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<blockquote data-quote="iserith" data-source="post: 7580560" data-attributes="member: 97077">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.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="iserith, post: 7580560, member: 97077"] 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. [/QUOTE]

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