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Things I like and dislike about 5e...
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<blockquote data-quote="pming" data-source="post: 6585457" data-attributes="member: 45197"><p>Hiya.</p><p></p><p>Re: <strong>Skills</strong>. We don't have a problem with it right now, but I had seen potential problems. Primarily I see a problem when someone with a skill has an average or slightly-better Ability score, versus someone who doesn't have the skill but has a really high Ability score. </p><p></p><p>For example, I have one player playing a Ranger. She makes her <em>Nature</em> check with +3 (+2 for Proficiency and +1 for her Int). However, the bard, who grew up in a city, gets to make his <em>Nature</em> check with +4 (Int 19). This just feels...odd to us. We get that he's a freaking smarty-pants with an IQ of, what, 190+? But surely the Ranger, trained to live in the wilds, growing up in the wilds, and constantly focused on said wilds should just "know more".</p><p></p><p>Anyway, what my house rule is, is that only a character who is actually Skilled in something can possibly roll with Advantage. If you don't have the skill, you can't roll with Advantage. So, in my example above, 'flat' rolls would give the edge to the braniac bard... but if something gives them help, the Ranger may be able to roll with Advantage. So, hitting up a library might give a +2 bonus...oh, but the Ranger actually has the skill, so she also gets Advantage. So the bard rolls once and adds 6. The bard rolls twice, takes the highest roll, and adds 5.</p><p></p><p>So far, that little "but you have the chance to actually roll with Advantage if you are Skilled in it" has made a HUGE difference in player-to-player perception of which character is "better" at something...even if they have a lower bonus than someone else. Just that one little thing, that doesn't come up all that often...makes the skilled person the "go to guy" when the players start role-playing their character. They don't think in numbers nearly as much. They see someone with a skill and think "Miranda the Ranger knows all about Nature. Lets ask her!", and they don't think "Miranda only has +3...so lets ask Leu the Bard because he has +4".</p><p></p><p>Weird how one, simple little rule can completely change the mindset of players... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Just one of the reasons why I (and my group) absolutely <em><strong><u>LOVE</u></strong></em> the Adv/Disad rule system! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin :D" data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></p><p></p><p>^_^</p><p></p><p>Paul L. Ming</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pming, post: 6585457, member: 45197"] Hiya. Re: [B]Skills[/B]. We don't have a problem with it right now, but I had seen potential problems. Primarily I see a problem when someone with a skill has an average or slightly-better Ability score, versus someone who doesn't have the skill but has a really high Ability score. For example, I have one player playing a Ranger. She makes her [I]Nature[/I] check with +3 (+2 for Proficiency and +1 for her Int). However, the bard, who grew up in a city, gets to make his [I]Nature[/I] check with +4 (Int 19). This just feels...odd to us. We get that he's a freaking smarty-pants with an IQ of, what, 190+? But surely the Ranger, trained to live in the wilds, growing up in the wilds, and constantly focused on said wilds should just "know more". Anyway, what my house rule is, is that only a character who is actually Skilled in something can possibly roll with Advantage. If you don't have the skill, you can't roll with Advantage. So, in my example above, 'flat' rolls would give the edge to the braniac bard... but if something gives them help, the Ranger may be able to roll with Advantage. So, hitting up a library might give a +2 bonus...oh, but the Ranger actually has the skill, so she also gets Advantage. So the bard rolls once and adds 6. The bard rolls twice, takes the highest roll, and adds 5. So far, that little "but you have the chance to actually roll with Advantage if you are Skilled in it" has made a HUGE difference in player-to-player perception of which character is "better" at something...even if they have a lower bonus than someone else. Just that one little thing, that doesn't come up all that often...makes the skilled person the "go to guy" when the players start role-playing their character. They don't think in numbers nearly as much. They see someone with a skill and think "Miranda the Ranger knows all about Nature. Lets ask her!", and they don't think "Miranda only has +3...so lets ask Leu the Bard because he has +4". Weird how one, simple little rule can completely change the mindset of players... :) Just one of the reasons why I (and my group) absolutely [I][B][U]LOVE[/U][/B][/I] the Adv/Disad rule system! :D ^_^ Paul L. Ming [/QUOTE]
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