Skill DC descriptions

Quasqueton · Sep 15, 2005

When describing a skill challenge to the Players do you or does your DM use the adjectives given in the PHB for DCs? Does using them instead of bald-faced numbers help you get into the campaign world better?

Very Easy = DC 0
Easy = DC 5
Average = DC 10
Tough = DC 15
Challenging = DC 20
etc.

Player: "Can I climb this wall?"
DM: "It looks tough."

Player: "Can I jump over that rock?"
DM: "It looks challenging."

Unfortunately, in my experience, most Players don't recognize these adjectives in game terms (though they are in the PHB), and even if they have +15 in the skill, when they hear "tough", they think they shouldn't try it. Or if they have a -7 penalty from armor, and I say "easy", they think they'll have no problem.

Quasqueton

Geron Raveneye · Sep 15, 2005

Heh, I'd love to use it, but as far as I can see, it's not in the 3E PHB, so I guess it was added to the 3.5E PHB, right? Actually, I'd simply use it to adjudicate DCs on the fly, personally I don't mind giving a player the DC for a skill check, if I don't mind him knowing it. Any other time, I try to be accurate with my description of the situation/problem at hand, and let them roll blind. That table would be simple help for me.

genshou · Sep 16, 2005

Geron Raveneye said:
Heh, I'd love to use it, but as far as I can see, it's not in the 3E PHB, so I guess it was added to the 3.5E PHB, right? Actually, I'd simply use it to adjudicate DCs on the fly, personally I don't mind giving a player the DC for a skill check, if I don't mind him knowing it. Any other time, I try to be accurate with my description of the situation/problem at hand, and let them roll blind. That table would be simple help for me.

I usually describe it based on the PC's skill modifer. ie "The walls are smooth and slick, but you're fairly confident you can do it with your gloves of climbing."

Or

"The precipice is a few feet from the cliff wall and on stable ground, but you're pretty sure that overstuffed pack will make you plummet if you even try sidling along it, despite your training."

Bloodstone Press · Sep 16, 2005

We usually don't adhere strictly to those descriptors. I usually try to explain things from the character's point of view.

Quasqueton · Sep 16, 2005

Do you guys always know the skill ranks/modifiers of the PCs? I sure don't. I have a list of their Spot, Listen, and a few social skills, but I don't know their Jump, Climb, etc. So I definitely could not describe the obstacle as relative to their skill.

And OT (hijacking my own thread?):

I usually describe it based on the PC's skill modifer. ie "The walls are smooth and slick, but you're fairly confident you can do it with your gloves of climbing."

Or

"The precipice is a few feet from the cliff wall and on stable ground, but you're pretty sure that overstuffed pack will make you plummet if you even try sidling along it, despite your training."

I've seen such game "quotes" on this board many times, and I have to wonder: Do you guys really use words like "confident" (vice "sure"), "precipice" (vice "edge"), "plummet" (vice "fall"), etc. Do you actually use such words in general speaking?

Quasqueton

JimAde · Sep 16, 2005

Quasqueton said:
Do you guys always know the skill ranks/modifiers of the PCs? I sure don't. I have a list of their Spot, Listen, and a few social skills, but I don't know their Jump, Climb, etc. So I definitely could not describe the obstacle as relative to their skill.

And OT (hijacking my own thread?):
I've seen such game "quotes" on this board many times, and I have to wonder: Do you guys really use words like "confident" (vice "sure"), "precipice" (vice "edge"), "plummet" (vice "fall"), etc. Do you actually use such words in general speaking?

Quasqueton

Actually I do. People sometimes give me a hard time about it.

I do the same as genshou. While I don't know every skill modifier for every PC, I do have a pretty good idea of what they're good at. I'll describe the same thing differently to different players based on their character's abilities. The player of the mage with the 8 Str and no ranks in climb looking at a DC 20 slope is told "It's super-steep and the rocks are all crumbly and stuff. Looks impossible," while the rogue with a +10 climb modifier is told, "Well, you'll have to climb. It might take you a couple of rounds."

genshou · Sep 16, 2005

Quasqueton said:
And OT (hijacking my own thread?):

And thus putting professional thread hijackers such as myself out of a job

I've seen such game "quotes" on this board many times, and I have to wonder: Do you guys really use words like "confident" (vice "sure"), "precipice" (vice "edge"), "plummet" (vice "fall"), etc. Do you actually use such words in general speaking?

Quasqueton

Yes, in fact, I do. You're talking to the walking spellchecker/dictionary, good friend of the walking thesaurus (my player in Pledge of Tyranny). I'm not sure what Lela would be defined as a "walking" version of, but he's a friend as well. For those of you who know him here on the boards.

So I do tend toward the erudite.

ThirdWizard · Sep 16, 2005

I can't recall ever using the terms "easy" or "challenging" or the like to describe a skill use. Usually, I think I describe them in terms of what it would take to do something. So, I might say something like "an expert climber" or an "average person" can do it. Occasionally, I'll describe something in terms of PC abilities, which I usually know fairly well. For example, offhand, I could tell you that the party barbarian has around a +2 to his climb check. So, I could say something like "If you take your time, you'll probably make it to the top eventually." Or "odds are, you'll fall before reaching the summit."

Many skill checks arn't going to advertise their difficulty too much, but only give a general idea. The party bard is going to know around how difficult a person is to convince of something, but you rarely know how easy it is to pick a lock or disable a trap until you try. Or, sometimes you'll see a lock and note the maker and how good he is. It all depends.

sniffles · Sep 16, 2005

I would not recognize the DC terms as descriptors of difficulty. I don't know what terms are applied to each level of DC. If the GM told me something looked "tough", I'd assume he was using the term generically to describe the situation, rather than using some arbitrarily-assigned term from the DMG.

I'd like to say my GMs do what genshou describes, but in reality they all too often use the verbal shorthand of "Make a DC 15 Spot check". Sigh.

Skill DC descriptions

Quasqueton

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Geron Raveneye

Explorer

genshou

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Bloodstone Press

Explorer

Quasqueton

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JimAde

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genshou

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ThirdWizard

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sniffles

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