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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kerrick" data-source="post: 5022726" data-attributes="member: 4722">#1: Why not have degrees of failure? If you blow the Climb check by 5 or more, you fall a certain distance; if you roll a 1, you suffer a catastrophic failure and fall all the way. This mechanic can also be applied to other skills where failure carries a penalty, and could be applied to most skills in general: Appraise (not really a "penalty", but you seriously over/underestimate the value), Craft, Diplomacy (I think you can imagine what would happen), Disable Device (set off the trap, no save to avoid it), Escape Artist (get yourself hopeless tangled up, or enough so that further attempts require more time or a higher DC), Heal (makes the condition worse, or deals more damage), Hide/MS (you're not only not hiding or silent, you're pretty obvious to anyone with eyes/ears), Open Lock (snap off a pick in the lock), Sleight of Hand (you drop the item in addition to either alerting your target or looking stupid, if you're trying to hide something), Survival (follow the wrong tracks, suffer a penalty to checks, or get lost), Swim (drown), Tumble (fall and suffer damage and/or become dazed), UMD (use more charges than normal, or a chance of destroying the device), Use Rope (break the rope).#2: I don't know that Jump is really that bad - you know your bonus, and thus you know how far you can jump. The d20 roll is simply a measure of how much further you think you can get, which really does rely on luck - how much room you have, environmental conditions, the PC's encumbrance and fatigue (which are rarely factored in normally), etc. The argument about 5th-level PCs making world-record jumps can go either way; after all, most real-world humans are not much higher than 5th level, but it's also silly that a high-level rogue can leap tall buildings in a single bound. I think there's a happy medium there, but it would involve adjusting the DCs.All of that aside, I rather like degrees of success/failure. I use that mechanic for several of my skills.#3: Appraise, Craft (lower time/cost), Diplomacy (can gain greater benefits, but this is DM fiat), Disable Device (there's a rule somewhere, maybe in the rogue splatbook, where greater success means you can bypass the trap and reset it yourself, instead of just breaking it; also reduced time), Heal (heal more hit points), Open Lock (reduced time), Tumble (increased AC vs. opponents, less damage from a fall, etc.). Speak Language would work only if you did a system like <a href="http://project-phoenix.wikidot.com/skills:speak-language" target="_blank">this one</a>, where you had different levels of proficiency. A binary "either you know it or you don't" system doesn't allow for degrees of success or failure.This is a cool idea overall. I might yoink some of this for PP.</blockquote>

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