What good is an Endurance skill?

[Silverblade The Ench]

Try my games, especially Dark Sun, and see why suck skills/abilities are useful
The ability to keep going, or the pursuers gank you when you slow down, is not useless, etc.

*in the style of Minsc*
"Evil DMs for Everyone!!"

 

[Surgoshan]

The ceiling descends. I make a strength check to stop it, then an endurance check every turn to keep it stopped.

 

[CleverNickName]

Well... You can sorta train for Endurance.

Anything you condition your body to be used too, or become good at. Is essentially training your body to work that way.

I think a person can train to endure something... such as long hikes, running, or lifting heavy objects for an extended time.

Oh I agree completely; the thing that bothers me is the vocabulary. In this sense of the word, the verb "train" is used to describe physical conditioning...you are not learning anything new, but you are building stamina and increasing your metabolism, which makes you able to do things that you physically weren't able to do earlier. In short, you are developing fortitude.

The other definition of "train" is to learn a new skill, to learn to perform a task that you previously did not know how to do, or to learn more efficient and effective methods to accomplish the same task. In other words, you are developing skill.

That's how I see it, anyway. (shrug) That plus a nickel won't even get you a cup of coffee anymore.

EDIT: Crap, I forgot about the Athletics skill (thanks, Burr). That would work for the physical conditioning I described, certainly.

 

[Burr]

Completing long rituals.

Most anything Athletics could do, given a slightly longer timespan, so it keeps us from needing an adhoc "highest of Str or Con (but only for a slightly longer timespan)" rule to account for high Con/low Str characters.

 

[Scholar & Brutalman]

Staying awake. Something that the GM might require from characters who are keeping watch after 2 days of a forced march.

 

[fba827]

Eh, I see it to serve the purpose that I used to use Con ability checks for --


"You want to _continue_ doing that strenuous activity (running , swimming, holding something up), fine, make an Endurance check...."

 

[TwinBahamut]

I think it works very well. With Endurance, Athletics and Acrobatics, just about any possible physical activity is covered with a skill. This means that there is no debate about whether any kind of out-of-combat physical activity would be a skill check or not. If you need to do some kind of extraordinary physical feat of any kind, make a skill check.

Along with the basic idea of using Endurance to simply out-run something (which seems like it would come up often enough for PCs), there are a few other things it can be used for that I can think of.

You need to make an Endurance check to hold your breath in case of water or poison gas.

You need to make an Endurance check in order to withstand harsh travel conditions (like travel through extreme hot or cold).

You may need an Endurance check to hold on for dear life to the handrail of an airship falling out of the sky, or the back of a dragon trying to throw you off. Holding on to a plank of wood while floating through storm-tossed seas or holding on to a rock to avoid being swept away by a flood are related uses of the skill.

While I imagine Athletics would be used if you want to throw something, you want Endurance if you want to carry something heavy as part of a skill challenge.

At truly epic levels, you need to use Endurance to hold the sky up while Atlas takes a break.

 

[AtomicPope]

Perhaps...

--force march
--hold your breath
--ignore hunger/thirst
--run for longer
--swim or tread water for longer
--sleep in armour


But if that's all there is, I'm thinking it'll be a pretty crappy skill. So, what other uses for this skill can you think of?

Sleeping in armor is a big deal for fighters, don't knock it.

I'm sure the skill is exactly like in Star Wars Saga where there is a set DC to sleep in armor depending on how "heavy" it is. My Elite Soldier never left his battlesuit. I'm sure any fighter in D&D would like to wear their armor 24/7, full plate or not. As a feat it was lame (no adamantine FP) but as a skill it's actually quite useful. I see fighters being more like the Knights of the Round Table from Boorman's Excaliber - they do everything with their armor on

And considering mass movement spells are going to disappear at lower levels, it adds another reason to take it.

 

[AtomicPope]

Completing long rituals.

Most anything Athletics could do, given a slightly longer timespan, so it keeps us from needing an adhoc "highest of Str or Con (but only for a slightly longer timespan)" rule to account for high Con/low Str characters.

Athletics requires prowess, not prolonged strain. Climbing requires knowledge of footholds/handholds, balance, and strength. Climbing for an hour requires endurance.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Personally I'd be tempted to use endurance as a meditation skill as well.

Maybe make it a trained usage?

Then in the case of searching a house for clues you could trance out and try to remember everything you might now about the place or reduce distractions so you can gain a bonus to another role.

Though I do totally agree that Endurance seems less like a skill, useful for taking an action, than a meta-skill, useful for doing anything under certain circumstances.