Rules Aren't Knots

[This post exists for Josh to be able to cite. Feel free to do likewise.]

This is actually one of my favorite passages in a 5E text and I want to explain why:

Like, first of all, this is kind of a cute rule, right? Like oh hey that's clever, instead of a binary pass/fail, the result of your check becomes the DC to untie the knot. That's smart. You can think of it like a "delayed contest," not unlike how Stealth vs Perception typically works. And you reassign Sleight of Hand to the Intelligence attribute instead of Dexterity because it makes more sense. That's a nifty bit of design.

But more importantly, it's not actually included because 5E thought you needed a mechanic for this. It's an illustrative moment to remind you that 5E was intended to be a game that thrives on "rulings over rules," that you should be thinking of creative ways to apply the core mechanic on a case-by-case basis. This idea is stated outright in the PHB and the DMG both, but then also again right here in Xanathar's Guide. They felt the need to include a reminder doubling down on it, by way of a good example.

Rules aren't knots. Rules are rope. A good DM should know how to use rope, because DMing is an adventure in itself.

-Dwiz