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<blockquote data-quote="Spatula" data-source="post: 4672968" data-attributes="member: 2198">The skill DCs in 4e fall in a predictable range - the players can interact with them by design.&nbsp; I'm personally of the opinion that the errata'd DC values are too low, but leaving that aside, at the extreme end of things (level 30), easy DCs are 19, moderate 28, hard 33.&nbsp; Your minimum bonus at that level is +15, putting any check within reach, although hard checks will require a lot of luck and/or help.&nbsp; Max bonus would be around +39 at the very extreme end (race bonus, skill focus, +6 skill item).* the downside of the errata'd DCs is that specialization isn't really rewarded - just being trained and involving your primary stat will put those DCs into near automatic success territory, which is why I think the DCs should be somewhat higher.&nbsp; But it's a question of what you're designing for - should an untrained character with no stat bonus have a chance of making a hard DC at level 30?&nbsp; I'm ok with saying no, but the WotC guys apparently felt differently.&nbsp; The bonus gap would be lessened greatly without the skill items, which provide a huge benefit at the upper end (+6) and don't exist for all skills.So the issue of there being a &quot;skill gap&quot; still exists, sure, but it's smaller and the DCs are designed around it (even though I disagree with their design priorities).&nbsp; Compare with 3e, where both the gap and the DCs are essentially unbound.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Spatula, post: 4672968, member: 2198"] The skill DCs in 4e fall in a predictable range - the players can interact with them by design. I'm personally of the opinion that the errata'd DC values are too low, but leaving that aside, at the extreme end of things (level 30), easy DCs are 19, moderate 28, hard 33. Your minimum bonus at that level is +15, putting any check within reach, although hard checks will require a lot of luck and/or help. Max bonus would be around +39 at the very extreme end (race bonus, skill focus, +6 skill item). * the downside of the errata'd DCs is that specialization isn't really rewarded - just being trained and involving your primary stat will put those DCs into near automatic success territory, which is why I think the DCs should be somewhat higher. But it's a question of what you're designing for - should an untrained character with no stat bonus have a chance of making a hard DC at level 30? I'm ok with saying no, but the WotC guys apparently felt differently. The bonus gap would be lessened greatly without the skill items, which provide a [I]huge[/I] benefit at the upper end (+6) and don't exist for all skills. So the issue of there being a "skill gap" still exists, sure, but it's smaller and the DCs are designed around it (even though I disagree with their design priorities). Compare with 3e, where both the gap and the DCs are essentially unbound. [/QUOTE]

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