The stuff I roll in secret is pretty much the stuff where success or failure wouldn't be quickly seen by the PCs. If I'm rolling an NPC's Bluff I roll in secret so the players don't know if the NPC is telling the truth or I just rolled high. And if a player is bluffing then I'll roll the NPC's sense motive in secret; the player won't know if the NPC bought it until he says something that makes it clear.

[skizzerz]

I roll all NPC checks in secret unless they're super critical (such as a damage roll on a low health PC). If I want a secret PC check, I just take 10 for them instead of rolling. Things like disable device, appraise, disguise, etc I let my players roll because 1) I trust them to not be jerks and meta game that information, and 2) there are abilities and items they have that let them add to rolls or reroll after seeing the number but before the result is revealed, so I'd have to tell them what I rolled anyway in order for them to make use of such things.

Edit: since this is in Rules and not Advice, here's a skill list for where secret rolls are called for by RAW for at least some situations. Unless otherwise specified, they come from the CRB:
- Appraise (Ultimate Campaign 136, although you can interpret this as only applying if using the Bargaining subsystem)
- Disable Device
- Disguise
- Linguistics

[justaworm]

I take this question more to mean, what PC rolls should the GM be making, and not a general what rolls should the GM make in the open?

RAW: Disable Device says this:

PRD wrote:

Check: When disarming a trap or other device, the Disable Device check is made secretly, so that you don't necessarily know whether you've succeeded.

I think that is the only place the GM rolling in secret on the PC's behalf is explicitly mentioned.

However, if you extend the "so that you don't necessarily know whether you've succeeded" part to other checks, then Bluff/sense motive, Disguise, even Diplomacy are all candidates.

Our table is pretty good at taking what we roll and going with it and not trying to metagame. To that end, we typically make our own disable checks and gleefully accept our trap-fate when we see a 1 rolled. After all, what would be the fun in bypassing every trap?

In the situation where the players aren't going to change their reaction based on the die roll, the GM doesn't really have to worry about it. Otherwise, the GM is likely going to want to make some or all of those checks on the player's behalf.

As for GM rolls in the open or not, I generally make all GM rolls (NPC, combat, etc.) in "secret" because I sit at the end of a long table and it would be annoying to get up and roll dice in the middle of the table. However, everyone at our table have been friends for a long time and there is implicit trust regardless of where the die are rolled.

[thorin001]

Of course rolling for the PCs completely negates any re-roll abilities the party may have.

[Matthew Downie]

The player could say to the GM, "I'll use my reroll ability if I get less than 5 on the first roll".

The GM could then say, "You did get less than 5 first time, so I'm rerolling and you can't use that ability again today."

The player still doesn't know the result, but they had a chance to benefit.

[GM Rednal]

Typically, it's recommended to roll something in secret if knowing the result of the roll could influence a player's reaction when it's not supposed to. For example, you're not really supposed to "know" if you correctly appraised the value of an item, or if you were perceptive enough to catch someone lying.

[Brain in a Jar]

The base system of Pathfinder doesn't assume any rolls are made in secret unless otherwise mentioned.

RAW the only rolls that should be made in secret are:

-Disable Device
"When disarming a trap or other device, the Disable Device check is made secretly, so that you don't necessarily know whether you've succeeded."

Though with picking a lock it isn't really needed since the player can just take 10 or take 20.

-Disguise
"The Disguise check is made secretly, so that you can't be sure how good the result is."

-Linguistics (Create or Detect Forgeries and Decipher Writing)
"The Linguistics check is made secretly, so that you're not sure how good your forgery is."

"Both the Linguistics check and (if necessary) the Wisdom check are made secretly by the GM, so that you can't tell whether the conclusion you draw is true or false."

-Trap Spotter (Rogue Talent)
"Whenever a rogue with this talent comes within 10 feet of a trap, she receives an immediate Perception skill check to notice the trap. This check should be made in secret by the GM."

-Augury
"The base chance for receiving a meaningful reply is 70% + 1% per caster level, to a maximum of 90%; this roll is made secretly."

-Psychic Reading
"There's a 70% chance that all information you receive is correct. This roll is made secretly."

Those are a few examples i found searching around, there could be more.

Basically the skill, ability, spell will mention explicitly when the roll is made in secret.

Anything else is a Houserule.