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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Crimson Binome" data-source="post: 7449359" data-attributes="member: 6775031">It's true that there are a lot more skills than there are ability score, so it can take a little bit longer to find the right one on the list. That's a fair point.Even with saying that the DM can add +2, though, it's still not clear what you're actually saying. If you add +2 to the relevant stat before you check it, then that would actually make it easier to roll under. From context, you probably mean adding +2 to the die roll, before comparing it against the stat; so if you roll 15, against a stat of 16, then a +2 penalty would actually mean you fail.I'm not sure whether the humor in my previous sentence is coming through, but it's the kind of sentence that can give some people a headache.  And it might sound like I'm just being deliberately obtuse, but I'm specifically remembering the "armor adjustments by weapon damage type" table from AD&D, which I literally couldn't figure out because it was just a list of bonuses and penalties to certain attacks, and it never gave an example or specified whether it was modifying the attack roll or the Armor Class. One of the really great things about the d20 system, from 3E and onward, is that it's very straightforward about allowing easier checks to low-level characters and harder checks to high-level characters. Because setting the DC is a deliberate step in every check, it means the DM can set out DC 10 checks around the low-level characters and DC 30 checks around the high-level characters. Instead of your level 2 thief having exactly 10% to pick any lock in the world, unless the DM remembers to give you an extra 50% chance on easy locks because otherwise you're worthless.If you did want to adapt that system to 5E, though, you shouldn't let the occasional Strength 20 fighter stop you from doing so. After all, there's nothing wrong with letting them succeed all the time on unmodified Strength checks, as long as you throw in the occasional hard check at -2.</blockquote>

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