Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Runestar" data-source="post: 4529415" data-attributes="member: 72317">Don't look at me. I didn't write or design the game, I merely play it. My point is simply that the wizard's +10 to open locks may very well be +0, considering that he will never succeed on anything with it, save for the occasional aid-another attempt.Adding 1/2 character lv seems better, but at closer inspection, I personally feel that it is really no different from 3e, which did not auto-boost your skills at all. DnD is a system which rewards overwhelming specialization in a particular role. Either you go out of your way to pump said skill (thus ensuring a good chance of success), or you don't bother about it at all (meaning you don't invest any ranks in it, leaving it at zero) and leave said task to the other party members. Anything in between is a waste, IMO (from a mechanical POV, I won't touch on rp purposes), barring a few personal-only skills like concentration or autohynopsis.Remove the 1/2 lv bonus, and lower defenses/DCs/AC/attack rolls by that same amount. You will find that games should play more or less the same. It simply looks good and makes your character feel good, but I find it has no practical applications beyond that. At 1st lv, an elf cleric can have a spot check of +15 (+5 trained, +4 wis, +3 skill focus, +2 racial, +1 background), as contrasted with another PC who did not bother training it, and had a wis of 10 (like a swordmage). Likewise, if another member of my party has put so much effort into tricking out spot, why then should anyone else bother with pumping said skill? Said cleric is going to automatically succeed on any passive (read: take10) check, so there is no need for anyone else to make spot checks of their own, much less invest in it.This disparity will only grow, as the cleric continues to boost his wis, and acquires magic items which boost the relevant skills. 20 is already considered conservative, IMO. So while everyone gets +1spot every 2 lvs, in reality, only the cleric is going to care about such a bonus, the rest will be like "nice, but not needed", since they will not be bothered with spot checks in the first place!Let me put it this way.What will happen if you set the DC of a lock such that it is considered a "fair challenge" for the wizard? That is right, the wizard is still not going to try and open it. Rather, the party rogue with a 100% chance of success will be able to bypass it with no problems whatsoever.Each PC is likely going to have certain skills they excel in (and others they suck at). There is really no running away from this. The DCs will have to be determined according to who can best attempt it, rather than the worst candidate. And in this sense, the 1/2 lv bonus neither adds anything nor takes away anything from it. It is just as good as not existing.</blockquote>

Verification