Craft/Profession

[Blackeagle]

I'd be bothered by it if he couldn't do Professor stuff, because the game designers left that out.

"OK, you're at the Ancient Mayan Ruins. There's some writing on the wall in Ancient Mayan."
"I read it."
"Cool, what's your Decipher Ancient Mayan skill?"
"I don't have that. I have 'Hit Nazi', 'Use Whip', 'Find Stunt Double'..."
"Well, what's your Mayan History? Anthropology? Archeaology?"
"They're not on here. I guess the game designers thought they were boring or something."
"Hey, I rolled a 20, and I have an int bonus of +5! I read it!"
"You're the scrappy sidekick with no training!"
"So? I have the same Int bonus than he does, so, using the principle of 'just roll for it, already', I did better. I guess I know Ancient Mayan!"
"Fine...it says 'Look out, you're about to be attacked.'"

Which is why the designers put the History skill in the game. Because unlike Craft(Brewmaking) they thought it would be useful for adventuring.

 

[Spenser]

... what if you need to win a brewing contest, facing off against multiple NPC masters of the craft? ...

That is why you make it a Skill Challenge, to make it more interesting actually you could have different Skills (or Ability) Rolls for different people competing.

So, for example:

One person uses History because all he knows is from a passed down recipe.

One uses Nature to pick out the best ingredients and to measure how good it is through natural means.

One uses Arcana, because he is a Wizard and does it magically.

One uses Religion, since well he is a Dwarf

There is still randomness with this, in that there are still rolls, and how well they are in each skill matters, and you the DM would also deem the amount of success/failures in the Skill Challenge by how good each person is, ie: their background in brewing.

I'm coming back to this thread very very late (I went to bed shortly after making my post on pg 3), but I just wanted to say that okay, turning this into a full-fledged skill challenge makes me happy. Storywise, our dwarf will definitely lose the brewing contest... *unless* he gets help from his friends.

Because... <breaks out into song> That's what friends are fooorrr!

Okay, I'll stop now.

 

[LostSoul]

I'd be bothered by it if he couldn't do Professor stuff, because the game designers left that out.

"OK, you're at the Ancient Mayan Ruins. There's some writing on the wall in Ancient Mayan."
"I read it."
"Cool, what's your Decipher Ancient Mayan skill?"
"I don't have that. I have 'Hit Nazi', 'Use Whip', 'Find Stunt Double'..."
"Well, what's your Mayan History? Anthropology? Archeaology?"

If the designers left it out, what's "Decipher Anicent Mayan" doing in the game?

If it's there, why doesn't a professor have it?

If it's not there, why are you calling for a roll at all? He's a professor, he can do professor stuff.

I guess I missed your point.

 

[PeterWeller]

If the designers left it out, what's "Decipher Anicent Mayan" doing in the game?

If it's there, why doesn't a professor have it?

If it's not there, why are you calling for a roll at all? He's a professor, he can do professor stuff.

I guess I missed your point.

His point is the same fallacy that has led this thread to continue for eleven pages: namely, if D&D doesn't have rules for something, then you can't resolve it, and therefor you can't do it.

It doesn't help that his example ignores the fact that the History skill covers that situation very well, and that Indy would be trained and focused in that skill.

 

[Grazzt]

His point is the same fallacy that has led this thread to continue for eleven pages: namely, if D&D doesn't have rules for something, then you can't resolve it, and therefor you can't do it.

How'd we ever manage to make it through all the editions of D&D and AD&D prior to 3.x this way? I feel so let down now...

 

[Lizard]

How'd we ever manage to make it through all the editions of D&D and AD&D prior to 3.x this way? I feel so let down now...

I don't know about you, but "we" played GURPS and Hero, mostly.