Guidance and Help

Two of the most useful things a D&D character can do to assist another D&D character with a skill check is to cast the Guidance spell and perform the Help action. The Guidance spell allows the character performing a skill check to add 1d4 to their skill check, which normally is a total of 1d20 plus the character's skill modifier. The Help action allows a character to make the skill check with Advantage, which means that they can roll two d20s and use whichever die rolled higher. What's especially handy is that Guidance and Help are not mutually exclusive. One character can provide both Guidance and Help to another. Alternatively (especially in real life), a character can provide whichever form of assistance is most needed, if either are needed at all.

Sometimes, people have the ability to do something, but lack the knowledge of how to do it, thus needing Guidance. In such cases, the person merely needs some advice. With some instruction, that person can then easily perform the task themselves, without help.

Sometimes, people know how to do something, but lack the ability to do it, thus needing Help. In such cases, the person doesn't need to be told how to perform the task, and they may not even need any helpful advice. They just need a helping hand. Such a person can perform the task with no necessary instructions, provided they have adequate help.

Naturally, there are times when both guidance and help are necessary. If a task is both tricky and difficult, it's not uncommon for both guidance and help to be useful, provided that the person offering the guidance and help have the knowledge and ability necessary to assist with the task.

And there are other times when a person doesn't need guidance or help, and they may be better off being allowed to perform the task on their own.

I find that it's courteous to wait for a person to ask for guidance and/or help, and then to provide them with whichever form of assistance they request, to the best of my knowledge and ability. If someone asks me for advice concerning how to do something, it wouldn't necessarily be helpful to do it for them, and if someone asks for help with something, that may not be the best time to tell them that they're doing it wrong.

Both Guidance and Help have their uses. Sometimes, both are needed. Sometimes, neither are. But sometimes, a person needs one, and not the other, so it's important for each person to know when to give advice but keep their hands off, and when to pitch in but keep their words of wisdom to themselves. God expects us to grow in both knowledge and ability. That happens best when we get the amount and kind of assistance we need, but no more.