D&D (2024) Auto-succeed/fail on ability checks

[Bill Zebub]

Like people read the DMG. They've been running games for decades. What could the DMG possibly tell them about running this specific version,using the rules as intended and utilizing the interconnected systems in play to create a better experience for everyone. Pshaw.

That’s because EVERYBODY KNOWS the WotC design team is just a bunch of corporate hacks who couldn’t design their way off of a blank battlemat. They couldn’t possibly have written anything useful.

 

[Lanefan]

I think knowledge checks should not be binary pass/fail but a cascade of "what is widely known" = Easy DC, "what the well informed would know", and so on.

Or just ignore the idea of a hard-set DC and simply have it be a sliding scale: the higher you roll, the more you know, to the limit (soft-set by the DM) of what you could possibly know given the situation.

Edit: and I now see I'm only about the sixth poster to suggest this...

 

[Maxperson]

If you're referring to the 5E DMG's The Role of Dice section, perhaps particularly Multiple Ability Checks, that absolutely doesn't do what's being asked for. But I don't have page numbers so maybe it's something else?

I'm not looking at the DMG at the moment, but he might be referring to succeed at a cost if you miss by a few points.

 

[Smackpixi]

Sometimes an action that's possible for one character is impossible for another.

That was the old way, but I’m saying the new 20 rule means that something that’s possible for one character is now at least a 20 role possible for all. Unless they clarify, that’s what the rule means. Rollable for one is a rollable check, so possible for all. You don’t have to play that way, but that’s what I think they’re saying. Maybe only one party member can lift a thing over 9ft, but all could get lucky and toss it that high.

 

[Bill Zebub]

That was the old way, but I’m saying the new 20 rule means that something that’s possible for one character is now at least a 20 role possible for all. Unless they clarify, that’s what the rule means. Rollable for one is a rollable check, so possible for all. You don’t have to play that way, but that’s what I think they’re saying. Maybe only one party member can lift a thing over 9ft, but all could get lucky and toss it that high.

In 5e, players don’t get to choose what to roll on. They describe what their characters are doing, or trying to do, and if the DM wants a dice roll to help figure out the result, they may ask for it.

So, no, the new rule absolutely does not mean what you say it does.

 

[Smackpixi]

In 5e, players don’t get to choose what to roll on. They describe what their characters are doing, or trying to do, and if the DM wants a dice roll to help figure out the result, they may ask for it.

So, no, the new rule absolutely does not mean what you say it does.

I’m not saying that’s changed. DM always decides what’s rollable and when rolls are needed. But in the past, if a thing is checkable, and the DC check is 25, and the character has only a +2, you say no roll, impossible. Now it’s a roll cause a 20 will succeed. If you don’t wanna do that, fine, but that seems to be the rule

 

[Bill Zebub]

I’m not saying that’s changed. DM always decides what’s rollable and when rolls are needed. But in the past, if a thing is checkable, and the DC check is 25, and the character has only a +2, you say no roll, impossible. Now it’s a roll cause a 20 will succeed. If you don’t wanna do that, fine, but that seems to be the rule

By "in the past" do you mean in previous editions of D&D?

 

[Smackpixi]

By "in the past" do you mean in previous editions of D&D?

No, I mean rules now, in the past being the present before 1DnD

 

[Cold Iron Bound]

I’m not saying that’s changed. DM always decides what’s rollable and when rolls are needed. But in the past, if a thing is checkable, and the DC check is 25, and the character has only a +2, you say no roll, impossible. Now it’s a roll cause a 20 will succeed. If you don’t wanna do that, fine, but that seems to be the rule

Yep, it now works the same way as combat, where a roll of 20 will hit even if your bonus isn't enough to bring it up to the AC. The effect, in conjunction with DM judgment, is to remove any instances of rolling needlessly.

 

[Parmandur]

No, I mean rules now, in the past being the present before 1DnD

In 5E, if the character cannot do something in the fiction...they can't roll, no matter the DC.