I have very mixed feelings on secret checks. One the one hand, they make a lot of sense, they seem like they really help roleplay and being in character, and they generate suspense and uncertainty.
On the other hand, I like rolling my pretty math rocks. I’m a minor dice goblin, and my expensive RNGs demand to be rolled!
Which is fine, I’m the GM at my table, but if I were on the other side of the screen, I think it’d drive me a little crazy.
I also know that they’re a controversial topic more generally, and some players have really, really strong negative reactions to them.
So, how do you feel? Does your table use them? If not, why not? If so, how do they feel? Do you have anyone at the table with very strong feelings about them? If so, how have they articulated those feelings?
It is a common example of “lol you fail 5% of the time any time you do a minor task” to mock the d20 system.
That’s one of the things levelled proficiencies helps with, though. It’s also what Assurance feats are for. At some point, they’re proficient enough that failure isn’t a reasonable option, and you just take Assurance.
Or, as a GM, you bypass Assurance and just not ask them to roll, because failure is not likely or interesting.
But I don’t know what this has to do with Secret checks. Cooking doesn’t have the Secret tag.