D&D 5E How is Acrobatics used in your game?

[TaranTheWanderer]

As for attacking low-AC monsters, I ask for an attack roll if the monster is defending, which makes the outcome uncertain plus there's a meaningful consequence of failure (the monster goes on living).

The meaningful consequence of failing to Hep means your ally doesn’t get advantage and might not succeed in their attack and the monster goes on living. But we digress. The fact that you don’t need to roll means that skills get used less in combat then it could have potentially. I lament this but not enough to actually implement it in my games...probably.

 

[iserith]

The meaningful consequence of failing to Hep means your ally doesn’t get advantage and might not succeed in their attack and the monster goes on living. But we digress. The fact that you don’t need to roll means that skills get used less in combat then it could have potentially. I lament this but not enough to actually implement it in my games...probably.

My overall point is that Help action as it is is strictly superior than Help action with an ability check attached to it, when judging it in terms of effectiveness.

The players in my games make ability checks regularly in combat without changing the Help action. The DM just has to present situation where it's a possibility. Players shouldn't want to make ability checks, of course, but it happens when the outcome of their proposed task is uncertain and there's a meaningful consequence of failure. In just the last fight of my last session (which wasn't even particularly noteworthy in the context of the adventure), the players were making Dexterity checks to maintain balance while jumping into difficult terrain, Strength checks to climb a slippery natural rock column, Intelligence checks to recall what they knew about a strange shadowy spore spread across the cavern in which they were fighting, Dexterity checks to hide, and Strength checks to contest the poltergeists' telekinetic thrusts to knock them off a ledge.

All that to say: Want more ability checks as DM? Present more complicated situations.

 

[Yaarel]

My rogues use Acrobatics all the time!

Parkour, tumble, reducing falling damage, etc.

‘Parkour’ − meaning jumping and climbing − is Strength (Athletics) checks.

 

[Yaarel]

Heh, I hate to be so negative, but my personal experience with the socalled ‘Acrobatics’ skill has led me to despise the Acrobatics skill.

I delete Acrobatics from existence.

I use Athletics instead. For those rare occasions when Dexterity (Athletics) might make sense, that is fine.

 

[Horwath]

If a move requires both I would ask to roll 2d20, take highest and add lower of athletics/acrobatics bonuses.

 

[jgsugden]

Actively, whenever there is an argument it applies. Often, one PC may be looking to 'muscle' their way through a physical challenge with athletics while another will try to 'fnesse their way through with acrobatics. However, there are a umber of things that are clearly not appropriate for both muscle and finesse, such as maintaining balance, opening a stuck door, etc...

Passively, I use acrobatics to determine if checks are necessary for certain slippery conditions. If your 'passive acrobatics' is high enough to beat a DC, and you're in no hurry, Iallow PCs to bypass certain checks without making a roll. This only applies if they are profcient, etc...

 

[Yaarel]

However, there are a umber of things that are clearly not appropriate for both muscle and finesse, such as maintaining balance ...

In my view, I use Strength (Athletics) to run across a beam (as if ‘climb’), for the same reason I use Strength (Athletics) to aim a sword or throw something heavy.

Athletics necessarily includes gross motor skills, body coordination, and physical stunts such as jumping.

It seems to me, the early 1e decision to link Dexterity to balance screwed up all of the ability scores ever since. People who are master archers, who stand still and aim carefully, are never necessarily master gymnasts.

 

[Pickaxe]

Thanks for all of the helpful replies. I think one reason this bothered me was that Acrobatics really wasn’t very good for...acrobatics. I mean, a lot of that involves jumping before you get to the balancing and tumbling. I’m also thinking of the super-agile, bounce-off-all-the-walls rogue or assassin type. (The Moon Shadow Elves in The Dragon Prince are an example.) They would seem to be more likely to have Acrobatics than Athletics, but technically all the jumping is Athletics.

 

[iserith]

Thanks for all of the helpful replies. I think one reason this bothered me was that Acrobatics really wasn’t very good for...acrobatics. I mean, a lot of that involves jumping before you get to the balancing and tumbling. I’m also thinking of the super-agile, bounce-off-all-the-walls rogue or assassin type. (The Moon Shadow Elves in The Dragon Prince are an example.) They would seem to be more likely to have Acrobatics than Athletics, but technically all the jumping is Athletics.

Technically, the jumping is... no ability check at all, except in certain circumstances. (See PHB p. 182.) In my experience, DMs ask for way too many ability checks for jumping, climbing, and swimming when these things are factors of speed in D&D 5e. It often leads to PCs looking like chumps.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

Thanks for all of the helpful replies. I think one reason this bothered me was that Acrobatics really wasn’t very good for...acrobatics. I mean, a lot of that involves jumping before you get to the balancing and tumbling. I’m also thinking of the super-agile, bounce-off-all-the-walls rogue or assassin type. (The Moon Shadow Elves in The Dragon Prince are an example.) They would seem to be more likely to have Acrobatics than Athletics, but technically all the jumping is Athletics.

If you want to jump out across that ravine and land on the ledge across the other side, you'd use your strength score(in feet) to determine if you can even reach the ledge first. If you can reach it, the DM might call for an acrobatics check to land the jump and keep from slipping off the ledge and falling into the ravine.