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<blockquote data-quote="tetrasodium" data-source="post: 9525534" data-attributes="member: 93670">I don't disagree entirely, but how you define that bold bit is critical.&nbsp; If you define it as anything but something along the lines of&nbsp; &quot;almost&nbsp; anything potentially under the umbrella of the relevant skill&quot;&nbsp; then sure... I guess.&nbsp; But I don't think that it should be so broadly defined and that causes the skill system to collapse into something useless for me.&nbsp; I'll quote a bit from 3.5 phb pg65 to show why I think that.[spoiler=&quot;Practically impossible checks&quot;]&nbsp;Practically Impossible Tasks Sometimes you want to do something that seems practically impossible. In general, a task considered practically impossible has a DC of 40, 60, or even higher (or it carries a modifier of +20 or more to the DC). Practically impossible tasks are hard to delineate ahead of time. They’re the accomplishments that represent incredible, almost logic-defying skill and luck. Picking a lock by giving it a single, swift kick might entail a +20 modifier to the DC; swimming up a waterfall could require a Swim check against DC 80; and balancing on a fragile tree branch might have a DC of 90. The DM decides what is actually impossible and what is merely practically impossible. Characters with very high skill modifiers are capable of accomplishing incredible, almost unbelievable tasks, just as characters with very high combat bonuses are. &nbsp;[/spoiler]The 5e skill system robs me of that as an option both as player &amp; GM because of how players so quickly &amp; easily exceed <a href="https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/basic-rules-2014/using-ability-scores?srsltid=AfmBOoq_Ztc2Q6O4wcgWHWqEhf9cDjAbsQHSq-eYJ12_C6ieI9_i8h04#TypicalDifficultyClasses" target="_blank">the DC ladder</a> to the result in a situation where very hard &amp; nearly impossible areboth mundane &amp; almost entirely predictable.YesYes for reasons described in more detail aboveDC20 is &quot;hard&quot;... Hard for who? PC's blow pas DC20 hard, dc25 very hard and dc30 nearly impossible leaving nothing but the mundane &amp; flatly impossible by brick wall of the GM saying &quot;no&quot; in all scenarios.&nbsp; That's a big problem because players at those levels should have the option to do things like see how close to almost they come&nbsp; for fail forward &amp; similar, but the gm saying &quot;no you just can't do it because that check is impossible&quot; as the only option doesn't really allow that.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="tetrasodium, post: 9525534, member: 93670"] I don't disagree entirely, but how you define that bold bit is critical. If you define it as anything but something along the lines of "almost anything [I]potentially[/I] under the umbrella of the relevant skill" then sure...[I] I guess[/I].[I] [/I]But I don't think that it should be so broadly defined and that causes the skill system to collapse into something useless for me[I]. [/I]I'll quote a bit from 3.5 phb pg65 to show why I think that. [spoiler="Practically impossible checks"] Practically Impossible Tasks Sometimes you want to do something that seems practically impossible. In general, a task considered practically impossible has a DC of 40, 60, or even higher (or it carries a modifier of +20 or more to the DC). [B]Practically impossible tasks are hard to delineate ahead of time. They’re the accomplishments that represent incredible, almost logic-defying skill and luck. [/B]Picking a lock by giving it a single, swift kick might entail a +20 modifier to the DC; swimming up a waterfall could require a Swim check against DC 80; and balancing on a fragile tree branch might have a DC of 90. The DM decides what is actually impossible and what is merely practically impossible. Characters with very high skill modifiers are capable of accomplishing incredible, almost unbelievable tasks, just as characters with very high combat bonuses are. [/spoiler] The 5e skill system robs me of that as an option both as player & GM because of how players so quickly & easily exceed [URL='https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dnd/basic-rules-2014/using-ability-scores?srsltid=AfmBOoq_Ztc2Q6O4wcgWHWqEhf9cDjAbsQHSq-eYJ12_C6ieI9_i8h04#TypicalDifficultyClasses']the DC ladder[/URL] to the result in a situation where very hard & nearly impossible areboth mundane & almost [I]entirely[/I] predictable. Yes Yes for reasons described in more detail above DC20 is "hard"... Hard for [I]who[/I]? PC's blow pas DC20 hard, dc25 very hard [I]and[/I] dc30 nearly impossible leaving nothing but the mundane & flatly impossible by brick wall of the GM saying "no" in all scenarios. That's a big problem because players at those levels should have the option to do things like see how close to almost they come for fail forward & similar, but the gm saying "no you just can't do it because that check is impossible" as the only option doesn't really allow that. [/QUOTE]

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