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<blockquote data-quote="The Crimson Binome" data-source="post: 7162401" data-attributes="member: 6775031"><p>It really depends on a lot of circumstances, but the basic question is, would a character still find the ability useful even if they aren't the best at it? For something like Athletics on a Rogue or Wizard, it might be helpful to go from having a penalty to having a bonus. If everyone needs to swim across a lake, then having a decent chance to succeed means that you won't be holding everyone back.</p><p></p><p>Of course, that assumes they even have a chance to succeed, which isn't always the case. If the game is designed in such a way that high-level challenges are supposed to be a challenge to high-level specialists, then there's no point in taking the skill you would be bad at, because you're still going to fail anyway; in those situations, allowing the character to take an ability that will never work for them just seems like bad design. D&D 5E is good at keeping difficulties in the range where everyone can still try, but D&D 3E is designed in such a way that difficulties are impossible unless you're a specialist.</p><p></p><p>If you're designing a class-based game where you don't want people to succeed at things they aren't good at, then one option is to get rid of skills entirely. If only fighters are capable of climbing walls and only wizards are capable of reading languages, then you can just make those things rely on basic stat checks, knowing that the fighter is going to have high Strength and the wizard is going to have high Intelligence. It just depends on what kind of world you're trying to describe.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="The Crimson Binome, post: 7162401, member: 6775031"] It really depends on a lot of circumstances, but the basic question is, would a character still find the ability useful even if they aren't the best at it? For something like Athletics on a Rogue or Wizard, it might be helpful to go from having a penalty to having a bonus. If everyone needs to swim across a lake, then having a decent chance to succeed means that you won't be holding everyone back. Of course, that assumes they even have a chance to succeed, which isn't always the case. If the game is designed in such a way that high-level challenges are supposed to be a challenge to high-level specialists, then there's no point in taking the skill you would be bad at, because you're still going to fail anyway; in those situations, allowing the character to take an ability that will never work for them just seems like bad design. D&D 5E is good at keeping difficulties in the range where everyone can still try, but D&D 3E is designed in such a way that difficulties are impossible unless you're a specialist. If you're designing a class-based game where you don't want people to succeed at things they aren't good at, then one option is to get rid of skills entirely. If only fighters are capable of climbing walls and only wizards are capable of reading languages, then you can just make those things rely on basic stat checks, knowing that the fighter is going to have high Strength and the wizard is going to have high Intelligence. It just depends on what kind of world you're trying to describe. [/QUOTE]
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