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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Saeviomagy" data-source="post: 4219276" data-attributes="member: 5890">A fight is usually more than a single skill roll, and can usually be avoided or stopped before it gets to the point of a TPK, which is basically the only scenario that can be really classed as a loss. I think that most people would agree that throwing players into a fight where the only possiblities are win or TPK is not something you do all the time, and wholly basing said fight off a roll in a specific skill that not everyone in the campaign has is something that you never do.If the players do not EVER find the trap (ie - it is never triggered), then no. There is nothing added to the game. Even if they spring it, it doesn't derail things - it just changes how difficult the rest of the days challenges may be.If the rigging on the ship is destroyed, one of two things may happen1) It's fixable in a manageable way (ie - it takes a short period of time, doesn't stress the ships supplies or leave the ship in a fragile condition). The adventure carries on with zero changes UNLESS it's centred around some time-based challenge, in which case this probably makes you fail it.2) It's not fixable in a manageable way. Either the ship drifts aimlessly and DM intervention is required to stop an incredibly boring TPK OR the ship can carry on but has to make some major detour, requiring the DM to have something prepared.If the party can't find the treasure - they end up with no treasure. Slightly disappointing, but hardly a TPK.If the party can't find the lost isle of X, then that's either a big pile of DM notes out the window OR they're not really missing out.If the party can't find the clue... well. Hopefully the DM is smart enough to have enough clues to counter that. If there is just ONE clue and that clue is necessary to continue the adventure, and finding that clue relies on ONE roll - well, you're aiming for a premature end to the adventure, and either a jarring interruption to immersion (as the DM declares "That's it, adventures over! You missed THE CLUE!") OR a lot of very tedious play sessions as the players stumble around trying to solve an unsolvable mystery.If the boat gets lost during a storm? It's rewrite the module time, or a quick "and then you get your bearings and get where you were going anyway".For most of these situations, having a sailing skill roll decide them is either like having the king send the entire party to the dungeons, ending the campaign because one player made a bad diplomacy roll, OR having the king ignore rolls because of where you want the adventure to go. There are one or two where you're talking about wholly scrapping the entire planned adventure because the PCs get sent somewhere you don't want them to go, too.So I ask again - what sort of situations do we need a sailing skill for?</blockquote>

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