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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kerrick" data-source="post: 4552424" data-attributes="member: 4722">d20 is a great system, but one place where it falls apart very quickly is the skills. The PHB states that DC 10 is average, DC 15 tough, DC 20 challenging, DC 25 formidable, DC 30 heroic, and DC 40 nearly impossible... but your average L10 PC can make a DC 30 check. WTF? After L15, DCs become more or less meaningless, unless it's a cross-class skill (in which case you probably can't make it at all, since the DCs are scaled for PCs with high scores). I came up with this idea when I was reading another thread about spell resistance, of all things. The OP had proposed an idea whereby SR was a set value (5, 9, 13, 17, or 21), and the caster level check was a simple 1d20+modifiers (Spell Penetration, etc.) - no caster level. So I thought, why not apply this to skills?The result is the Rule of 3. It's really rather simple; it goes something like this:Calculate your skills as normal, but divide the end total by 3. This is your effective total, and this is what you use for skill checks.Let's say we've got Frank the L1 halfling rogue. Under the 3.5 (or Pathfinder) rules, he has a Climb score of 8: 4 (max ranks) + 2 (Str) + 2 (racial). He could make a DC 10 check 95% of the time (failure only on a 1), a DC 15 65% of the time (7 or better on the die), and a DC 20 40% of the time (12 or better). He could even make a DC 25 check (overhang or ceiling with handholds but no footholds) a whopping 10% of the time (18 or better on the die) - at level 1.Under the Rule of 3, his score would be 2. Suddenly, that DC 15 check looks pretty daunting - he would succeed only 35% of the time! The DC 20 check? Pfft - good luck; he could succeed only 10% of the time. The DC 25 check is impossible, as it should be for a L1 PC.Using my own PCs as a baseline, I figure a PCs' skill totals will be roughly half their class level (for single-classed PCs; multiclasses will be 1/3 to 1/2, depending on class choices). This means that a L10 PC can make a DC 10 check 75% of the time (5+ on the die); a DC 15 check 50% of the time; and a DC 20 25% of the time.As you increase in levels, the curve flattens out - it becomes harder to achieve really high DCs: a L40, for example, could make a DC 40 check 5% of the time (again assuming skill total = half of class level; at epic, it might be closer to 2/3, so 30% of the time). This means that you can effectively put a cap on how high you want DCs to scale (I'd recommend 40 - there's no real need to go any higher). I haven't come up with a hard and fast method of converting high-level DCs to Rule of 3, but I'm thinking something like DC 30-45, you reduce it by 1/8; 46-60 by 1/4, and after that by 1/3.It also means that skill checks that oppose level checks (Bluff for feint, e.g.) aren't automatically assured of success. Concentration checks? Better hope you roll well, 'cause your epic mage might still blow it.</blockquote>

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