D&D 5E Not liking Bounded Accuracy

[ExploderWizard]

What is this "proficiency" and "skill" you speak of?

You get a magic user. You get a first level spell. You get a dagger. You get d4 hp. And you like it.

I love it! Sadly, if there is any B/X gaming done around here I would have to run it, so I wouldn't get the chance.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[The Lich]

I love it! Sadly, if there is any B/X gaming done around here I would have to run it, so I wouldn't get the chance.

To people to complain about how weak B/X magic-users are, I say, "Let me see you cast a magic missile even once in your lifetime, never mind once a day."

 

[Sacrosanct]

What is this "proficiency" and "skill" you speak of?

You get a magic user. You get a first level spell. You get a dagger. You get d4 hp. And you like it.

And often, the only benefit you got from leveling up was some extra HP. No extra bonuses to attack or anything. GASP!

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Sacrosanct]

Hey! When you have d4 hp, every single d4 counts!

Seriously, though, playing a magic user in BECMI/1e was four levels of tedium, followed by FIREBALL!

Nah. you charmed some poor fool to be your meat shield, then spammed web, THEN used fireball

But I will admit, one of the best things we all looked forward to was when you found that fireball scroll in KotBL

 

[Rhenny]

What is this "proficiency" and "skill" you speak of?

You get a magic user. You get a first level spell. You get a dagger. You get d4 hp. And you like it.

Yeah!!! A few weeks ago, I actually played in a game of 2e as a 0 level wizard. Yikes...we were slaves and we had to scrounge for anything we could find to use as weapons. I found some large ship nails that I threw like darts. We fought 1 NPC (I think he had like 12 hp)....and nearly TPKd. We had a ton of fun though...lol.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

The issue is "Take 10 and Take 20" were for unimportant or routine matters mostly.

No. That was what I thought first... but once we had the mindset not rolling at all when not being attacked or in immanent danger and the system became quite good. I strongly believe the first designers of the 3.0 basic rules did have in mind that you actually spread your skillpoints and not put everything in few skills and max them. I repeat myself when I say: 5 ranks of a skill got you an extra 2 points to another skill and a "master" smith just had to be a level 2 expert with a few masterwork tools and an apprentice, not someone level 20.
5 ranks +2 synergy, +3 skill focus, +2 int, +2 help actiom. That is a skillbonus of +14 without stretching reality. A smith of level 3 will get another +1 from ranks, and maybe even another feat. +15 is sufficient for a take 10 -> 25. Or take 20 -> 35
Also taking 20 on a lot of tasks makes sense in so far, that 2 minutes is a good time for usual tasks. 6 seconds to open a lock e.g. is just for master thiefs. But anyone suffiviently proficient can open a DC 25 lock in 2 minutes without a problem.

Now in 5e, it is the same: It just is not called take 20 and take 10 is just a passive check.

 

[devincutler]

It's actually intra-party stuff that bothers me. Say a character has a skill in navigation (navigator's tools). In general he's only slightly more likely to be successful navigating than any other character. And a wizard will generally be better than the "professional sailor" unless that sailor has a remarkably high Int. It underplays the importance having trained vs. raw ability IMO. An extra +2 bonus (or so) might work, but in general I just won't let someone without proficiency do certain things (admittedly usually only if one of the other PCs is proficient, but still...)

Edit: and for the record, I really like bounded accuracy in the context of combat (other than wanting a tweek to saves).

I have noticed that in the official scenarios there are instances where the text requires proficiency in a skill to have a chance or even allow a roll.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

And tool proficiencies are often needed to even try a task. No navigator´s tools => lost at sea.
No smithy tool proficiency, no shiny new armor.