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House Rule Idea: Knowledge Checks Never Fail (they just might make things worse)
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<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 9242699" data-attributes="member: 20323"><p>Yeah absolutely.</p><p></p><p>In d20, knowledge checks had much more structure. For example, you could NOT "Try Again" with a knowledge check, so there was at least <em>some</em> limit on pile-on checks built into the game. Similarly, <em>how much </em>you learned from a knowledge check was more codified, e.g.</p><p>"For every 5 points by which your check result exceeds the DC, you recall another piece of useful information."</p><p></p><p>The combination of those two things makes the move toward designing a unique fail-state for a knowledge check less pressing. I'm not saying it couldn't be done well and improve things in a d20 game or PF1e game, but that there's less urgency for it due to those two factors.</p><p></p><p>Whereas with 5e, there is no guidance on pile-on (knowledge) checks, and there is no guidance on <em>how much </em>you learn from a check. In that context, I think there's more urgency in 5e for defining what failure means on a knowledge check – implementing those things goes further in 5e due to its lack of codification on the limits/powers of knowledge checks.</p><p></p><p>For instance, in my own 5e games, I learned to often say something like "yes, you can roll History here, but if you roll under 12, then that indicates some kind of bad blood between you and the subject you're rolling about."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 9242699, member: 20323"] Yeah absolutely. In d20, knowledge checks had much more structure. For example, you could NOT "Try Again" with a knowledge check, so there was at least [I]some[/I] limit on pile-on checks built into the game. Similarly, [I]how much [/I]you learned from a knowledge check was more codified, e.g. "For every 5 points by which your check result exceeds the DC, you recall another piece of useful information." The combination of those two things makes the move toward designing a unique fail-state for a knowledge check less pressing. I'm not saying it couldn't be done well and improve things in a d20 game or PF1e game, but that there's less urgency for it due to those two factors. Whereas with 5e, there is no guidance on pile-on (knowledge) checks, and there is no guidance on [I]how much [/I]you learn from a check. In that context, I think there's more urgency in 5e for defining what failure means on a knowledge check – implementing those things goes further in 5e due to its lack of codification on the limits/powers of knowledge checks. For instance, in my own 5e games, I learned to often say something like "yes, you can roll History here, but if you roll under 12, then that indicates some kind of bad blood between you and the subject you're rolling about." [/QUOTE]
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