Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Thoughts on skill checks
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Greenfield" data-source="post: 7901670" data-attributes="member: 6669384"><p>While this is labeled as 3.5, I thing just about anyone can chime in on this.</p><p></p><p>Every skill in the game has an ability score it's tied to. That's standard through every edition since 3.0, and it works.</p><p></p><p>Sort of.</p><p></p><p>The fact is that sometimes it seems like it's hard tied to the wrong ability score, or that more than one might come into play.</p><p></p><p>For example: In D&D3.* there's a skill called Jump. Since it's Strength based, and gets bonuses from faster movements, that suggests that Elephants are champion long and high jumpers. The move faster than people do and have immense strength.</p><p></p><p>Yeah, that was a test designed to fail, but that was the point. To try and find a fail point.</p><p></p><p>Anyway I'm thinking about situations where there might be two ways to see something done. Can a mastermind Intimidate with a knowing smile and a cruel laugh? Oh heck yeah. The Intimidate skill is Charisma based, after all.</p><p></p><p>By those rules though, the seven-foot Barbarian who just ripped the cell door off as he entered won't intimidate anyone. Charisma was his dump stat.</p><p></p><p>In all of those cases a good DM will call for the check using something other than the standard ability as a base. (Okay, the mastermind can keep his, he earned it <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /> )</p><p></p><p>But for those of us playing characters that aren't elephants, it still seems like movement, timing and a good take-off should count for something.</p><p></p><p>So I'm suggesting the idea of a hybrid skill check: For the long jump perhaps take the hard average of Strength and Dex scores.</p><p></p><p>Climb is still Strength. Swim is currently Strength, but I could see Dex and possibly Con entering in there. Okay, Con would be accounted for in an Endurance check, but averaging the STR and DEX scores seems like a not-unreasonablle approach.</p><p></p><p>WHat other skills can you think of that might call for that kind of split-decision in play?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Greenfield, post: 7901670, member: 6669384"] While this is labeled as 3.5, I thing just about anyone can chime in on this. Every skill in the game has an ability score it's tied to. That's standard through every edition since 3.0, and it works. Sort of. The fact is that sometimes it seems like it's hard tied to the wrong ability score, or that more than one might come into play. For example: In D&D3.* there's a skill called Jump. Since it's Strength based, and gets bonuses from faster movements, that suggests that Elephants are champion long and high jumpers. The move faster than people do and have immense strength. Yeah, that was a test designed to fail, but that was the point. To try and find a fail point. Anyway I'm thinking about situations where there might be two ways to see something done. Can a mastermind Intimidate with a knowing smile and a cruel laugh? Oh heck yeah. The Intimidate skill is Charisma based, after all. By those rules though, the seven-foot Barbarian who just ripped the cell door off as he entered won't intimidate anyone. Charisma was his dump stat. In all of those cases a good DM will call for the check using something other than the standard ability as a base. (Okay, the mastermind can keep his, he earned it :) ) But for those of us playing characters that aren't elephants, it still seems like movement, timing and a good take-off should count for something. So I'm suggesting the idea of a hybrid skill check: For the long jump perhaps take the hard average of Strength and Dex scores. Climb is still Strength. Swim is currently Strength, but I could see Dex and possibly Con entering in there. Okay, Con would be accounted for in an Endurance check, but averaging the STR and DEX scores seems like a not-unreasonablle approach. WHat other skills can you think of that might call for that kind of split-decision in play? [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Thoughts on skill checks
Top