Tony Vargas
Legend
DM Empowerment ie 'Rulings not Rules'
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D&D 5E [Poll for the front page] Nominate your ONE favourite thing about D&D 5E
- Thread starter Morrus
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The Crimson Binome
Hero
It's the idea that almost anyone can attempt any check with a reasonable chance of success, because difficulties never really exceed 20 except in extreme cases. A level 1 rogue (or anyone with the appropriate background) can attempt to pick a very fine lock, and might have a 15% chance of success compared to the 65% chance that a level 18 rogue would have. A level 1 peasant with a crossbow might hit an adult red dragon on a roll of 17, instead of needing a 20.
A better name would have been "Bounded Difficulty", since the real point of it is that any character of any level can interact with the same stuff in the world without ever falling outside of the range where the d20 matters. I mean, it's still possible to eventually end up with a character who always succeeds at easy checks, but that's the exception rather than the rule (as contrasted with 3E or 4E, where your bonus would always end up overpowering the die roll at high levels).
JackOfAllTirades
Explorer
THEY MADE CHARACTER CREATION FUN!
pming
Legend
Hiya!
DM Empowerment.
That the rules often reinforce the need for a DM to make an adjudication for things because of "simplistic real-english descriptions" (that often are vague from a mechanics perspective). A rule that says "The PC is better at hiding than others when in wooded areas"; what defines "better"? Does wooded area mean full on forest? Or is a lush garden with a dozen trees in it count? What about a cactus 'forest' in a desert? A 'mushroom' forest in a vast underground cave? All of these things reinforce the absolute need for a DM to make a call. That's what I like the most.
^_^
Paul L. Ming
DM Empowerment.
That the rules often reinforce the need for a DM to make an adjudication for things because of "simplistic real-english descriptions" (that often are vague from a mechanics perspective). A rule that says "The PC is better at hiding than others when in wooded areas"; what defines "better"? Does wooded area mean full on forest? Or is a lush garden with a dozen trees in it count? What about a cactus 'forest' in a desert? A 'mushroom' forest in a vast underground cave? All of these things reinforce the absolute need for a DM to make a call. That's what I like the most.
^_^
Paul L. Ming
Tony Vargas
Legend
You don't get that much better at doing stuff as you level. So if a kobold could hit you at fairly easily at 1st level, he still has a shot at 20th, if you needed a natural 15 to sneak past a town guard at 1st level, you'll still need to roll at 20th, you'll just only need to roll a 4. It means the DM doesn't have to shift the focus of his campaign to ever greater challenges, even other planes of existence, as you level up and leave the initial campaign setting in the dust.
GMforPowergamers
Legend
backgrounds/divorcing skill sets from class to make concepts easier to make...
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