Aid Another DC change

[Keenath]

Do you suppose it would cause havoc to the system to change Aid Another?

It seems weird to me that A) it's the same DC to aid on a very simple or a very complex task, and B) that high level characters can automatically provide aid on virtually any task.

Back in 3.x, a static Aid DC made sense. A 20th level character who never put any effort into learning Diplomacy would have only his charisma modifier adding to his rolls, and was therefore most likely to have a miniscule bonus, if any.

In 4e, though, a 20th level character has a +10 to all his skills before you even consider ability bonuses, and that adds up to an automatic success even if you have an 8 in the associated ability score.


So, my idea is this:
Instead of a static DC 10 for aiding, the Aid DC is the same as the task's DC, but you get a +5 bonus on your check.

That seems to work okay for low levels, but I'm thinking it needs a little more of a boost at the uppers -- maybe it should be +10 at paragon and +15 at epic?

What do you folks think?

 

[BartD]

My simple solution (spoilports) would be to mak ethe DC 10/15/20 for tiers considering +level/2. With much bonuses it'll be pretty easy at epic but... supermen can do anyting!

 

[Stalker0]

Aid another works like it does to encourage teamwork. If a player is willing to give up his action to selflessly help his buddy, the system says we will make that easy, and so the DC is low.

 

[Keenath]

Aid another works like it does to encourage teamwork. If a player is willing to give up his action to selflessly help his buddy, the system says we will make that easy, and so the DC is low.

Well, we could say the DC is 5/10/15 lower rather than giving the guy a +5/10/15 on his check. That's identical mathematically.

It just seems to me that it's a bit TOO easy to help in 4e.

 

[Tuft]

Actually, it's quite odd the way that Aid Other works in both 3E and 4E.

Normally, when someone helps or assists someone, it's the more skillful one that assists the lesser skillful one, not the other way, and you use it to support "the weaker links" in a team, not do increase the performance of an already superior member.

So, I'd go out on an unfamiliar limb here, and say that one way to house rule Aid Other is:

• A higher skill roll can give a lower skill roll up to +5, as long as it does not make the latter higher than the former. The higher bonus is because it is harder to than today's DC 10.
• And to encourage its use, I'd not let it count as an action for the one assisting.

 

[Keenath]

Normally, when someone helps or assists someone, it's the more skillful one that assists the lesser skillful one, not the other way

Not at all. What does a lab assistant do? What does a clerical assistant do? In most cases, somebody who is assisting is doing less-skilled tasks to take those off the expert and let him put his full attention on the tasks that require his expertise. Those less-skilled tasks could be anything from the simple -- "Bring me the Connor file" or "Hold this flashlight" -- to the moderately complex -- "Find me a three-quarters Pinkney flange" or "Get me a bio on this guy, I want to know what he's been doing and who he's been working for over the last three years."

 

[Nine Hands]

How about using the Difficulty Chart from page 42 of the DMG?

Ignore the skill checks increase the DC by 5 bit.

An Easy result gives a +2 bonus, +3 on Moderate and +4 on Hard.

 

[bardolph]

The higher your level, the higher the cost of giving up your action. Therefore, I don't see the static DC as a problem.

However, 10/15/20 seems reasonable.

 

[Nine Hands]

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