Houserule - Reroll instead of bonus

Szatany

First Post
I have an idea for a houserule but I want your input first.
Under this rule magic items that grant bonuses to skill checks would instead allow to re-roll natural rolls equal to their bonus.
For example, a Nature +2 item would not grant +2 to Nature, but instead allow to re-roll any Nature check if you roll a natural 1 or 2.

Maybe this could be extended to attack and defenses bonuses but I have no idea how.

The rationale behind this idea is that magic items should be something more special than bland bonuses. Re-rolling is fairly unique among player abilities, bonuses are plentiful. I'm mainly trying to change flavor, possibly not altering result averages if possible.
 

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I have an idea for a houserule but I want your input first.
Under this rule magic items that grant bonuses to skill checks would instead allow to re-roll natural rolls equal to their bonus.
For example, a Nature +2 item would not grant +2 to Nature, but instead allow to re-roll any Nature check if you roll a natural 1 or 2.

Maybe this could be extended to attack and defenses bonuses but I have no idea how.

The rationale behind this idea is that magic items should be something more special than bland bonuses. Re-rolling is fairly unique among player abilities, bonuses are plentiful. I'm mainly trying to change flavor, possibly not altering result averages if possible.

Hmmmm....

Let's see. +2 to a D20 roll means you roll a 3 to 22. Min 3, Max 22, average: 12.5.

Re-roll 1-2. Min 3, Max 20, average: 11.5.

No thanks, I'll take the +2 to the roll anyday.

-- Hirahito
 

As someone pointed out in another thread, this house rule is a bad idea because of the number of possible re-rolls with high bonuses. Back to workshop.
 



Given that I really dislike the idea of bonus to skill items anyways, I'd definitely be up for a replacement. Why not just 1/enc reroll or set things to a minimum kinda like that Wood Elf Agility power.

So, a +2 to a skill might say that if you roll between a 2 and 4, it counts as a 5. Or just flat out set the minimum to 3 or 4.
 

The use of bonuses allows the characters to have a better chance of getting to the DCs that are recommended with the game design. Changing this would be a change in the foundation of how DCs are set.
 


The use of bonuses allows the characters to have a better chance of getting to the DCs that are recommended with the game design. Changing this would be a change in the foundation of how DCs are set.

Those DCs are likely not factoring in a bonus from items as most characters won't have them - at higher levels, in fact, the bonus from an item (if you have it) probably makes you automake most or all skill checks. :(

Certainly the new skill challenge numbers break under adding a +5 or +6 further, anyways.
 

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