Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 9426831" data-attributes="member: 20323">I have a slightly unorthodox take... I think the lower chances of success with thief skills is best married with a slight reinterpretation of what those thief skills MEAN.OSE and Dolmenwood carry on mostly the traditional interpretations – you declare &quot;I'm sneaking up on them&quot; and then you roll Move Silently, you declare &quot;I'm searching for traps&quot; and then roll, etc – with the exception that OSE redefines Climb Walls to Climb Sheer Surfaces.It seems like a subtle change, but Sheer is beyond the realm of most other folks' ability. It's not just a &quot;generic climb skill.&quot; It's &quot;holy crap they did an unassisted ascent of a 5.13 climbing route without handholds and a nasty overhanging ledge!&quot;The more you make the thief skills EXTRAORDINARY, the more the higher chance of initial failure makes sense, imo.For example, Hide in Shadows is typically – you declare, if you succeed and stay motionless, you ambush an enemy walking along. INSTEAD, I like to run it as: Hide in Shadows is an extra chance for the thief to avoid being detected even if their party does not have Surprise, thus allowing them to gain surprise (just them). It's like a reaction/shröedinger effect, where &quot;ok, an encounter is happening, no one is surprised...buuut WAIT! was the thief lurking in the shadows all along and gets the drop on the monsters?&quot;What's nice about this is that it minimizes the amount of declaring &quot;OK, I'm sneaking now&quot;, or and the corollary issue &quot;oh yeah, we're sneaking too.&quot; Instead it's easier to assume the party is generally trying to be sneaky (when it's reasonable to do so), and the Surprise roll is the appropriate mechanic for resolving that – remember if you Surprise a party you can opt to withdraw or move around them without being noticed (depending on the circumstances).And this gets into how Move Silently can be adjudicated. You've Surprised monsters, and you want to get around them but there isn't a clear way? Thief can roll Move Silently!It's a very different interpretation... but IME it plays much nicer with the lower chance of success that thieves have with their skills in OSR.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 9426831, member: 20323"] I have a slightly unorthodox take... I think the lower chances of success with thief skills is best married with a slight reinterpretation of what those thief skills MEAN. OSE and Dolmenwood carry on mostly the traditional interpretations – you declare "I'm sneaking up on them" and then you roll Move Silently, you declare "I'm searching for traps" and then roll, etc – with the exception that OSE redefines Climb Walls to Climb [I]Sheer[/I] Surfaces. It seems like a subtle change, but [I]Sheer [/I]is beyond the realm of most other folks' ability. It's not just a "generic climb skill." It's "holy crap they did an unassisted ascent of a 5.13 climbing route without handholds and a nasty overhanging ledge!" The more you make the thief skills EXTRAORDINARY, the more the higher chance of initial failure makes sense, imo. For example, Hide in Shadows is typically – you declare, if you succeed and stay motionless, you ambush an enemy walking along. INSTEAD, I like to run it as: Hide in Shadows is an extra chance for the thief to avoid being detected even if their party does not have Surprise, thus allowing them to gain surprise (just them). It's like a reaction/shröedinger effect, where "ok, an encounter is happening, no one is surprised...buuut WAIT! was the thief lurking in the shadows [I]all along[/I] and gets the drop on the monsters?" What's nice about this is that it minimizes the amount of declaring "OK, I'm sneaking now", or and the corollary issue "oh yeah, we're sneaking too." Instead it's easier to assume the party is generally trying to be sneaky (when it's reasonable to do so), and the Surprise roll is the appropriate mechanic for resolving that – remember if you Surprise a party you can opt to withdraw or move around them without being noticed (depending on the circumstances). And this gets into how Move Silently can be adjudicated. You've Surprised monsters, and you want to get around them but there isn't a clear way? Thief can roll Move Silently! It's a very different interpretation... but IME it plays much nicer with the lower chance of success that thieves have with their skills in OSR. [/QUOTE]

Verification