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Do you allow Acrobatics and Athletics to be used interchangeably?
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<blockquote data-quote="pming" data-source="post: 7503998" data-attributes="member: 45197"><p>Hiya!</p><p></p><p>Yes. But then again, I pretty much let the Player decide what skill to use for some task based on what and how he RP's his character trying to overcome the challenge. So in the example of a tricky cliff climb, the burly dwarven fighter player might say "Ok, I'm going to use my dwarven knowledge of rocks and just sort of force my way up the cliff, brute force like (Athletics, Strength)", the nimble gnome thief could say "Ahh...cliff faces. Piece of cake! Just leap from here, to there, wiggle a bit over here, then bam! I'm up (Acrobatics, Dexterity)", and the wizard could say "Simplicity in itself. See the rock pattern? Those roots sticking out at the top over there? The faint discolouration of water on those outcroppings? Yes, yes...I can see my path perfectly now. (Athletics, Intelligence)".</p><p></p><p>That's pretty much it. Sometimes I do specify a specific skill, but almost always give a choice of two (or three) abilities the player can choose to use. So I may say "Ok, everyone make an Athletics check...Str or Con".</p><p></p><p>So, yes. Players can sub-out skills and stats quite easily in my games...as long as they can make a decent case as to why their character gets to use History (Int) to climb that cliff, I'm all for it. The PC's in my games have enough trouble staying alive...no point in trying to kill the hulking fighter in full armor with a failed Acrobatics (Dex) when I can let the trio of Minotaur's at the top do it in a much more entertaining way! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /></p><p></p><p>^_^</p><p></p><p>Paul L. Ming</p><p></p><p><em>EDIT: PS: I figured I better explain a bit more about "let the player decide what skill"...because normally the Player DOES NOT get to just state "I use Skill X to do Task Y" in my games. I will say something like "The stones around the archway have depictions of strange creatures battling an army of humanoids with wings. Strange runes, or characters, are also written around the very outside and inside". This is when a player will engage with "Do I recognize any of this? I grew up about 50km from here, and I am a 98 year old dwarf...". This is when I'll ask something like "I don't know...why would you?"...and the player then does some on-the-fly RP'ing with "Oh, well, my father was a stonemason for the noble families around here and I used to listen to stories from all the bards and tavern-goers with my dad after a three-day stone-carving marathon. That's why my Background is Sage...always taking mental notes and writing them down when I got the chance (see, I have a 100-pg Book in my Equipment list even...)". And THIS is when I'll ask for a History, or perhaps a Religion check. And the player MAY decide "Can I use my Arcana skill?". If it seems reasonable, sure. Go ahead. I was originally thinking 'religious stories carved in stone', but maybe they are also part of the God of Magic's allegories or something. I'm usually doing a lot of "filling in the blanks" of my adventure framework as play progresses. So more "Tower; Old grey stone; very old; unimportant" and less "here's four pages of backstory for this tower with specific people, places, things and times listed".</em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pming, post: 7503998, member: 45197"] Hiya! Yes. But then again, I pretty much let the Player decide what skill to use for some task based on what and how he RP's his character trying to overcome the challenge. So in the example of a tricky cliff climb, the burly dwarven fighter player might say "Ok, I'm going to use my dwarven knowledge of rocks and just sort of force my way up the cliff, brute force like (Athletics, Strength)", the nimble gnome thief could say "Ahh...cliff faces. Piece of cake! Just leap from here, to there, wiggle a bit over here, then bam! I'm up (Acrobatics, Dexterity)", and the wizard could say "Simplicity in itself. See the rock pattern? Those roots sticking out at the top over there? The faint discolouration of water on those outcroppings? Yes, yes...I can see my path perfectly now. (Athletics, Intelligence)". That's pretty much it. Sometimes I do specify a specific skill, but almost always give a choice of two (or three) abilities the player can choose to use. So I may say "Ok, everyone make an Athletics check...Str or Con". So, yes. Players can sub-out skills and stats quite easily in my games...as long as they can make a decent case as to why their character gets to use History (Int) to climb that cliff, I'm all for it. The PC's in my games have enough trouble staying alive...no point in trying to kill the hulking fighter in full armor with a failed Acrobatics (Dex) when I can let the trio of Minotaur's at the top do it in a much more entertaining way! ;) ^_^ Paul L. Ming [I]EDIT: PS: I figured I better explain a bit more about "let the player decide what skill"...because normally the Player DOES NOT get to just state "I use Skill X to do Task Y" in my games. I will say something like "The stones around the archway have depictions of strange creatures battling an army of humanoids with wings. Strange runes, or characters, are also written around the very outside and inside". This is when a player will engage with "Do I recognize any of this? I grew up about 50km from here, and I am a 98 year old dwarf...". This is when I'll ask something like "I don't know...why would you?"...and the player then does some on-the-fly RP'ing with "Oh, well, my father was a stonemason for the noble families around here and I used to listen to stories from all the bards and tavern-goers with my dad after a three-day stone-carving marathon. That's why my Background is Sage...always taking mental notes and writing them down when I got the chance (see, I have a 100-pg Book in my Equipment list even...)". And THIS is when I'll ask for a History, or perhaps a Religion check. And the player MAY decide "Can I use my Arcana skill?". If it seems reasonable, sure. Go ahead. I was originally thinking 'religious stories carved in stone', but maybe they are also part of the God of Magic's allegories or something. I'm usually doing a lot of "filling in the blanks" of my adventure framework as play progresses. So more "Tower; Old grey stone; very old; unimportant" and less "here's four pages of backstory for this tower with specific people, places, things and times listed".[/I] [/QUOTE]
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Do you allow Acrobatics and Athletics to be used interchangeably?
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