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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Can you retry a failed skill check? How long?
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<blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 9700258" data-attributes="member: 3400"><p>I don't really get the idea that trying again removes any real challenge. It just changes the terms a bit. Using your example above, if you can't pick the lock you have to try something else - like breaking down the door. Is that really a different challenge in any significant way? In both cases, you're working on getting through the door, each takes time and risks being discovered by wandering monsters or alerting the monsters behind the door. So if the door is openable by brute force - either rolling more than once to open the lock or bashing down the door with an axe - is the real challenge actually removed or is it just that the descriptive details have changed?</p><p>The worst effect of "fail one and done" type rolls, as I see it, is the tendency for them to just throw up blocks, particularly for the skill-oriented rather than magical-oriented PC. You fail Plan A (opening the lock) with a bad roll, you fail Plan B (forcing open the door) with a bad roll, you fail Plan C (having a knock spell, but that was spent on the last door where the A and B rolls were failed). So you just hope like hell that there was nothing important behind that door because you ain't gettin' in.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="billd91, post: 9700258, member: 3400"] I don't really get the idea that trying again removes any real challenge. It just changes the terms a bit. Using your example above, if you can't pick the lock you have to try something else - like breaking down the door. Is that really a different challenge in any significant way? In both cases, you're working on getting through the door, each takes time and risks being discovered by wandering monsters or alerting the monsters behind the door. So if the door is openable by brute force - either rolling more than once to open the lock or bashing down the door with an axe - is the real challenge actually removed or is it just that the descriptive details have changed? The worst effect of "fail one and done" type rolls, as I see it, is the tendency for them to just throw up blocks, particularly for the skill-oriented rather than magical-oriented PC. You fail Plan A (opening the lock) with a bad roll, you fail Plan B (forcing open the door) with a bad roll, you fail Plan C (having a knock spell, but that was spent on the last door where the A and B rolls were failed). So you just hope like hell that there was nothing important behind that door because you ain't gettin' in. [/QUOTE]
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Can you retry a failed skill check? How long?
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