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Reliable Talent. What the what?
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<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7295930" data-attributes="member: 20323"><p>I have always treated natural 1's as auto-fails and natural 20's as auto-successes, regardless if it's an attack roll or skill check. Haven't yet played with players who don't like that ruling after 30+ years of D&D. But I don't think you *need* to do that just on account of Reliable Talent.</p><p></p><p>The thing to keep in mind about the rogue's Reliable Talent is that it's an invitation for "yes and..." or "yes but..." cooperative storytelling. The player choose to play a rogue, choose to invest moderately in skills, and attained 11th level as a rogue, so what they're wanting is a skill monkey who succeeds on many skill checks. No problem. You as DM just need to be flexible and creative.</p><p></p><p>He wants to go on a stealing spree? That sounds like something best handled as criminal downtime activity... there's a good approach in Unearthed Arcana here: <a href="https://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/UA_Downtime.pdf" target="_blank">https://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/UA_Downtime.pdf</a> </p><p></p><p>If this goes on for a bit in a settlement, you could incorporate it into your adventure, maybe having one or more of the rogue's targets wind up dead, and the lead suspect is the "thief in the night" who has been pilfering from merchants throughout the city. When the PCs are hired to investigate the murders by a patron, the rogue PC now has extra motivation to figure out who the killer is.</p><p></p><p>Alternately, you could have the settlement escalate its defenses. Maybe the local lord pays for a diviner's aid in determining the culprit. Maybe a false arrest is made of several "innocents" in an effort to flush out the culprit. Maybe magical lanterns are placed throughout the settlement which impose disadvantage on Sleight of Hand & Stealth checks made within their light. Maybe the wealthy take to having <em>glyphs of warding</em> (or similar magic) cast on their decoy belt pouches, while keeping their real valuables in money belts that just can't be pilfered. Maybe the local thieves' guild wants its cut and brings its own experts in to track the culprit and deliver an ultimatum: give the guild 50% or else. Maybe a new captain of the guard sets up an irresistible lure and a sting operation to catch the culprit. Maybe bolstered security (due to the rogue's activities) bites the party in the ass when trying to get access to a noble or his castle during their quest. Maybe the PCs later encounter one of the rogue's victims, and the theft led to calamity for him, relating a tale sure to tug at the heart strings of players of good-aligned PCs, leading to an inter-party dilemma.</p><p></p><p>So many fun cooperative storytelling opportunities for this.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 7295930, member: 20323"] I have always treated natural 1's as auto-fails and natural 20's as auto-successes, regardless if it's an attack roll or skill check. Haven't yet played with players who don't like that ruling after 30+ years of D&D. But I don't think you *need* to do that just on account of Reliable Talent. The thing to keep in mind about the rogue's Reliable Talent is that it's an invitation for "yes and..." or "yes but..." cooperative storytelling. The player choose to play a rogue, choose to invest moderately in skills, and attained 11th level as a rogue, so what they're wanting is a skill monkey who succeeds on many skill checks. No problem. You as DM just need to be flexible and creative. He wants to go on a stealing spree? That sounds like something best handled as criminal downtime activity... there's a good approach in Unearthed Arcana here: [url]https://media.wizards.com/2017/dnd/downloads/UA_Downtime.pdf[/url] If this goes on for a bit in a settlement, you could incorporate it into your adventure, maybe having one or more of the rogue's targets wind up dead, and the lead suspect is the "thief in the night" who has been pilfering from merchants throughout the city. When the PCs are hired to investigate the murders by a patron, the rogue PC now has extra motivation to figure out who the killer is. Alternately, you could have the settlement escalate its defenses. Maybe the local lord pays for a diviner's aid in determining the culprit. Maybe a false arrest is made of several "innocents" in an effort to flush out the culprit. Maybe magical lanterns are placed throughout the settlement which impose disadvantage on Sleight of Hand & Stealth checks made within their light. Maybe the wealthy take to having [i]glyphs of warding[/i] (or similar magic) cast on their decoy belt pouches, while keeping their real valuables in money belts that just can't be pilfered. Maybe the local thieves' guild wants its cut and brings its own experts in to track the culprit and deliver an ultimatum: give the guild 50% or else. Maybe a new captain of the guard sets up an irresistible lure and a sting operation to catch the culprit. Maybe bolstered security (due to the rogue's activities) bites the party in the ass when trying to get access to a noble or his castle during their quest. Maybe the PCs later encounter one of the rogue's victims, and the theft led to calamity for him, relating a tale sure to tug at the heart strings of players of good-aligned PCs, leading to an inter-party dilemma. So many fun cooperative storytelling opportunities for this. [/QUOTE]
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