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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 7582335" data-attributes="member: 7006">I have run many, many games now over the years that have used the standard d20 for skill checks, and over time have grown more and more disillusioned with it.  Principally due to the fact that the d20 die roll produced way too large a variance for me, resulting in a PC's personal modifier having much less meaning in the grand scheme of results.  A PC with a +6 to a skill versus one with a +0 did not make a perceptional difference that often... when the +0 could roll 16s to 20s while the +6 would roll 3s, 5s, 6s etc.  The lack of a bell-curve meant modifiers had less import.As a result of this, I decided for my two new Eberron games that I just started this past fall that I was going to replace the d20 with a 2d10 system for skill checks-- roll 2d10 and add your modifier.  And due to the fact that this would now produce a bell-curve (bringing almost half the die rolls into the 9 to 13 range and very few at the extremes) a PC's ability modifier + proficiency would have a much greater impact.  Those that were all-in on certain skills (with high ability score, proficiency and/or Expertise) would notice it even more.I'm here to say that thus far I feel it has been working very well.  It hasn't caused any issues (other than it took a little while for players to remember to roll 2d10 rather than a d20), advantage/disadvantage has been fine (in both cases roll 3d10 and take either the highest/lowest two of the three dice), and even those abilities/spells that grant bonuses to skill checks have not made any outrageous impact.And in fact, I think it has made things easier for me to determine good DCs because the odds of reaching certain numbers has made them easier to say "Yeah, this check is difficult".  With an 11 being the middle of the bell-curve for a common person with no modifier (and thus my foundation to build off of) my DC chart looks like this:8 - Simple11 - Easy14 - Moderate17 - Difficult21 - Hard24 - Extreme27 - Nearly Impossible30 - SuperhumanKnowing that most skill modifiers for most PCs will fall in the -1 to +4 range (basically anything that isn't a high ability + proficiency modifier and/or Expertise)... the bell curve will usually give me rolls in the 9-13 range and thus produce most modified results between like 10 to 17.  Thus it's pretty cake to decide in the moment whether something is easy, moderate, or difficult... and the result of who should make or should not make these checks usually bear themselves out.  And the times when I decide something is really hard for anyone to make, I just pop the DC to the ones above 20, knowing that its only going to be the ones who either get exceedingly lucky on their die roll, or who have really focused themselves on that particular skill (due to the higher bonus from high ability modifier and proficiency/Expertise.)When I ask for a perception check, the elven rogue tends to be the one hitting the high numbers pretty consistently, whereas in the old days every single PC could be hitting DC 15s or 20s most of the time.  I can now set DCs that play into the strengths of their characters, knowing that the odds are in their favor to be the ones hitting them, not just every PC who happens to have a 1 in 20 chance of getting a nat 20.This system won't be for everyone obviously, but if anyone has been considering doing something like this and wanted confirmation that it *can* work... I'm here to say that yes, a 2d10 bell-curve for skill checks does not cause any undue problems over the d20 die roll system.  It works excellent in my opinion, and has resulted in those PCs who are geared towards certain skills to be perceptionally more successful more of the time at the table than those who aren't.  And it has made it more obvious to the players what the holes are in their skill roll-outs.  Which I feel has been a boon thus far for our tables.</blockquote>

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