pming
Legend
Hiya!
I don't see the benefit of the system, honestly. I mean, for me, rolling a d20 and adding 7 isn't "math intensive". I set my DC's based against a zero-sum adjustment...so, pretty much like the book. Sorta. I usually use the base DC's (10, 15, 20 and 25). I then add 2 if the situation is "out of the norm", so to say. This is where DM'ing comes in, as there is not way to differentiate what is "out of the norm" on Climbing Check A, but not on Climbing Check B. It's one of those "gut feeling" things experienced DM's have. Anyway, that usually gives me the DC. I call for some particular skill/stat, and sometimes give options if it warrants it (re: climb check; Athletics; use Str or Dex for climbing a branchy jungle tree with vines hanging off it).
I could care less what the characters bonuses are. They never factor into my setting of a DC. This lets me be consistent. It lets my players estimate how tricky something may be. If, for example, I have been setting "dry, natural rock face with rough hand-holds" as DC 10, and I describe a cliff they come to as "wet, with lots of moss, but it looks fairly rough with a lot of cracks and hand-holds", they can probably guess DC 12 or maybe 15... if they even thought about it. Chances are they wouldn't even think about "game mechanics" because they subconsciously "know" that this sort of cliff isnt' too hard to climb. My players virtually never look at their character sheets and calculate numbers and stuff before they decide to do something in-character. If I suddenly say "DC 25" because they are all 14th level now, a serious disconnect from the "reality of the campaign world" pops up. They would be looking over their character sheet all the time, looking for every little min/max bonus they could muster because they "know" that, even though they have +7 to some skill check, they know they are 14th level, and the "default DC" is now 20. If they see that they only have +2 to a skill, they wouldn't even bother to try and climb that cliff; there's no point.
At any rate, what about using the alternate skill check thing presented in the DMG...something about using different dice in stead of numbers? Like "d20 + d6"? Maybe that will give you that little bit of "degree of success" you are looking for? It may feel more "I did well" when a player rolls d20 + d6 and gets 14 + 6; he knows he rolled 'max' on the actual "skill" part...the d20 is his raw stat roll, basically. Then use a basic "divide by 2, round down" to get a degree of success. So that 6 on d6 gives "DoS 3". If someone rolls a d10 for his skill and gets a 7, he gets a DoS 3. If he rolls a 10, he has DoS 5. This lets you keep the system as is, with no need to up the DC's when PC's get higher level because their degree of success will be how "well" they pull something off. This is, however, based on class level...so you may need to figure out a way to equate +X to "level X". Or not. You could then add 'bonus dice' to the skill roll for things like Bless or Inspiration...adding to potential DoS.
^_^
Paul L. Ming
I don't see the benefit of the system, honestly. I mean, for me, rolling a d20 and adding 7 isn't "math intensive". I set my DC's based against a zero-sum adjustment...so, pretty much like the book. Sorta. I usually use the base DC's (10, 15, 20 and 25). I then add 2 if the situation is "out of the norm", so to say. This is where DM'ing comes in, as there is not way to differentiate what is "out of the norm" on Climbing Check A, but not on Climbing Check B. It's one of those "gut feeling" things experienced DM's have. Anyway, that usually gives me the DC. I call for some particular skill/stat, and sometimes give options if it warrants it (re: climb check; Athletics; use Str or Dex for climbing a branchy jungle tree with vines hanging off it).
I could care less what the characters bonuses are. They never factor into my setting of a DC. This lets me be consistent. It lets my players estimate how tricky something may be. If, for example, I have been setting "dry, natural rock face with rough hand-holds" as DC 10, and I describe a cliff they come to as "wet, with lots of moss, but it looks fairly rough with a lot of cracks and hand-holds", they can probably guess DC 12 or maybe 15... if they even thought about it. Chances are they wouldn't even think about "game mechanics" because they subconsciously "know" that this sort of cliff isnt' too hard to climb. My players virtually never look at their character sheets and calculate numbers and stuff before they decide to do something in-character. If I suddenly say "DC 25" because they are all 14th level now, a serious disconnect from the "reality of the campaign world" pops up. They would be looking over their character sheet all the time, looking for every little min/max bonus they could muster because they "know" that, even though they have +7 to some skill check, they know they are 14th level, and the "default DC" is now 20. If they see that they only have +2 to a skill, they wouldn't even bother to try and climb that cliff; there's no point.
At any rate, what about using the alternate skill check thing presented in the DMG...something about using different dice in stead of numbers? Like "d20 + d6"? Maybe that will give you that little bit of "degree of success" you are looking for? It may feel more "I did well" when a player rolls d20 + d6 and gets 14 + 6; he knows he rolled 'max' on the actual "skill" part...the d20 is his raw stat roll, basically. Then use a basic "divide by 2, round down" to get a degree of success. So that 6 on d6 gives "DoS 3". If someone rolls a d10 for his skill and gets a 7, he gets a DoS 3. If he rolls a 10, he has DoS 5. This lets you keep the system as is, with no need to up the DC's when PC's get higher level because their degree of success will be how "well" they pull something off. This is, however, based on class level...so you may need to figure out a way to equate +X to "level X". Or not. You could then add 'bonus dice' to the skill roll for things like Bless or Inspiration...adding to potential DoS.
^_^
Paul L. Ming
