Manbearcat
Legend
In the early 5e era of 2014-spring 2017 when I was posting on the 5e forums, Success With Complication and Fail Forward were enormously controversial (just like they were in the 4e era).
In that same era, pretty much no one was using the Social Interaction conflict mechanics (when I posted about this on the 5e forums, virtually no one even had a clue what I was talking about!), people were sparingly using IBFTs and Inspiration, and the actual Player Fiat deployment of Background Traits was enormously controversial.
I have no idea if any/all of those things are overturned at this point.
What I'm specifically curious about is (a) if people are using either of the following when they're GMing action resolution in 5e and (b) some relevant info about that (see questions at bottom). As below:
FAIL FORWARD
D&D 5e Basic PDF 61
If the total equals or exceeds the DC, the ability check is a success—the creature overcomes the challenge at hand. Otherwise, it’s a failure, which means the character or monster makes no progress toward the objective or makes progress combined with a setback determined by the DM.
SUCCESS WITH COMPLICATION (CALLED "COST" IN DMG)
D&D 5e DMG 242
Failure can be tough, but the agony is compounded when a character fails by the barest margin. When a character fails a roll by only 1 or 2, you can allow the character to succeed at the cost of a complication or hindrance.
It would be great if people voting could drop a quick post as well, answering a few questions:
1) Why do you use it if you do or why do you not use it if you do not?
2) Is this the first game you've used this GMing technique or did you use it in the past in other games (and when did you first use it)?
3) If you use SWC or FF, do you use it on every instance of action resolution or only certain instances of action resolution?
4) If you only use SWC or FF on certain instances of action resolution, what principles/reasoning underwrite your decision to use it here, but not use it there.
Finally, if you have a quick play excerpt of when you chose to apply it and then when you chose to not apply it, they may help further clarify things.
Appreciate it.
In that same era, pretty much no one was using the Social Interaction conflict mechanics (when I posted about this on the 5e forums, virtually no one even had a clue what I was talking about!), people were sparingly using IBFTs and Inspiration, and the actual Player Fiat deployment of Background Traits was enormously controversial.
I have no idea if any/all of those things are overturned at this point.
What I'm specifically curious about is (a) if people are using either of the following when they're GMing action resolution in 5e and (b) some relevant info about that (see questions at bottom). As below:
FAIL FORWARD
D&D 5e Basic PDF 61
If the total equals or exceeds the DC, the ability check is a success—the creature overcomes the challenge at hand. Otherwise, it’s a failure, which means the character or monster makes no progress toward the objective or makes progress combined with a setback determined by the DM.
SUCCESS WITH COMPLICATION (CALLED "COST" IN DMG)
D&D 5e DMG 242
Failure can be tough, but the agony is compounded when a character fails by the barest margin. When a character fails a roll by only 1 or 2, you can allow the character to succeed at the cost of a complication or hindrance.
It would be great if people voting could drop a quick post as well, answering a few questions:
1) Why do you use it if you do or why do you not use it if you do not?
2) Is this the first game you've used this GMing technique or did you use it in the past in other games (and when did you first use it)?
3) If you use SWC or FF, do you use it on every instance of action resolution or only certain instances of action resolution?
4) If you only use SWC or FF on certain instances of action resolution, what principles/reasoning underwrite your decision to use it here, but not use it there.
Finally, if you have a quick play excerpt of when you chose to apply it and then when you chose to not apply it, they may help further clarify things.
Appreciate it.