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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Saeviomagy" data-source="post: 7248319" data-attributes="member: 5890">It might be if that was the chance of success for Joe average. Or an apprentice. Or even a typical trained professional.But that's actually the chance of success for only 3 character classes in the game, in their double-specialties, for the most naturally talented individuals of specific races who are known to be good at such things.Most characters who are supposed to be 'good' at the task in question will fail 20% of the time. And again - that's for one of roughly 4 things that a talented individual of a specific race does well.Satyrn's answer goes some of the way to helping with that... simply renaming the difficulties helps somewhat. Not entirely, because that same "tricky" task can be done by the untalented, untrained peasant 50% of the time, but it definitely helps.Personally I don't see much of a problem with the 'low chance of failure = 5%' granularity issue - that sort of discernment gets lost in the noise. It would be incredibly hard for someone who didn't know the mechanics being used to conclusively identify the difference between a 1% granularity and a 5% granularity during a typical game.5e sort of breaks that too - automatic success becomes something the DM decides, not something the numbers indicate. The DM ruling automatic success or failure becomes crucial to the skill system not being ridiculous, and the game itself gives no guidance as to when those rulings should be made. Hence arguments about things like knowledge checks (where the stupid barbarian with no proficiency in arcana "has" to be banned from attempting the check, because his chance of success on a moderate check is still pretty good compared with the high-intelligence, trained wizard).I disagree and so does the DMG.The game isn't a one-man show, and I am not infallible. Accepting some player input makes for a less confrontational and all-round better game in my experience.</blockquote>

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