Multiple Skill checks at the same time?

[Aleolus]

Here's a question for you DMs here. How would you handle someone who is wanting to make a skill check using two related skills simultaneously? I'd say do the secondary one first at a DC 10 or so, if it succeeds, then they get a +2 or so bonus to the skill they are using primarily.

Example, a Bard with ranks in Perform (Sing) and Perform (Stringed Instrument) is wanting to make a performance playing his lute (or whatever) and singing at the same time. With the method I was thinking, first he would make either a DC 10 Perform (Sing) check, or a DC 10 Perform (Stringed Instrument) check, and if that one succeeded, it would give a +2 bonus to their overall check result.

 

[IamTheTest]

I would probably use it as a circumstantial bonus. Seems pretty well on par with a synergy.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Aid self, essentially? Seems a little hokey. You sing well, so therefore you play well?

No. You make two checks and apply both results. "That guy could sing like a song bird but he was holding the lute by the wrong end!"

 

[DungeonMaester]

Humor

You got to let your pcs be heroic, even if being heroic means having the abilty to sing and play a tune at the same time.

---Rusty

 

[Aleolus]

Aid self, essentially? Seems a little hokey. You sing well, so therefore you play well?

No. You make two checks and apply both results. "That guy could sing like a song bird but he was holding the lute by the wrong end!"

True, but any song is made better with good lyrics, just like good music can turn any good poem into a beautiful song.
On another site, someone mentioned the possibility of, if they fail the first check, imposing a penalty on the other. So, if you are 'holding the lute by the wrong end', so to speak, it's harder to perform properly.

 

[Infiniti2000]

True, but any song is made better with good lyrics, just like good music can turn any good poem into a beautiful song.

A good poem is good poetry, it is not a good song. What I mean by this is that those are different skills. While there is obviously some overlap, the fact is that the written word is a very different medium than song.

Furthermore, a solo instrumental is a different piece of music than an a capella. And, both are different than the music combined. Consequently, I would allow only one roll, for the combination of both. If, however, you want to proceed down the dual path, I would advise two rolls for the reasons I stated above. They are either different parts or not. If they are, then treat them as such. If not, then use one roll.

 

[blargney the second]

I seem to remember some rules in Unearthed Arcana about complex skill checks like that...

 

[Jhaelen]

Example, a Bard with ranks in Perform (Sing) and Perform (Stringed Instrument) is wanting to make a performance playing his lute (or whatever) and singing at the same time. With the method I was thinking, first he would make either a DC 10 Perform (Sing) check, or a DC 10 Perform (Stringed Instrument) check, and if that one succeeded, it would give a +2 bonus to their overall check result.

In this particular case I'd let the player make just a single roll using the lower skill modifier of the two. The quality of the performance depends equally on both skills, so if one of them is significantly worse than the other, the bad one will dictate the minimum and maximum quality of the overall performance.

 

[Herzog]

I seem to remember a rule allowing a synergy bonus when using more than one perform skill for a performance (NB: if you have more than 5 ranks in perform(stringed instrument) you can add a +2 to your perform(sing) if you use both at the same time.

However, I can't remember if this was 'normal', a result from a feat, a class ability (base or Prestige) or only applicable for a certain magic item or specific circumstance.

Also, this is a very specific example.

If the abovementioned rule indeed exists as I remember it, I could be expanded to allow additional synergy bonusses, for instance someone with ranks in both spot(or search?) and survival trying to track an animal could be given a synergy bonus if the circumstances would make that appropriate.

I would not, however, let someone make DC 10 checks for some kind of 'Aid Self'.
There are, for instance, far too many skills (and skill-related feats and class abilites) that allow a 'take 10'.

Herzog