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The GM could just say that but IMO it would all depend on just what's going on up there. If the friend is in combat then probably best to play out that combat round-by-round while the PC is trying to climb the cliff. Hell, maybe by the time you get up there your friend doesn't need saving any...

There is a fix to this, though 5e-by-RAW types sure wouldn't like it. If A's initiative is 15 and her declared action is to move, then attack, then duck for cover the fix is to roll to see how many initiative 'pips' each of those sub-actions takes. For example, it's set by her original...

Game of Thrones.

We do individual initiative on d6 without speed factor, rerolled each round, but each attack or shot gets its own initiative that can't be the same (i.e. if one of your attacks is on a '3' then none of your your other attack(s) that round can be on '3').

This is one of those oh-so-very-rare instances where I find myself agreeing with @pemerton. The way WotC-era initiative works is very much a stop-motion kind of thing; to the point where characters' movements in combat are much like mini-teleports rather than second-by-second motion. Also...

Indeed. Interesting, and also very sad: the rules are actively encouraging the players to metagame.

Turn-based combat without allowance for tied initiatives is the problem here. Our initiative system allows for simultaneous actions and it works well enough. A could kill B at the same time B kills A, which is impossible with WotC-style turn-based combat.

They don't have to like it. They just have to accept it as a possible consequence of failing in their attempt.

The important thing in the scene might be saving your friend but there's a major obstacle en route to arriving at said scene, namely the cliff you have to climb. Get past the cliff first, then we'll resolve what becomes of your friend. Those are all valid as lesser successes. None of them are...

In some ways yes, in other ways no. We did adopt the 3e idea that rules apply the same to PCs and NPCs alike, only long before 3e arrived and in fact well before 2e did. We kept that some species couldn't be some classes at all, but if you could be a class your species didn't stop you...

Except when nothing is in fact something. "Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom."

The moment you narrate they've arrived safely at their destination you've also just established that nothing of any significant danger occurred during that journey, meaning that any retconning they want to do is now under the umbrella of that safety you already established. This becomes...

This completely fails (sorry) to address my concerns about failure being turned into success. Remember, the task at hand that's being rolled for is to climb the cliff. That's it. Any concerns about anything at the top of the cliff have to wait to see if you even get there. The bolded...

They go all over the place; I was merely trying to posit an example of a situation where "nothing happens" is the most plausible result. Boring perhaps, but by no means a jerk move. Depending on the fiction already established, inflicting oen of these on the PCs' attempts might be much more -...

The raising of specific objections is the "enumerate why" piece, and it's the raising of those objections that tends to run smack into the unfavourable judgment of others.

Temporal linearity in play is important to me. And because of this I'm running aground all over the place right now in the game I'm running: most of the current party recently (in real-world time) got divinely blipped a year and a half backward in game-world time and are now having to take all...

Dropping weapon-speed and weapon-vs-armour-type outright is a trivially easy kitbash that really doesn't affect much else while making combat far more streamlined. A not-so-easy but still IMO very necessary kitbash is to re-do or even re-invent the initiative system. Another very easy one is...

Any edition that has White Plume Mountain, Castle Amber, and the two EX-series ones as official modules, while also having some of the whacked-out monsters in the three MMs, is already leaning well toward gonzo. It doesn't need much help from us. :)

The 1e Ranger is still the best Ranger, and it's not even close. 2e completely ruined the class and it has yet to recover. 1e Thieves weren't great at low levels but by high levels they really could rock pretty good; and they got to those high levels way faster than anyone else due to the...

The game is consistent but the tabletop-inch system is still a bloody pain. I went through the spell lists and converted everything to feet, listing separate ranges and-or AoE's for indoors and outdoors when needed, and I am - and my players are - much happier for it.