Thanks guys, we'll see what happens.
Hard to say which would be more powerful - stacking or 2 rolls. Based on my feats and ability scores, I now have a +16 to my bardic knowledge (at 4th level) and a +15 to my loremaster knowledge (at 3rd level).
At the current level, my odds of success with two rolls at a target number of 30 is: 47.5% If the two classes stacked, my chance for success at a 30 would be: 45%
I plan to raise my int twice more, and get an additional enhance bonus of +4 - so that's another +3 to the bonus of each. Then I have another 7 levels of loremaster, so the final totals at 20th level without tomes or wished ability scores would be +19 for bardic and +25 for Loremaster. So on a 5 or higher or a 11 or higher I would pass the roll at it's stated max in the PHB. Works out to be roughly 87.5% probability of positive.
Now if the levels stacked, I get one roll, at a +29 (+25 for loremaster and +4 for bard levels) which results in a 95% probability of being positive. Hmmm....
The results flip if I can find a way to get my bard AND loremaster up above +27. At +29 there is a 99.75% probability of being positive.
I ran a bunch of different level and number combinations through these calculations and found that in most cases the probability of the level stacking succeeding was higher than the two rolls, until the single roll reached it's maximum probability of success at 95% (failure on a 1).
Bottom line, the differences were very slight, and I think the rolls should be kept separate because a DM can say "Your bardic knowledge would not really apply here, but your loremaster would" in special situations (outer planar stuff, arcane writings, stuff from ANCIENT prehistoric tomes, etc.) and vice versa. Pop culture and myths of the common folk might not be known by a lore master. Anyway, food for thought.
Hard to say which would be more powerful - stacking or 2 rolls. Based on my feats and ability scores, I now have a +16 to my bardic knowledge (at 4th level) and a +15 to my loremaster knowledge (at 3rd level).
At the current level, my odds of success with two rolls at a target number of 30 is: 47.5% If the two classes stacked, my chance for success at a 30 would be: 45%
I plan to raise my int twice more, and get an additional enhance bonus of +4 - so that's another +3 to the bonus of each. Then I have another 7 levels of loremaster, so the final totals at 20th level without tomes or wished ability scores would be +19 for bardic and +25 for Loremaster. So on a 5 or higher or a 11 or higher I would pass the roll at it's stated max in the PHB. Works out to be roughly 87.5% probability of positive.
Now if the levels stacked, I get one roll, at a +29 (+25 for loremaster and +4 for bard levels) which results in a 95% probability of being positive. Hmmm....
The results flip if I can find a way to get my bard AND loremaster up above +27. At +29 there is a 99.75% probability of being positive.
I ran a bunch of different level and number combinations through these calculations and found that in most cases the probability of the level stacking succeeding was higher than the two rolls, until the single roll reached it's maximum probability of success at 95% (failure on a 1).
Bottom line, the differences were very slight, and I think the rolls should be kept separate because a DM can say "Your bardic knowledge would not really apply here, but your loremaster would" in special situations (outer planar stuff, arcane writings, stuff from ANCIENT prehistoric tomes, etc.) and vice versa. Pop culture and myths of the common folk might not be known by a lore master. Anyway, food for thought.
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