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<blockquote data-quote="Mercule" data-source="post: 7019865" data-attributes="member: 5100">When there are two (or more) skills that could make sense for something, I generally give the players the choice of which to use, then narrate appropriately. It's pretty much the same thing as whether you want to Persuade or Intimidate someone to act a certain way: either one could get you the basic result that you want, but the implicit ripples differ. So, want to know about a planar being? Either Arcana or Religion could get you the answer, but might return slightly different details. Jump on top of a table? Either Acrobatics or Athletics works.I started doing this because some of the changes to monster resistances (e.g. changes to energy drain) gave me a chance to add back in some of the wonder that disappears after everyone at the table has played for a while. I didn't want to screw the players, though, especially when they had a smart Cleric and a smart Wizard. Unlike 3E, 5E doesn't have a tidy table that says &quot;these skills let you know about these types of monsters&quot;. I didn't really feel like stopping play to look it up, anyway. So, I just started saying, &quot;Roll Arcana or Religion, your call.&quot; Eventually, I just moved to &quot;Suggest a skill.&quot; You know what? Players are smart people and they sometimes think of interesting things. Sure, there are times I need to ask, &quot;and... just how to you figure that helps?&quot; But, they generally have a good hook. It's fun, which is a good trait for a game.As far as stacking bonuses: Nope. Wouldn't do it. Letting them pick one is enough of an advantage. If some really stunning combo came up, I'd probably give a +2 (maybe advantage), but it'd have to be real corner case. More likely, the whole thing would turn into an extended research and/or info sharing &quot;challenge&quot; where the players would start asking about questions that each previous check opened up. That's a lot more fun than just having a target number and regurgitating a list of answers based off that.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mercule, post: 7019865, member: 5100"] When there are two (or more) skills that could make sense for something, I generally give the players the choice of which to use, then narrate appropriately. It's pretty much the same thing as whether you want to Persuade or Intimidate someone to act a certain way: either one could get you the basic result that you want, but the implicit ripples differ. So, want to know about a planar being? Either Arcana or Religion could get you the answer, but might return slightly different details. Jump on top of a table? Either Acrobatics or Athletics works. I started doing this because some of the changes to monster resistances (e.g. changes to energy drain) gave me a chance to add back in some of the wonder that disappears after everyone at the table has played for a while. I didn't want to screw the players, though, especially when they had a smart Cleric and a smart Wizard. Unlike 3E, 5E doesn't have a tidy table that says "these skills let you know about these types of monsters". I didn't really feel like stopping play to look it up, anyway. So, I just started saying, "Roll Arcana or Religion, your call." Eventually, I just moved to "Suggest a skill." You know what? Players are smart people and they sometimes think of interesting things. Sure, there are times I need to ask, "and... just how to you figure that helps?" But, they generally have a good hook. It's fun, which is a good trait for a game. As far as stacking bonuses: Nope. Wouldn't do it. Letting them pick one is enough of an advantage. If some really stunning combo came up, I'd probably give a +2 (maybe advantage), but it'd have to be real corner case. More likely, the whole thing would turn into an extended research and/or info sharing "challenge" where the players would start asking about questions that each previous check opened up. That's a lot more fun than just having a target number and regurgitating a list of answers based off that. [/QUOTE]

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