Skills +2 bonus or +5?

[kitsune9]

I'm sure the check system will be a turnaround "roll-under-ability-score" type, i.e. d20 + score + modifiers vs. 15 (easy)/20 (default)/25 (hard)/etc., as has been pointed out by many.

I'm also sure that skill customization isn't done after character creation. Advancement will be expressed through rising skill modifiers (and maybe also through increasing ability scores), and not just by picking new skills.

I hope there will be an implementation of the crafts rank system Monte mentioned in L&L: novice, apprentice, journeyman, master, (possible) grandmaster. Each set apart by a +5. So instead having a cluster of modifiers, you'd have a small number of possible values.

In fact, I'd like to see a "roll under ability" option that does away completely with numerical DCs: Every task would have a difficulty named after the necessary rank to do an unmodified check, like climbing (master). If you're one rank below that, you roll at a -5 penalty, if you're one rank above, you get a +5 bonus (or even succeed automatically).

You could be onto something there Tilenas. A roll under ability check would an interesting mechanic instead of set DCs.

 

[Szatany]

You could be onto something there Tilenas. A roll under ability check would an interesting mechanic instead of set DCs.

I don't like the RU mechanic because, among other things, opposed rolls are not intuitive.

 

[Greg K]

You see the thing I dont like about a skill system in general is that even though they are meant to dictate what you can do, the inevitable result is they end up dictating what you cant, and that I dont like.

I would go for +2 because its the lesser of the two options. Its minor, but I want it to be minor. If you make it any more, you have to raise difficulties accordingly to prevent auto-success on every roll, which means if you dont have the skill, its practical auto fail, and we are back to the skill system auto-boxing player options.

The more you rely on a skill system, the more you undermine your ability for player improvisation, which to me is the entire reason for playing a table-top RPG

Many DM,s at least in 3e, should read the DMG. It discusses having players describe and the DM making situational (+/-2 was a recommendation, but it said you could use numbers ranging from -20 to +20) , automatic failures (e.g., searching the wrong section of an area), etc.. It also discusses having an area of a dungeon that can *only* be opened by the players having characters moving levers (found elsewhere) in the correct sequence.

 

[Greg K]

I despise roll under. It is why I stopped playing both Hero and GURPS, and won't play Tri-stat. I like everything else about those games and love them as resources, but the roll under is a deal breaker in terms of playing/running. I prefer
1. (die roll+stat mod+ skill mod+ misc mod) vs DC ; or
2. Savage Worlds (skill die roll + mod) vs TN