D&D 5E Climbing a tower rules 5e

[DND_Reborn]

Now you have a different challenge.

Yeah, it's already been found...

It’s too bad you aren’t more receptive to advice. You might enjoy the game more.

If only the advice was better... then I might actually listen to it.

The game is too riddled with issues for me to really enjoy it as is, hence why I changed my handle to 6ENow!

(And it's popularity and success is not due to it's design... Many people have tired it and returned to 4E/Pathfinder, OSRs, etc. It's due to the acceptance of gaming in modern times compared to 40 years ago, and the prevalence of the Internet, etc. to encourage it.)

 

[JimmyG]

Wow long thread!

Our group just started playing a while back and taking the afternoon to read through all this, I have to agree with 6ENow!

I get your points, but I also think height or distance or whatever can create the challenge and if the DM thinks a check is needed should call for it.

Just my two cents.

 

[iserith]

It's sad because it makes challenges pointless. How many dungeons have a 10' wide pit? So, any PC with STR 10 or better can jump it without issue and never worry about falling in and taking damage despite it being 100' deep... Hardly any point in having it there, that being the case.

I use 10-foot-wide pits quite a lot, frequently with rubble, skulls, or the like on either side of them so that some attempts to jump over it may result in falling prone. Make it slippery and they might slide right into the pit. As well, sometimes you will get a group that has one or even two PCs with Strength less than 10 and this ends up separating a party for a time which can be challenging for them in a fight. Judging the difficulty of a 10-foot pit in a challenge really requires putting them in more dynamic context than you are suggesting here and certainly doesn't require an ability check to be interesting.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

If only the advice was better... then I might actually listen to it.
The game is too riddled with issues for me to really enjoy it as is, hence why I changed my handle to 6ENow!

If you really don’t like 5e and you have already made up your mind that advice given here is bad, why bother wasting your time with a 5e thread?

Hope you find the game that better suits your tastes while you wait for 6e to come around.

For me, I’ll continue listening here to improve my 5e experience.

 

[iserith]

If you really don’t like 5e and you have already made up your mind that advice given here is bad, why bother wasting your time with a 5e thread?

Hope you find the game that better suits your tastes while you wait for 6e to come around.

For me, I’ll continue listening here to improve my 5e experience.

I think a lot of discontent with a particular system is that people want to run a game a certain way and the system fights them or otherwise doesn't support their vision. Personally, I try to understand the system then build a game around that. As a result, I'm rarely disappointed because, not surprisingly, everything just works.

 

[Nebulous]

The game is too riddled with issues for me to really enjoy it as is, hence why I changed my handle to 6ENow!

Oh jeez, lol, I didn't even notice the handle really. Have you followed any of Morrus's Advanced 5e stuff?

 

[Imaculata]

I don't even play 5e, but I understand and respect what the rules are trying to do. Simplifying climbing and jumping to just movement, are great design in my opinion.

I run 3.5 myself, which is very check heavy. But I honestly think these are good 5e rules.

 

[Nebulous]

I don't even play 5e, but I understand and respect what the rules are trying to do. Simplifying climbing and jumping to just movement, are great design in my opinion.

I run 3.5 myself, which is very check heavy. But I honestly think these are good 5e rules.

And I do think a lot of any confusion comes down to that, people who played 3e and 5e and they're KINDA pretty similar but not exactly, and everything starts to blur.

 

[Hriston]

No, it isn't the same at all.

Sure it is. It’s calling for a check to simply use the character’s movement without anything about the situation that makes the movement more difficult.

Depends on how far the swim is... 20 feet? 20 miles? Just like climbing distance... As others have said, if you don't like making a STR (Athletics) doing CON (Athletics) works as well.

No, it doesn’t. It depends on what the swimming conditions are like or if there’s a creature or other obstacle interfering with your swimming, things of that nature. Also, 20 miles is too far to swim in an eight hour day, so then you’re making Con saves versus exhaustion.

Which is, of course, your prerogative. Without taking the time to reference the examples, I couldn't tell you if that is a factor or not.

I’m saying that if it’s not described in the module, it’s the DM’s job to describe sheer walls or something similar if they want to make climbing up this wall a challenge that justifies using the listed DC in the adventure.

 

[Xetheral]

Quick note on jumping: PHB 175 explicitly lists "you try to jump an unusually long distance" in the examples for Strength (Athletics) checks. So if a PC tried to jump farther than their Strength score in feet it would definitely be within the rules for the DM to call for a Strength (Athletics) check.