Abolish the search skill

[candidus_cogitens]

It sounds crazy at first, but I think it would actually be a blessing for players who like to play rogues, and it would make the challenges of traps and treasure-seeking much more interesting.

Basically, it would work by just leaving it to the player to state specifically what he is looking for. "I look closely at the floor for any unevenness on the surface." "I slide my hand nice and easy over the stonework, feeling for any irregularities in texture." "I step to the side of the door, avoiding the space directly in front of it. Can I smell anything near the door?" "I scan the bookshelves for any titles having to do with arcana." This kind of approach allows the player to feel like genuinely roguish--rather than just someone who rolls dice.

Too often an encounter with a trap is just a matter of rolling a search check, a disable device check, and an open locks check. Obviously there is a reason that disable device and open locks have to be left to the dice--you can't really describe how you would go about picking a lock (unless you happen to know a great deal about that sort of thing); but its not necessarily the same for searching, as I have illustrated by the above examples of strategies that the players could take.

I haven't tried this yet in my campaign, so I would welcome any ideas you may have about how to refine it, or any complications you see.

 

[BlackStar]

I think something like that is an issue that is best used merged. I mean.. it is very hard to emmerse yourself so much in an enviornment someone else is describing to possible come up with all the things to look for without taking forever... But it'd be interesting.

Blackstar

 

[WSmith]

I wouldn't do away with it. However I would consider giving a player a bonus to his roll for describing in detail the methods used for searching.

 

[HellHound]

I think this will ofrce too much detail into game design.

For example...


"I slide my hand nice and easy over the stonework, feeling for any irregularities in texture"

if the trap is magical, it PROBABLY goes off from this... if it's a very small poison needle lodged between the stones (in the grout), what are the odds it has just been tagged? what are the odds it was spotted or not spotted.

The other thing it comes down to is that really, I know people who are good at searching and I know people (like myself) who suck at it. If I run my hand down the edge of the curtain, I am unlikely to notice the three pearls sewn into the hem, but someone else...

 

[Pyske]

One solution to this dilemma is to allow description to yield automatic success, but not automatic failure. In other words, if they say "I run my hand over the floor looking for irregularities." you could give them automatic success for a floor pressure plate, but still give them a roll for other traps (and paranoia).

Incidentally, I suppose this is also a possible solution to the "roleplay vs. social skill dice rolls" issue.

. . . . . . . -- Eric