Sacrosanct
Legend
Background: Back in the TSR era days, we often handled ability/skill checks as a simple ability score check. Roll a d20, and if it's under your relevant ability score, you succeed. it was simple, and fast, and more importantly, made every point in ability score important. None of this where if you went from a 13 to a 14 in an ability, it didn't help at all. that's the driving force behind replacing skill system: to make every point in an ability matter.
So let's assume this is how all skill checks are to be made. Now....on to stealth. Probably the most challenging skill for how to adjudicate it. There are two ways to go about, assuming the above:
1. Keep it a simple as possible. DM applies a bonus or penalty based on scenario that they feel is most appropriate. I.e, "It's dim light, but you're trying sneak past a dog and are wearing chain mail, so I think that would be a hard check. And hard checks impart a -10 penalty." Player: "Ok, since my dex is 16 and I normally have a +4 bonus, that means I need to roll a 10 or lower. Got it."
2. Have a table that lists common factors and individual modifiers, and you tally them all up to get a final modifier. The pro for this is that it takes away DM ruling, and puts it in an objective format. The con is that this could really slow this check resolution up.
So let's assume this is how all skill checks are to be made. Now....on to stealth. Probably the most challenging skill for how to adjudicate it. There are two ways to go about, assuming the above:
1. Keep it a simple as possible. DM applies a bonus or penalty based on scenario that they feel is most appropriate. I.e, "It's dim light, but you're trying sneak past a dog and are wearing chain mail, so I think that would be a hard check. And hard checks impart a -10 penalty." Player: "Ok, since my dex is 16 and I normally have a +4 bonus, that means I need to roll a 10 or lower. Got it."
2. Have a table that lists common factors and individual modifiers, and you tally them all up to get a final modifier. The pro for this is that it takes away DM ruling, and puts it in an objective format. The con is that this could really slow this check resolution up.