Celebrim
Legend
First, the 'all or nothing' problem is one of the pervasive problems of high level D20. It is an artifact of the dice, not of the skill system specifically and you'll find the same problem with Saving Throws, the to hit bonuses vs. armor classes of high level opponents, and just about anything using the D20 mechanic. I haven't seen a perfect solution.
That said, I would think that skill check DC's are much less of a problem than high saving throw DC's or high AC's if the DM handles it appropriately. I see no reason why skill checks would have to inflate, and generally speaking when I include a skill check in the game I expect a party to have someone in it that can make that check most of the time. Being really good in something basically just lets the character improvise solutions, not deal with what I planned on challenging him with, and I'm perfectly fine with the players getting creative. But not having someone in the party that can make the check represents a skill gap and the cost will be spending some resource. The way I run the game emphasises alot of different skill checks - even skill checks of relatively low DC's. So I agree with S'mon, there isn't alot of need to inflate skill check difficulties. If you get involved in a combat on a rough cavern floor covered with mud and loose breakdown, expecting to be making alot of DC 10 Balance checks to keep from falling down. I don't have to have a DC 30 challenge, I can just challenge everyone in the party with the same DC 10 challenge. That definately encourages fighters to spend a few points in Balance -- even cross class - and Tumble is such a potentially useful skill that its worth it for a human fighter to get at least one rank in it. PC's tend to become one trick ponies in responce to just a few different skills getting called for.
After playing through 1st edition where there were no skills, I'd rather see lots of skill usage than not. IMO, the only real problem is that magical items that grant large skill bonuses or which effectively obselete skills are too inexpensive. I have a real bone with items that grant flight, and I'm about to decide that like Haste, Fly is just too powerful for a third level spell.
Those are the two most powerful skills in the game and a Bard that doesn't specialize in Bluff and Diplomacy is basically useless in my opinion because the class is really weak except for its social skills. At somewhere around +30 Bluff and +30 Diplomacy, a character becomes virtually immune to anything that he can communicate with that. But that is I suppose OK. It's not that different than dealing with a min/maxed fighter that can kill anything it can close with, and at least it could be entertaining.
That said, I would think that skill check DC's are much less of a problem than high saving throw DC's or high AC's if the DM handles it appropriately. I see no reason why skill checks would have to inflate, and generally speaking when I include a skill check in the game I expect a party to have someone in it that can make that check most of the time. Being really good in something basically just lets the character improvise solutions, not deal with what I planned on challenging him with, and I'm perfectly fine with the players getting creative. But not having someone in the party that can make the check represents a skill gap and the cost will be spending some resource. The way I run the game emphasises alot of different skill checks - even skill checks of relatively low DC's. So I agree with S'mon, there isn't alot of need to inflate skill check difficulties. If you get involved in a combat on a rough cavern floor covered with mud and loose breakdown, expecting to be making alot of DC 10 Balance checks to keep from falling down. I don't have to have a DC 30 challenge, I can just challenge everyone in the party with the same DC 10 challenge. That definately encourages fighters to spend a few points in Balance -- even cross class - and Tumble is such a potentially useful skill that its worth it for a human fighter to get at least one rank in it. PC's tend to become one trick ponies in responce to just a few different skills getting called for.
After playing through 1st edition where there were no skills, I'd rather see lots of skill usage than not. IMO, the only real problem is that magical items that grant large skill bonuses or which effectively obselete skills are too inexpensive. I have a real bone with items that grant flight, and I'm about to decide that like Haste, Fly is just too powerful for a third level spell.
Those are the two most powerful skills in the game and a Bard that doesn't specialize in Bluff and Diplomacy is basically useless in my opinion because the class is really weak except for its social skills. At somewhere around +30 Bluff and +30 Diplomacy, a character becomes virtually immune to anything that he can communicate with that. But that is I suppose OK. It's not that different than dealing with a min/maxed fighter that can kill anything it can close with, and at least it could be entertaining.
