The Profession skill?

[Raven Crowking]

No, it's not a static difficulty because you have to rely on the d20 which generates a random result. A person with 10 is slightly above average while a person with an 18 is almost an expert. There is no take 10, therefor there's no automatic or instant success.

I fear that you and I are talking two different languages here. Let me assure you that, when I say a "static difficulty" I mean that the level of difficulty does not change. That is, the numbers represent the inherent difficulty of a proposition, not the ease with which certain characters may approach that inherent difficulty.

Usually, this is simulationist in nature. A monster whose hide is equivalent to plate and shield in AD&D 1e is AC 2. It is AC 2 if the PCs are 1st level; it is AC 2 if the PCs are 15th level. Likewise, a basic lock needs no description; the "DC" is the baseline thief's chance to pick locks. All the DM need do is define harder challenges (say, -10% to pick locks) or easier ones (say, +15% chance to find traps).

The converse of this is a system in which the difficulty of picking a lock is not based on static chance, but is based on an ideal idea of how often any given PC should be able to do it. So, if the goal is to have you find 50% of all traps, the DC of locating traps should be 10 + the searcher's bonus to the task. Or, for example, the AC of creatures should depend upon their CR rather than their description.....try to make the description match the CR!

All characters of the same level, ability scores, and skills are always equal in capability.

All characters that are exactly the same are exactly the same. This, at least, we agree on.


RC

 

[Raven Crowking]

It occurs to me that WotC didn't invent the yes/no switch that Take 10 and Take 20 all too often are used for. "I walk across the room" has always been a yes/no switch. What WotC did was give a gloss of illusion over the yes/no switch, extending it farther than it had previously existed, and giving it the illusion of being related to chance.

The problem, esp. with Take 20, is it becomes a "DM May I?" switch. Does the DM want you to be able to unlock the door? No? Then the DC is outside your Take 20 range. Does he want you to? Then it is within your Take 20 range. All too often, Take 20 is a cop-out, utilized to preplan in-game events down the route the DM envisions. The less actual chance is involved in the game, the more the DM can plan ahead, the more heavily plotted the series of events is likely to be, and consequently fewer meaningful choices will be available to the players.


RC

 

[Mark Chance]

All too often, Take 20 is a cop-out, utilized to preplan in-game events down the route the DM envisions.

That's how I use it. If success at Task X is either absolutely essential or just par for the course, then I generally hand wave skill checks, saving them for more dramatic situations.

 

[Raven Crowking]

That's how I use it. If success at Task X is either absolutely essential or just par for the course, then I generally hand wave skill checks, saving them for more dramatic situations.

There is a difference between faking the involvement of chance, and saying upfront that chance is not involved. IMHO, anyway.

 

[Mark Chance]

There is a difference between faking the involvement of chance, and saying upfront that chance is not involved. IMHO, anyway.

Oh, I agree. I've played in games before where I had the suspicion that DCs had been deliberately set to make even taking 20 impossible. If the story requires failure, then that's one thing, but it makes me wonder: Why include that element at all if that's the case?

For example, why stick in a secret door if DM fiat is going to rule that the PCs can't find said door? What is the story function for such a feature?

The more I DM (and the more I work on material I'd like to publish) the more sensitive I become to making things deliberately impossible. For another example, in an adventure I'm currently working on, I've stuck in sidebars about PC knowledge based on the idea that a PC with X knowledge skill ought to know such-and-such facts because those facts help drive the adventure forward without worrying about skill checks.