D&D 5E Is expertise badly designed?

[Esker]

then your looking at things like intimidate, persuade, courtly etiquette, some trade skill*, or similar not "stealth"

What roll would you call for when trying to blend in to a crowd? I don't see that Dexterity has anything to do with it, personally.

 

[prabe]

What roll would you call for when trying to blend in to a crowd? I don't see that Dexterity has anything to do with it, personally.

Charisma(Stealth). It's no more strange than Strength(Intimidation), and it gives both the Party Face and the Party Sneak a fair shot.

 

[Esker]

Charisma(Stealth). It's no more strange than Strength(Intimidation), and it gives both the Party Face and the Party Sneak a fair shot.

That was the proposal we're discussing.

 

[prabe]

That was the proposal we're discussing.

Seemed to me as though some people were advocating Charisma(Deception). and others were advocating Dexterity(Stealth). Neither of those seems entirely apt.

 

[Anoth]

I think intimidation (strength) is very different than stealth (charisma). But I think there is already a rule in the PHB allowing DM’s to use different attribute for a skill if they choose. So it should be no big deal if a DM and his players are cool with it.

 

[prabe]

I think intimidation (strength) is very different than stealth (charisma). But I think there is already a rule in the PHB allowing DM’s to use different attribute for a skill if they choose. So it should be no big deal if a DM and his players are cool with it.

It's mechanically identical, and it only seems strange if you've never seen an actor choose to not project.

 

[miggyG777]

One idea that has occurred to me as a "fix" for Reliable Talent is to replace the hard floor of 10 with "roll both 3d6 and 1d20, take the higher." I haven't done the calculations to see what the exact impact would be, but it would make your rolls more "reliable" than without the ability, in that it cuts down on the chance of low rolls without eliminating them entirely, while not raising the chance of high rolls as much as granting advantage would. Plus you can stack it with advantage, and apply disadvantage without canceling the ability entirely.

Why not just roll a d20 with advantage?

 

[Esker]

Why not just roll a d20 with advantage?

Check out the graph above. For one, applying advantage boosts your likelihood of getting a high roll more than this does, while mitigating the risk of a low roll less, making it farther away from the intent of the feature. For another, this can stack with advantage or disadvantage.

 

[Esker]

Seemed to me as though some people were advocating Charisma(Deception). and others were advocating Dexterity(Stealth). Neither of those seems entirely apt.

Somebody proposed Charisma(Stealth) above, which I thought sounded right, but others disagree.

 

[miggyG777]

Check out the graph above. For one, applying advantage boosts your likelihood of getting a high roll more than this does, while mitigating the risk of a low roll less, making it farther away from the intent of the feature. For another, this can stack with advantage or disadvantage.

Interesting, it adds a little more complexity though with the extra dice. I am always thinking about whether the trade-off would be worth it.