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Is Expertise too good?
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<blockquote data-quote="77IM" data-source="post: 7372520" data-attributes="member: 12377"><p>It's definitely a game-play preference. Let me try to explain it this way: setting the DC feels like a "false" activity. If the goal of the rule is auto-success/auto-failure, just make that the rule; don't make me discover that by doing math.</p><p></p><p>The auto-failure is actually much more troubling than auto-success, because it denies participation. If Expertise is in play, I have to worry about maybe setting DCs up to 30 because the Expertise guy might hit them. But what about the PCs with no chance of hitting that DC? Should I tell them not to bother rolling? (That always feels like inappropriate metagame info to me.) Auto-success as a special ability is fine because the game is chock full of auto-success already and players kind of expect that from special abilities. If Expertise isn't in play, I literally don't even consider DCs above 20, I just tell the players that approach won't work.</p><p></p><p>To be honest, the chance of success is boring to me and I don't want to spend any brainpower on it. I think RPG rules fixate on pass/fail odds-of-success mechanics because such rules are super easy to design, learn, and execute. I'd much rather spend time thinking about the <em>consequences</em> of success and failure. One of those outcomes is usually more interesting than the other, and often Expertise automatically picks the boring one.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="77IM, post: 7372520, member: 12377"] It's definitely a game-play preference. Let me try to explain it this way: setting the DC feels like a "false" activity. If the goal of the rule is auto-success/auto-failure, just make that the rule; don't make me discover that by doing math. The auto-failure is actually much more troubling than auto-success, because it denies participation. If Expertise is in play, I have to worry about maybe setting DCs up to 30 because the Expertise guy might hit them. But what about the PCs with no chance of hitting that DC? Should I tell them not to bother rolling? (That always feels like inappropriate metagame info to me.) Auto-success as a special ability is fine because the game is chock full of auto-success already and players kind of expect that from special abilities. If Expertise isn't in play, I literally don't even consider DCs above 20, I just tell the players that approach won't work. To be honest, the chance of success is boring to me and I don't want to spend any brainpower on it. I think RPG rules fixate on pass/fail odds-of-success mechanics because such rules are super easy to design, learn, and execute. I'd much rather spend time thinking about the [I]consequences[/I] of success and failure. One of those outcomes is usually more interesting than the other, and often Expertise automatically picks the boring one. [/QUOTE]
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