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A traditionalist at heart, a NEW mechanic I desperately want from 5e.
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<blockquote data-quote="Abstruse" data-source="post: 5953148" data-attributes="member: 6669048"><p>That's where the various knowledge checks come in. It's less "I sense a strong power level...IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAND!!" and more "I've been around the block enough times and fought enough enemies and traded enough stories to know that this guy's going to be pretty tough/a pushover/whatever". You may never have run into a hook horror before, but you might have heard a tale from your master about fighting one, or talk in a tavern with another adventurer years ago. Or something like a dragon, you might be able to tell by the coloration and size of its scales how old it is.</p><p></p><p>If you read a lot of action-oriented fiction (I've run into it a lot in hardboiled mysteries), a strong fighter being able to pick out another strong fighter by the way he holds himself is a strong trope that's been going on for ages. "The thugs were green. I could see the fear and uncertainty in their eyes when I wasn't intimidated. Their boss in the back, though, he was unfazed. He seemed to be looking at nothing but seeing everything, and there wasn't a wasted movement in every action he performed."</p><p></p><p>So making a knowledge check to get a basic idea of how tough something is fits well with both those tropes. Being able to quickly assess an opponent should be something every adventurer learns how to do very early in their career for survival's sake if nothing else.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Abstruse, post: 5953148, member: 6669048"] That's where the various knowledge checks come in. It's less "I sense a strong power level...IT'S OVER NINE THOUSAND!!" and more "I've been around the block enough times and fought enough enemies and traded enough stories to know that this guy's going to be pretty tough/a pushover/whatever". You may never have run into a hook horror before, but you might have heard a tale from your master about fighting one, or talk in a tavern with another adventurer years ago. Or something like a dragon, you might be able to tell by the coloration and size of its scales how old it is. If you read a lot of action-oriented fiction (I've run into it a lot in hardboiled mysteries), a strong fighter being able to pick out another strong fighter by the way he holds himself is a strong trope that's been going on for ages. "The thugs were green. I could see the fear and uncertainty in their eyes when I wasn't intimidated. Their boss in the back, though, he was unfazed. He seemed to be looking at nothing but seeing everything, and there wasn't a wasted movement in every action he performed." So making a knowledge check to get a basic idea of how tough something is fits well with both those tropes. Being able to quickly assess an opponent should be something every adventurer learns how to do very early in their career for survival's sake if nothing else. [/QUOTE]
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A traditionalist at heart, a NEW mechanic I desperately want from 5e.
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