Celebrim
Legend
One thing 4e did for me was inspire me to look at all the things that annoyed me about 3.X and ask, "How can this be done better?"
One area that always annoyed me about 3.X was that not all of the skill task resolution systems really seemed to make sense. One of the most annoying for me was Jump.
The problem with Jump is that the spread of the randomness overwhelms having ranks in the skill. Suppose there is a pit that is 15' wide and the players have unwisely removed a golden idol from a pedestal and set off a scenario trap, and now are running for their lives from a horde of angry skeletal warrios while the entire tomb complex caves in. The players must find a way to cross the pit in haste. One character has a 10 STR and no jump skill, and another has 14 STR and 10 ranks in jump. You might suppose that the one with jump is better off, and on the average that is true, but in practice Murphy's Law takes over and the player with no ranks in jump rolls a 16 (and clears the), and the player with much investment in the skill rolls a 2 and finds himself needing to make a strength check to grab the side of the pit to avoid plummeting to there doom.
Because of this randomness, players are strongly discouraged from using jump skills under pressure when it counts because the distance they can cover is so unpredictable. Simply put, the jump skill is being shackled to a D20 resolution mechanic that while good for many things, is not well suited to resolving jumps.
I'm looking for suggestions on what to do about it. I've tumbled around alot of ideas in my head, but none of them have really struck me as perfect.
One thing I would like to do is make the default jump depend on the characters height. The minimum long jump would be a 'step' equal to say 1/2 of the jumpers height or vertical reach (which ever looks like it would work best). Unless you are overburdened, you can always jump that distance. That's the only thing I've fully settled on.
My goals are:
1) Smaller amount of randomness than existing system. A player's minimum jump and maximum jump shouldn't be that far off his average jump.
2) No new subsystem. Use some existing fortune system within D20.
3) Whatever change is made, don't screw up the existing skill system. It has to integrate with having ranks in jumping.
4) Casually realistic, by which I mean that low level characters will jump distances that feel realistic (as opposed to randoming up 20' long jumps for unatheletic jumpers, followed by 1' jumps on the next occasion). I don't worry about what happens at high levels, as I'm perfectly fine with thinking Batman or Wolverine is a 15th level fighter.
5) Quickly calculated.
I'm not going to share my existing ideas just yet because I don't want to impede anyone's creativity. Throw some ideas out there. They won't be worse than the worst of mine.
One area that always annoyed me about 3.X was that not all of the skill task resolution systems really seemed to make sense. One of the most annoying for me was Jump.
The problem with Jump is that the spread of the randomness overwhelms having ranks in the skill. Suppose there is a pit that is 15' wide and the players have unwisely removed a golden idol from a pedestal and set off a scenario trap, and now are running for their lives from a horde of angry skeletal warrios while the entire tomb complex caves in. The players must find a way to cross the pit in haste. One character has a 10 STR and no jump skill, and another has 14 STR and 10 ranks in jump. You might suppose that the one with jump is better off, and on the average that is true, but in practice Murphy's Law takes over and the player with no ranks in jump rolls a 16 (and clears the), and the player with much investment in the skill rolls a 2 and finds himself needing to make a strength check to grab the side of the pit to avoid plummeting to there doom.
Because of this randomness, players are strongly discouraged from using jump skills under pressure when it counts because the distance they can cover is so unpredictable. Simply put, the jump skill is being shackled to a D20 resolution mechanic that while good for many things, is not well suited to resolving jumps.
I'm looking for suggestions on what to do about it. I've tumbled around alot of ideas in my head, but none of them have really struck me as perfect.
One thing I would like to do is make the default jump depend on the characters height. The minimum long jump would be a 'step' equal to say 1/2 of the jumpers height or vertical reach (which ever looks like it would work best). Unless you are overburdened, you can always jump that distance. That's the only thing I've fully settled on.
My goals are:
1) Smaller amount of randomness than existing system. A player's minimum jump and maximum jump shouldn't be that far off his average jump.
2) No new subsystem. Use some existing fortune system within D20.
3) Whatever change is made, don't screw up the existing skill system. It has to integrate with having ranks in jumping.
4) Casually realistic, by which I mean that low level characters will jump distances that feel realistic (as opposed to randoming up 20' long jumps for unatheletic jumpers, followed by 1' jumps on the next occasion). I don't worry about what happens at high levels, as I'm perfectly fine with thinking Batman or Wolverine is a 15th level fighter.
5) Quickly calculated.
I'm not going to share my existing ideas just yet because I don't want to impede anyone's creativity. Throw some ideas out there. They won't be worse than the worst of mine.