D&D 4E Trying to incorporate the *5E* ability score checks for skills into 4E

[Arctic Wolf]

Hey all, how is everyone? Well ever since I heard about *5E* trying to base some things off of ability scores to make checks go by faster, I thought about trying this in 4E. While I was originally trying to cut out the skill system and totally base it off ability scores, I came into a problem: I would have to totally redo the difficulty class by skill level to make it work. So for now I will be lazy and just go off of ability scores, and if they aren't high enough, do a skill check to resolve the issue. So here are the scores I came up with for just saying, "Yes you can do that at this degree." They can attempt to try something better also, but give them either a +1 bonus for being able to do the easy skill or a +3 bonus for being able to do the moderate skill already.

Levels Easy Moderate Hard
1-5 10 14 17
6-10 12 16 19
11-15 14 18 21
16-20 16 20 23
21-25 18 22 25
26-30 20 24 27

So tell me what you think? I know it is still a bit rough, but I hope to work it out along with my idea of rituals just to make 4E a bit simplier.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I don't see the point. Skill checks are ability checks anyway, with a bonus for level. The only difference is training gives you a +5 bonus. If you remove skills (effectively removing the training bonus), reduce all DCs by 5.

Sort of like how saving throws in 3.x are actually ability checks, with a bonus based on class level.

I think there's a lot of poorly distributed info out there about 5e actually, not surprising, since there's little more than speculation available. There are people screaming about 6 saving throws now.

 

[Arctic Wolf]

I don't see the point. Skill checks are ability checks anyway, with a bonus for level. The only difference is training gives you a +5 bonus. If you remove skills (effectively removing the training bonus), reduce all DCs by 5.

Sort of like how saving throws in 3.x are actually ability checks, with a bonus based on class level.

I think there's a lot of poorly distributed info out there about 5e actually, not surprising, since there's little more than speculation available. There are people screaming about 6 saving throws now.

I agree with there being poorly distributed info about it. I guess I am aiming for where I ask what your ability score and can just tell you if you do it although rolling will still be an option if that makes sense?

 

[Keenberg]

I guess I am aiming for where I ask what your ability score and can just tell you if you do it although rolling will still be an option if that makes sense?

That is the way it already works. A 1 is never an automatic fail for skill checks., so if your skill score is the DC-1, it is an automatic success. No houserule needed.

 

[Arctic Wolf]

That is the way it already works. A 1 is never an automatic fail for skill checks., so if your skill score is the DC-1, it is an automatic success. No houserule needed.

Oh, did not know that. I will have to go through stuff again. Thanks Keenberg

 

[Unwise]

I have actually been using a system like this for some time. It is a lot like the Star Wars d6 system, that I thought was great. My current campaign is not using it as the PCs don't mind having a limited selection of skills. My previous group had come from Rolemaster and found the skill list restrictive.

When using this system. The character sheets look like this (In this example, a pirate PC):

Strength 14
Climbing +6
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Dexterity 16
Sneak +4
Sailing +8
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Wisdom 11
Perception +3
Area Knowledge: Sword Coast +12
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Intelligence 13
Navigation +8
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The combination of stat and skill bonus sets the effective stat for the purposes of the roll.

Skills are divided into three catagories: Broad, Narrow and Specialised. Pulling numbers out of the air, training a skill would give you +5 to a broad skill (eg Nature), +8 to a narrow skill (Survival) or +12 to specific skill (Jungle Survival). Or like in the example above, if you can be trained in 4 skills, that equals 20 skill points. +1 to a broad skill costs 1. 1 point in a narrow skill is gives 1.5 and specific skills give 2 per point spent. The numbers are all just made up, but you get the idea. My players wanted very specific skills, so I later made broad skills unfeasibly expensive to increase.

On top of this, you can buy conditional bonuses, once again in the same three catagories. So you can get a general bonus to all social skills while in a pub or party. You can get a bonus to all lore skills related to forests (making it easy for the otherwise dull elf to know about all the woodland creatures and plants), or all physical skills while in a forest (the elf is much better at walking quietly and climbing trees than walking on cobblestones and climbing guttering).

This allows a dumb ogre to actually be an expert on his local region and wilderness survival. It allows the dull veteran fighter to be great at first aid, even if he knows nothing about medicine or healing diseases. In my campaign, everybody invested in sailing skills to some extent and they all ended up good at them, despite not investing much.

The system worked really well and I liked it. It was a fix for a problem that my current group does not have though, so it has been a while since I used it.