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Lets Rank the 5e Skills!
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<blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 6339424" data-attributes="member: 2067"><p>These things are, IMXP, almost always superfluous and secondary. They are the purple prose of encounter design. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /> </p><p></p><p>The issue is that they're binary. Either you can do it, or you can't. Thus, a challenge like this falls into three camps: Either no one can do it, some people can do it and some people can't, or everyone can do it.</p><p></p><p>If no one can do it, it's just a wall. The skill roll isn't going to work. The DM can't expect you to do it. </p><p></p><p>If some people can do it and some people can't, it's not necessary. Since the DM isn't going to split the party, the skill roll is inessential -- there's some other way around the obstacle (even if that other way is "get a rope"). If no one had the skill, the party would still be able to accomplish the goal at hand...or else it's a wall for those people without the skill, and the DM can't expect you to do it. </p><p></p><p>If everyone can do it, the skill roll is just color. Acrobatics, athletics, picking your nose, underwater basketweaving, whatever, the point is just to do something that will keep the story going, "push A to proceed" style</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Did the characters who lacked these skills just sit around the twiddling their thumbs? Or were they forced to try and fail, thus making it something they could only contribute to negatively? Or did they contribute in some other way, thus meaning that Athletics & Acrobatics are redundant with other things?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="I'm A Banana, post: 6339424, member: 2067"] These things are, IMXP, almost always superfluous and secondary. They are the purple prose of encounter design. ;) The issue is that they're binary. Either you can do it, or you can't. Thus, a challenge like this falls into three camps: Either no one can do it, some people can do it and some people can't, or everyone can do it. If no one can do it, it's just a wall. The skill roll isn't going to work. The DM can't expect you to do it. If some people can do it and some people can't, it's not necessary. Since the DM isn't going to split the party, the skill roll is inessential -- there's some other way around the obstacle (even if that other way is "get a rope"). If no one had the skill, the party would still be able to accomplish the goal at hand...or else it's a wall for those people without the skill, and the DM can't expect you to do it. If everyone can do it, the skill roll is just color. Acrobatics, athletics, picking your nose, underwater basketweaving, whatever, the point is just to do something that will keep the story going, "push A to proceed" style Did the characters who lacked these skills just sit around the twiddling their thumbs? Or were they forced to try and fail, thus making it something they could only contribute to negatively? Or did they contribute in some other way, thus meaning that Athletics & Acrobatics are redundant with other things? [/QUOTE]
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