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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 6820055" data-attributes="member: 58172">Yeah, the athletes in those picture are awesome. They help visualize the D&D actions too.This is the problem in a nutshell: ‘Acrobatics requires strength’.Reallife acrobatics is muscular, and requires Strength. Unfortunately, what D&D calls the ‘Acrobatic skill’ fails to utilize Strength. It is therefore impossible to use this mechanic to represent reallife acrobatic actions in the D&D game. The misnomer also causes confusion about what this skill check can and cannot do. According to RAW, the Dexterity (acrobatics) check can do a ‘flip’, but it cannot do a ‘highjump’ which only Strength (athletics) can do. The inability to do a highjump, makes the name ‘acrobatics’ confused or confusing. I find it humorous, how one of the D&D definitions of ‘acrobatics’ is to prevent oneself from slipping on ice, which has little to do with what the word ‘acrobatics’ actually means. And to do a flip without a jump is also not what the word means.The problem might be the Acrobatics skill, precisely and only. Fixing that, might fix everything. But there might be other issues too. Constructive discussion from different points of view helps.There is a feeling voiced by myself and others in this thread, that the D&D mechanics fails to represent human agility well. This is a problem, because the concept of agility and its implementation are important - sometimes even central - to D&D experiences.In the past, I have wanted to better represent ‘agility’ by making Dexterity stronger sotospeak. So a player can use the Dexterity (acrobatics) check to jump and climb - without the Strength ability. But this doesnt sit right.In this thread, I am going the other direction, by emphasizing how Strength is already more agile. This direction feels right, and seems to me, a fruitful line of inquiry.In science there is sometimes a distinction between big body accuracy (gross motor skills) versus small hand-like precision (fine motor skills).I am employing this reallife distinction to resolve the agility problem in D&D mechanics.Strength = big body accuracy (gross motor skills)Dexterity = small hand-like precision (fine motor skills)And done.This explains, why Strength checks already include accuracy. A person applies their Strength accurately via gross motor skills. This is what ‘agility’ is. This is why D&D uses Strength for feats of agility, such as jump.Meanwhile, a person applies their Dexterity precisely via fine motor skills. While small ‘hand-like’ movements normally means the hands. It also applies to situations where a person is using an other part of their body like a hand, like picking up keys with ones toes, or if someone is tied up trying to knock keys off with ones chin, or whatever - any kind of ‘hand-like’ movement. So, shooting an arrow requires small precision. And so on.The difference between big accuracy and small precision is vivid, and it is easy for a DM to adjudicate which applies best in a particular situation. Some situations seem like they could benefit from either big accuracy or small precision, and that is where Finesse (Strength or Dexterity) comes in.</blockquote>

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