Humorous descriptions for skill failures/successes

[StupidSmurf]

I think a lot of people play with a "house-rule" on auto failure/success on skill checks. We play that way...I think it's more fun. There's always a chance you'll screw up, and it's more fun that way!

Agreed. That's what we do in my campaign as well!

 

[Mark CMG]

Rolled a "1" on a Diplomacy check to improve the attitude of the mayor's daughter, who we had just rescued from captivity. We speculated that I tried to break the ice by telling a dirty joke about her mother, who had just died recently.

Oh my! That would be critical!

 

[RuminDange]

We also play with the variant exploding d20 rule. Roll a 1, roll again and subtract 20, keep rolling if you keep getting a 1. Just the opposite for rolling a 20. This can has led to some very low and very high skill checks, attack rolls, saves etc. This keeps the problems of "I got a 1 and failed even though I got 20 ranks, but buddy with no ranks rolled a 20 and succeeded" from happening and makes things a little more variable. Although I am little more lax on when one can take 10 on a skill.


RD

 

[LordBOB]

1 on initative - - - -

" Your arm cramps up as you reach for your sword and you fall down with arm spasms "

1 on spot---

" you see the back side of your party members"

20 on spot-----

"the ruby red gems with small pearls 20 yards in front of you is cracked on the back side"

 

[Percivellian]

Rolled a "1" on a Diplomacy check to improve the attitude of the mayor's daughter, who we had just rescued from captivity. We speculated that I tried to break the ice by telling a dirty joke about her mother, who had just died recently.

In one game I DMed, one of the PCs was tailing a rival, and somehow during this process, to avoid having an alley cat give him away, he knocked it unconscious and stuffed it into his pants (no noise, no evidence, no... problem?). Anyway, he ended up sneaking into this rival's room, but then heard footsteps coming up to the room. A hasty hide check proved to be less than spectacular (I can't remember the exact roll), but I allowed him to dive under the bed and out of sight. However, the cat soon regained consciousness and clawed his way out of his pants Busted.

 

[Verequus]

So at one point in a game I ask the DM if I could make a spot check to find some sneaky NPCs who were trying to sneak away into the forest. The DM says: "Sure but it'll have to be really good." I roll a natural 3 and everyone around the table starts chuckling until I total up my modifiers and say: "32". It was more fun seeing their surprised faces than actually finding the NPCs.

How do you get that a +29 modifier at 8th level? My reverse engineering says 11 ranks, +5 from Skill Focus and +2/+2-feats and +4 for a high attribute score. But that leaves about +9 unexplained.

 

[TracerBullet42]

It's ironic how some folks complain about how a natural 1/20 on attacks and saves is an auto fail/success, and yet some people want the natural 1/20 rule to also apply to skills.

Quasqueton

For the record, you will NEVER hear me complain about the auto success/failure on attack rolls, either. I like that there's always a small chance for success/failure, no matter what.

 

[StupidSmurf]

For the record, you will NEVER hear me complain about the auto success/failure on attack rolls, either. I like that there's always a small chance for success/failure, no matter what.

Seconded!

 

[Storm Raven]

How do you get that a +29 modifier at 8th level? My reverse engineering says 11 ranks, +5 from Skill Focus and +2/+2-feats and +4 for a high attribute score. But that leaves about +9 unexplained.

Well, if he's an elf, that's another +2. He could be wearing a set of eyes of the eagle, giving him anohter +5. I suppose he could have another +2/+2 feat that applies to the Spot skill from some secondary source. That would give him the extra +9.

 

[domino]

Well, if he's an elf, that's another +2. He could be wearing a set of eyes of the eagle, giving him anohter +5. I suppose he could have another +2/+2 feat that applies to the Spot skill from some secondary source. That would give him the extra +9.

Don't forget, he said he was shifted into an animal form. The Hawk, for instance, gets a +8 racial bonus to spot checks.