D&D 5E Climbing a tower rules 5e

[TaranTheWanderer]

Here I think the specific rules for climbing make it easy for us to achieve this by establishing by way of describing the environment the difficult situation that is creating the uncertainty. If I tell the player they need to make a check to climb the 80' rope because the guards at the top of the tower are trying to knock you off by dropping large rocks on you, that's something I think a player can understand and is called out as one of those difficult situations that make a check appropriate in the rules.

I just think that is a more interesting scenario than making a check, failing and falling. Generally, I’ve found making climb checks for the sake of avoiding falling damage kind of boring.

 

[iserith]

I just think that is a more interesting scenario than making a check, failing and falling. Generally, I’ve found making climb checks for the sake of avoiding falling damage kind of boring.

Yeah, and here we have the rules supporting this very notion of making it more interesting!

 

[TwoSix]

Here I think the specific rules for climbing make it easy for us to achieve this by establishing by way of describing the environment the difficult situation that is creating the uncertainty. If I tell the player they need to make a check to climb the 80' rope because the guards at the top of the tower are trying to knock you off by dropping large rocks on you, that's something I think a player can understand and is called out as one of those difficult situations that make a check appropriate in the rules.

Sure. I just think the length and duration of climbing are fair game to be used as a complicating factor, even if not called out as such by the PHB/DMG rules. I mean, just as comparison, I don't see anything in the rules restricting swimming distance (other than it costs extra movement), but I don't think that means a PC can swim the English Channel with no check, even if no complications arise.

 

[iserith]

Sure. I just think the length and duration of climbing are fair game to be used as a complicating factor, even if not called out as such by the PHB/DMG rules. I mean, just as comparison, I don't see anything in the rules restricting swimming distance (other than it costs extra movement), but I don't think that means a PC can swim the English Channel with no check, even if no complications arise.

In this case you might be testing, as I mentioned in a couple of posts upthread, whether the character can push beyond their normal limits, which is a Constitution check (if there's a check at all), not a Strength (Athletics) check.

 

[TwoSix]

In this case you might be testing, as I mentioned in a couple of posts upthread, whether the character can push beyond their normal limits, which is a Constitution check (if there's a check at all), not a Strength (Athletics) check.

Yea, I would probably make it a Con(Athletics) check, personally.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

Yeah, and here we have the rules supporting this very notion of making it more interesting!

Yet, I’ve seen the rules make it boring too. I don’t think rules really affects how interesting the game is.

 

[Nebulous]

Out of curiosity, since it was mentioned, what would a check look like for a DND character in leather armor and typical gear to swim 21 miles across the English Channel?

 

[iserith]

Yet, I’ve seen the rules make it boring too. I don’t think the use of rules really affects how interesting the game is.

Sure. In this case though, I think it pushes us to think about making the challenge more than "if climb, then climb check."

 

[iserith]

Out of curiosity, since it was mentioned, what would a check look like for a DND character in leather armor and typical gear to swim 21 miles across the English Channel?

What are the conditions of the English channel, what is the PC doing specifically, and what are the stakes?

 

[Nebulous]

What are the conditions of the English channel, what is the PC doing specifically, and what are the stakes?

Low wind, average waves, no sharks, no rain. Just point A to B in gear. Breaststroke. No time limit.