Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Reliable Talent. What the what?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7290760" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>Don't. Reliable skills are nothing new and IMO are necessary for the game. 'Skill Monkey' classes need to be able to reliably propose actions, and it's good for the game because it means that they can now reliably perform stunts. In particular, you want to reach a point where any easy action with a skill doesn't require a roll, encouraging to the player to do it (because no risk) and avoiding slowing down the game with pointless dice rolling.</p><p></p><p>Unless you plan to implement a 'All spells fail on the roll of a 1 rule', don't nerf skills. Non-combat spells do not generally have a failure condition. Compare hiding with invisibility, climbing or jumping with flight, open lock with knock, searching with detecting/scry spells and so forth. Gimping a skill by making it permanently unreliable makes a non-spellcaster permanently less reliable and useful than a spellcaster's ability to alter the game universe and acquire narrative resources. </p><p></p><p>You can always have tasks that require nigh supernatural levels of skill that do have a chance of failure if you need to test the skill of a character. </p><p></p><p>Look at it this way, if a 12th level superhero (supervillain?) wants to break into the houses of ordinary mortals and steal thier stuff, he's going to succeed. The Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime, is not going to have a problem successfully breaking into a middle class home, terrorizing the inhabitants, and taking their stuff. It's an autosuccess for him provided he has not yet attracted the attention of The Batman. If your PC wants to go on a crime spree, then let him. There is no drama in that, but its not the fault of the rules. It's the fault of the player for setting his sights so small. Respond to that intelligently as a DM, with the overmatched peasants appealing to a temple or to a government for aid, and a team of Paladins and Inquisitors arriving to avenge the put upon peasants. That is where your drama comes from, not whether he can steal the candlesticks from some poor coppersmith, or loot the handful of silver that a fuller has hidden under his mattress.</p><p></p><p>Besides that, if you want to make your thief breaking into homes challenging, there are ways to do that that don't involve failing ordinary skill checks. If you want advice, fork to another thread with a title like, "How would peasants protect their homes from thieves?"</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7290760, member: 4937"] Don't. Reliable skills are nothing new and IMO are necessary for the game. 'Skill Monkey' classes need to be able to reliably propose actions, and it's good for the game because it means that they can now reliably perform stunts. In particular, you want to reach a point where any easy action with a skill doesn't require a roll, encouraging to the player to do it (because no risk) and avoiding slowing down the game with pointless dice rolling. Unless you plan to implement a 'All spells fail on the roll of a 1 rule', don't nerf skills. Non-combat spells do not generally have a failure condition. Compare hiding with invisibility, climbing or jumping with flight, open lock with knock, searching with detecting/scry spells and so forth. Gimping a skill by making it permanently unreliable makes a non-spellcaster permanently less reliable and useful than a spellcaster's ability to alter the game universe and acquire narrative resources. You can always have tasks that require nigh supernatural levels of skill that do have a chance of failure if you need to test the skill of a character. Look at it this way, if a 12th level superhero (supervillain?) wants to break into the houses of ordinary mortals and steal thier stuff, he's going to succeed. The Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime, is not going to have a problem successfully breaking into a middle class home, terrorizing the inhabitants, and taking their stuff. It's an autosuccess for him provided he has not yet attracted the attention of The Batman. If your PC wants to go on a crime spree, then let him. There is no drama in that, but its not the fault of the rules. It's the fault of the player for setting his sights so small. Respond to that intelligently as a DM, with the overmatched peasants appealing to a temple or to a government for aid, and a team of Paladins and Inquisitors arriving to avenge the put upon peasants. That is where your drama comes from, not whether he can steal the candlesticks from some poor coppersmith, or loot the handful of silver that a fuller has hidden under his mattress. Besides that, if you want to make your thief breaking into homes challenging, there are ways to do that that don't involve failing ordinary skill checks. If you want advice, fork to another thread with a title like, "How would peasants protect their homes from thieves?" [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Reliable Talent. What the what?
Top