D&D General Arcanists Without Spell Slots

[Horwath]

Also one thing that I find problematic about skill checks is the "d20".
It is simply too unreliable.

attacks and saves are OK in general as across the party and whole combat there is 50-100 rolls for them, so that evens out a little, but when the whole encounter rides on 1 roll, maybe 2 at best, it just does not work as intended.

so to narrow the gap, there is 2 options:

1. replace d20 with 3d6. that forces most of the rolls into 8-13 range, 68% of the time, rather than 30% as it is on d20
this might also cause to narrow the DC spread later on
instead of DC increase of 10,15,20,25,30,35,40, there would be: 10,15,18,21,24,27,30

2. Built in reliable talent in proficiency/expertise.
IE:
proficiency, min d20 roll is 5,
expertise, mid d20 roll is 8,
proficiency+reliable talent, min d20 roll is 10,
expertise+reliable talent, min d20 roll is 12,

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Also one thing that I find problematic about skill checks is the "d20".
It is simply too unreliable.

attacks and saves are OK in general

Yes, that's something that is bothering me a lot, too. Sometimes, 1-20 is not enough range, but often, a range of 1-20 (with even distribution) really feels like too much and overriding the relevance of the skill proficiency bonus.

With 3d6 as alternative it should be noted that modifiers can be a lot more powerful then they would seem for a d20, even if the range of numbers you can get is very similar, the very same non-linear distribution we want also means a +2 can have a lot more impact then you'd expect.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Also one thing that I find problematic about skill checks is the "d20".
It is simply too unreliable.

attacks and saves are OK in general as across the party and whole combat there is 50-100 rolls for them, so that evens out a little, but when the whole encounter rides on 1 roll, maybe 2 at best, it just does not work as intended.

so to narrow the gap, there is 2 options:

1. replace d20 with 3d6. that forces most of the rolls into 8-13 range, 68% of the time, rather than 30% as it is on d20
this might also cause to narrow the DC spread later on
instead of DC increase of 10,15,20,25,30,35,40, there would be: 10,15,18,21,24,27,30

2. Built in reliable talent in proficiency/expertise.
IE:
proficiency, min d20 roll is 5,
expertise, mid d20 roll is 8,
proficiency+reliable talent, min d20 roll is 10,
expertise+reliable talent, min d20 roll is 12,

Option 3: success ladder instead of binary results.