Tumble House Rules?

[dren]

Having the tumbler roll DC 10+BAB does not slow down the combat as previously mentioned.

Normally the tumbler would roll vs a DC 15, instead they announce what DC they beat, you as the DM should ALWAYS know the BAB of the creature they are rolling past, you announce if they take the AoO or not.

Simple, easy, and quick. This allows the tumble check to be scalable, as I never liked the fact that it took the same check to tumble past a 1st level fighter than a 10th level one. There's a risk and the challenge increases based on who you attempt to tumble past.

 

[Matt Black]

Why not eliminate the skill roll altogether? When tumbling as part of normal movement, you gain a flat dodge bonus to AC against AoOs provoked by moving through threatened squares. This bonus is based on the number of ranks in Tumble... +2 per 5 ranks seems reasonable.

Tumbling through an occupied square is a different matter, and should still require a roll.

 

[Stalker0]

Why not eliminate the skill roll altogether? When tumbling as part of normal movement, you gain a flat dodge bonus to AC against AoOs provoked by moving through threatened squares. This bonus is based on the number of ranks in Tumble... +2 per 5 ranks seems reasonable.

Tumbling through an occupied square is a different matter, and should still require a roll.

+2 per 5!!? That's a very big nerf to the skill is written, and it doesn't take into account your dex score.

 

[Matt Black]

+2 per 5!!? That's a very big nerf to the skill is written, and it doesn't take into account your dex score.

Yeah, but I've always felt Tumble was way too good. And dex adds to your AC, so it's already in the equation. If you don't think it's enough, make it +3. That's already almost as good as mobility.

You would, of course, still need to make checks to do everything else that Tumble usually does, including moving faster than half your speed.

 

[Stalker0]

Yeah, but I've always felt Tumble was way too good. And dex adds to your AC, so it's already in the equation. If you don't think it's enough, make it +3. That's already almost as good as mobility.

You would, of course, still need to make checks to do everything else that Tumble usually does, including moving faster than half your speed.

If you want to equalize tumble with mobility, it should be 5 ranks = +4 bonus. This is based on the feat open minded, which gives you 5 skill points. So the approximate conversion is 1 feat = 5 skill points.

 

[Matt Black]

If you want to equalize tumble with mobility, it should be 5 ranks = +4 bonus. This is based on the feat open minded, which gives you 5 skill points. So the approximate conversion is 1 feat = 5 skill points.

Except that tumble does more than protect from AoOs. If each 5 ranks granted the equivalent of the mobility feat, then those 5 ranks would be worth that feat plus all the other stuff you can do with tumble (reduce falling damage, move through occupied squares). Even without the extra stuff, the fact that the bonus from tumble ranks would increase, whereas mobility can only be taken once, makes it more valuable.

This method certainly isn't andy less powerful than the variant in which you treat your tumble check as your AC with respect to AoOs. For a character with 16 dex and 10 ranks in tumble, the average skill check is 23. If instead they get +4 from a flat +2 per 5 ranks in tumble, their AC should be around the same (assuming a +1 chain shirt and +1 ring of prot). However with this method you automatically factor in all the appropriate bonuses to AC, including mobility!

If you really want a tumble roll, then grant +2 to AC vs. AoOs for every 5 points (rounded down) by which the tumble check beats DC 5. Then increase that DC as per usual for multiple threatening opponents, difficult terrain, etc. Just one roll, but takes everything into account - including your opponent's attack bonuses because they still get to take a swing.