D&D 5E What 5E needs: Let it Ride and Make it Interesting...

[GreyICE]

According to the game (4E), a thief who tries to sneak across a courtyard, scale a wall, and sneak into a room in a high tower could make upwards of a dozen checks for various actions. Move more than 2, extra check. Break cover, extra check. Enter the moat, extra check. Enter cover, no check. Break second cover, extra check. Climb the wall, extra check. A few Athletics checks to get up the bloody thing. Then stealth again to move around inside the tower.

That's ridiculous and adds nothing interesting to the game. It only slows things down and increases the likelihood of failing at an uninteresting point, say in the courtyard, breaking cover for the second time. Wrap that all up into a few rolls, one each for climbing and one for sneaking when it really counts (inside the tower), and it's suddenly a much more interesting (re: dramatic and engaging) story, rather than fondling the game mechanics needlessly.

Again, you're applying specific combat rules to non-combat situations.

That might be thematically appropriate if your rogue botched badly, and now all the guards are alerted. Each check is his attempt to evade guards who are actively searching for him, with wizards, rangers, and other elite hunters being called into action even as he tries to escape.

In that case the checks add tension, since there is a very, very clear and present danger.

But if the guards aren't alerted, it's probably two checks (one to sneak, one to climb a wall).

 

[Ranganathan]

In that case the checks add tension, since there is a very, very clear and present danger.

But if the guards aren't alerted, it's probably two checks (one to sneak, one to climb a wall).

That's exactly the point. Thank you.

If there is no tension, there's no need for more rolls. Rolling a dozen times just to get to the castle wall doesn't add anything, tension or otherwise. Rolling when it counts does add something. Making those rolls interesting adds something.