D&D (2024) Inspiration From Nat 20 Will Bog Down The Game

[Bill Zebub]

I wish that was true there are youtube videos that say "I never did anything and look at how he listens"

Yeah I always believe stuff like that.

 

[pnewman]

We have fundamental differences in Gaming here which is probably why we view the impact of lots of inspiration differently.

When I set a DC I look at the definition chart and pick a number based on how I judge the task should be. If the task is hard it's a 15. Easy is a 5. The skills, powers, and other factors that the players have does not influence the number of the check at all.

Your process sounds like you are setting the DC by how hard you want it to be for your particular group to achieve it, ignoring the established definitions.

In other words, at your table the DC for Medium starts at 10 and escalates over time to account for character growth, whereas at my table Medium is 10 at 1st through 20th level.

I would find your method exhausting.

No, that's not what I meant. Medium is always a 10 but as the party increase in skill they will face fewer low DC challenges and more higher DC challenges. I do math ahead of time to estimate their chances, and then decide how many tests in this encounter will be DC 10, DC 15, DC 20, etc.
Example - The Rogue in my party has a +7 to Perception and, with "Guidance" for a further +2.5 on average will usually roll a 20 (10.5+7+2.5). Therefore if I want this test to have a 55% chance of success, if she stops to look, then 20 is the DC I will set for spotting that trap. When she fails to ask for "Guidance" and the Druid fails to offer it they are only hurting themselves.

 

[MarkB]

No, that's not what I meant. Medium is always a 10 but as the party increase in skill they will face fewer low DC challenges and more higher DC challenges. I do math ahead of time to estimate their chances, and then decide how many tests in this encounter will be DC 10, DC 15, DC 20, etc.
Example - The Rogue in my party has a +7 to Perception and, with "Guidance" for a further +2.5 on average will usually roll a 20 (10.5+7+2.5). Therefore if I want this test to have a 55% chance of success, if she stops to look, then 20 is the DC I will set for spotting that trap. When she fails to ask for "Guidance" and the Druid fails to offer it they are only hurting themselves.

Kinda sucks for them to be improving all the time as they level up and yet not actually seeing that translate into greater success, though.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

No, that's not what I meant. Medium is always a 10 but as the party increase in skill they will face fewer low DC challenges and more higher DC challenges. I do math ahead of time to estimate their chances, and then decide how many tests in this encounter will be DC 10, DC 15, DC 20, etc.
Example - The Rogue in my party has a +7 to Perception and, with "Guidance" for a further +2.5 on average will usually roll a 20 (10.5+7+2.5). Therefore if I want this test to have a 55% chance of success, if she stops to look, then 20 is the DC I will set for spotting that trap. When she fails to ask for "Guidance" and the Druid fails to offer it they are only hurting themselves.

so how do you handle groups that you could end up with some of them have +1 ish and others have +7ish (both could have guidance but neither is guaranteed to)?

I don't pay much attention to my players stats and skill mods, I just tell them the DC or pass/fail... if the DC is 11 or less and they are trained, or if 1+there bonus makes the DC they don't have to roll... and if a 20+modfired doesn't make it they just say they can't make it...

 

[pnewman]

so how do you handle groups that you could end up with some of them have +1 ish and others have +7ish (both could have guidance but neither is guaranteed to)?

I don't pay much attention to my players stats and skill mods, I just tell them the DC or pass/fail... if the DC is 11 or less and they are trained, or if 1+there bonus makes the DC they don't have to roll... and if a 20+modfired doesn't make it they just say they can't make it...

I do the math based on whoever is best at the skill. My players almost always try to have every test done by the person with the biggest bonus. My Table Tracker lists every skill every PC is proficient (or Expert) in, so I know their approximate bonuses.

 

[pnewman]

Kinda sucks for them to be improving all the time as they level up and yet not actually seeing that translate into greater success, though.

They do get greater success BUT I think that slightly improved chances at harder tests is more dramatic than drastically improved success at a bunch of Easy tests. At some point their PC's are going to want to take the training wheels off of their bicycles.

 

[MarkB]

They do get greater success BUT I think that slightly improved chances at harder tests is more dramatic than drastically improved success at a bunch of Easy tests. At some point their PC's are going to want to take the training wheels off of their bicycles.

Yeah, but you're precisely calibrating the difficulty to their capabilities, including anything they can bring to bear to improve their chances, like guidance. So, instead of guidance making a difficult check easier, it's actually making all checks harder.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

No, that's not what I meant. Medium is always a 10 but as the party increase in skill they will face fewer low DC challenges and more higher DC challenges. I do math ahead of time to estimate their chances, and then decide how many tests in this encounter will be DC 10, DC 15, DC 20, etc.
Example - The Rogue in my party has a +7 to Perception and, with "Guidance" for a further +2.5 on average will usually roll a 20 (10.5+7+2.5). Therefore if I want this test to have a 55% chance of success, if she stops to look, then 20 is the DC I will set for spotting that trap. When she fails to ask for "Guidance" and the Druid fails to offer it they are only hurting themselves.

I'm not a fan of this style of adventure math. This system ends up penalizing all the characters not focused on a skill instead of making the character investing in the skill feel powerful.

For example, a mid level rogue built for stealth can routinely get 25s or better at Stealth checks. If I design around that as a target I am basically telling the other characters to not even bother trying. Instead I just let the rogue basically hide every time they want to hide because they invested in the ability to do so and they enjoy being able to do it.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

Yeah, but you're precisely calibrating the difficulty to their capabilities, including anything they can bring to bear to improve their chances, like guidance. So, instead of guidance making a difficult check easier, it's actually making all checks harder.

Also what if instead of character X with guidance tackling a check the party ends up having to use character Y without guidance and the check becomes almost impossible?

 

[dave2008]

The game is already too easy to need to worry about using Inspiration. 5.5/6E will make it even easier for players.

It is only easy if you let it be. 5e is much easier to make a challenging when compared to 4e, and I could make 4e quire challenging for my players!