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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 5702158" data-attributes="member: 82106">Beyond that, the idea that a really well-trained expert in Stealth can't ever fail doesn't seem like a totally defensible position anyway. The dice represent all the unforeseeable unplanned random luck and all the little details of the world that simply aren't definable by even the most detail-oriented DM. Sneaky McSneak is indeed super stealthy, but the gig can still be up when one of the orc guards decides he has to relieve himself and picks the bush Sneaky is hiding in to do his business. Stuff happens. Part of the fun is coming up with narration for those once-in-a-blue-moon times when stuff goes a bit wrong. Likewise Clunky McStubby the plate and shield equipped dwarf is ill-advised to try to sneak past someone, but the once-in-a-blue-moon when he tries it and he succeeds, well, that's the sort of story you retell in the tavern over a couple frothy tankards. So, I just don't really see the whole ranked skill system as being superior. It does a certain thing, but I'm not sure that certain thing is really needed and it seems to me like it also removes some possibilities. It would seem especially problematic in a case where a module author wants to use it and really doesn't know what skills a party might be missing ranks in. At least with the existing system there's almost certainly one PC with some reasonable chance to pull off almost anything.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 5702158, member: 82106"] Beyond that, the idea that a really well-trained expert in Stealth can't ever fail doesn't seem like a totally defensible position anyway. The dice represent all the unforeseeable unplanned random luck and all the little details of the world that simply aren't definable by even the most detail-oriented DM. Sneaky McSneak is indeed super stealthy, but the gig can still be up when one of the orc guards decides he has to relieve himself and picks the bush Sneaky is hiding in to do his business. Stuff happens. Part of the fun is coming up with narration for those once-in-a-blue-moon times when stuff goes a bit wrong. Likewise Clunky McStubby the plate and shield equipped dwarf is ill-advised to try to sneak past someone, but the once-in-a-blue-moon when he tries it and he succeeds, well, that's the sort of story you retell in the tavern over a couple frothy tankards. So, I just don't really see the whole ranked skill system as being superior. It does a certain thing, but I'm not sure that certain thing is really needed and it seems to me like it also removes some possibilities. It would seem especially problematic in a case where a module author wants to use it and really doesn't know what skills a party might be missing ranks in. At least with the existing system there's almost certainly one PC with some reasonable chance to pull off almost anything. [/QUOTE]

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