I've been DMing for the D&D encounters (more or less my first 4e DMing) and recently also ran the Free RPG day Dark sun module for some friends that I hadn't seen in a year. Both times it came up that they wanted to try something interesting and the most logical option was to make a skill check vs the monsters will or reflex. Now as neither character was trained in the skills they were trying, it had reasonable odds of success, but looking at even 1st level characters its possible to had +10 to a skill, which is quite high to be pitting against a monster's NADs, right? I know there are DC tables and such in the DMG for level appropriate stunts, but I really like using a monsters NADs to show that each monster is different etc.
For example: One character wanted to jump onto a large sized beetle, so I used acrobatics/athletics vs ref. He failed. But had he succeeded he wanted to try and ride it, I was thinking a nature vs will to try and move it or an intimidate vs will to try and 'ride it down' or otherwise cow its behavior. With a will of 13 and his training in nature and intimidate, he would have needed a 5 or less, where as a nontrained would need a 10. That seems like a big spread.
Further more:you get bonuses to skills from feats, race, items and whatnot but not any enhancement bonuses....how does skill vs NAD level?
So to summarize my actual questions:
1) Is skill training too high (esp. at level 1) to default to skill vs nads? Solutions?
2) Does skill vs nads remain constant throughout the levels?
3)Is my hesitation to type NADs a sign of immaturity?
4) Any experience from others using this sort of technique?
Thanks!
For example: One character wanted to jump onto a large sized beetle, so I used acrobatics/athletics vs ref. He failed. But had he succeeded he wanted to try and ride it, I was thinking a nature vs will to try and move it or an intimidate vs will to try and 'ride it down' or otherwise cow its behavior. With a will of 13 and his training in nature and intimidate, he would have needed a 5 or less, where as a nontrained would need a 10. That seems like a big spread.
Further more:you get bonuses to skills from feats, race, items and whatnot but not any enhancement bonuses....how does skill vs NAD level?
So to summarize my actual questions:
1) Is skill training too high (esp. at level 1) to default to skill vs nads? Solutions?
2) Does skill vs nads remain constant throughout the levels?
3)Is my hesitation to type NADs a sign of immaturity?
4) Any experience from others using this sort of technique?
Thanks!