What Tumble variant do you use?

[Plane Sailing]

My variant?

1) Tumble past is used like the PHB - fail the check and you take AoO, make the check and you don't.

2) Tumble though is different. DC25 like before, but if you fail the check you bounce off the person and end up prone on the floor in front of them.

I changed the second one because the standard PHB rendering is too cheezy for words. You can have rank 1 in tumble, a -4 Dex penalty, roll a 1 and *still* get through the solid wall of defenders to the mage in the back! Sure, he takes AoO on the way through, but they won't necessarily hit, nor stop you.

It can be argued that people could use the AoO to trip or grapple, but personally I prefer the nerfing which I've done.

- of course, the 10th level rogue who chooses skill mastery in tumble can reliably tumble through all opposition, but I've learned to live with that!

Cheers

 

[IceBear]

I used to use a similar house rule, but the rogue didn't necessarily end up prone. If he got hit he had to make a balance check (DC=10+damage) or end up prone.

IceBear

 

[Shard O'Glase]

Why do people, want to totally cheese out tumble. All we are talking about is an ability to avoid AoO. If you put points in a skill you should be able to gain abilities like that. Making the DC an attack roll basically negates any reason to put any points in this skill except maybe as a variation on the perform skill. Oy yippie if I max out my skill, I have a slightly better than 50% chance to succeed, when facing a foe of equivelent level, instead of the foes of higher level that I frequently bump into.
And still an opposed check doesn't make much sense if it isn't always opposed. If AoO at their base come for free, making the checks opposed just double screws the person trying to tumble.

 

[BMF]

Why do people, want to totally cheese out tumble.

Because any 7th level tumbler can make DC 15 checks all day long. And by the time he's 10th, he doesn't have to roll any more. Want to tumble past a 1st level commoner? DC 15. Want to tumble past a 15th level troll fighter?? DC 15.

I have always had a problem with that. I think it should be an opposed roll. Unfortunately, I'm not the DM right now, and the guy who is has decided to play by the book as much as he can.

But when I take over the DM job again, I going to use some sort of varient. I think the tumble check should be opposed by the opponent's attack roll. But I haven't played with that idea yet. I think Monte's suggestion of adding a +10 bonus to the attack roll seems pretty severe. A straight opposed check seems fair to me.

 

[BMF]

Here's an idea I just had,

Make it like the Ijujitsu (sp?) Skill Focus in OA and tie it to the Tumblers' AC. So, if you can make a Tumble check DC 15 you can tumble through a threatened area and gain a +4 bonus to your AC while tumbling. If you can make a Tumble check DC 25, you gain a +8 circumstance bonus. If you can make a DC 35, add +12 to your AC while you tumble through. DC 45, +16. Opponents would still get their AoO, but their chance of hitting would be reduced by the degree of the expert tumbling maneuver.

Just a thought....

 

[Thanee]

I think Monte's suggestion of adding a +10 bonus to the attack roll seems pretty severe. A straight opposed check seems fair to me.

That +10 is ONLY when you tumble through an occupied square (DC 25 by the book)!

Bye
Thanee

 

[Shard O'Glase]

Because any 7th level tumbler can make DC 15 checks all day long. And by the time he's 10th, he doesn't have to roll any more. Want to tumble past a 1st level commoner? DC 15. Want to tumble past a 15th level troll fighter?? DC 15.

I have always had a problem with that. I think it should be an opposed roll. Unfortunately, I'm not the DM right now, and the guy who is has decided to play by the book as much as he can.

But when I take over the DM job again, I going to use some sort of varient. I think the tumble check should be opposed by the opponent's attack roll. But I haven't played with that idea yet. I think Monte's suggestion of adding a +10 bonus to the attack roll seems pretty severe. A straight opposed check seems fair to me.

Wow a 7th level guy can do that. You'd think that a guy who is a one in a 1000 or even rarer tumbler would still be a total sucker. Wow it's neat to know that if I actually devote a good number of skill points and am a exceptionally powerful individual I can actually do something with my skills.

 

[Shallown]

I actually use this formula

tumble around dc= 10 plus BAB of person being avoided
tumble through DC 20 + BAB of person being avoided.

So far has worked and kept a certain level of uncertainty for the roll. Also gives a chance at low levels to make the rolls.

Later

 

[Dog Faced God]

I use Monte Cook's variant: Opposed Rolls

I used the PHB rules until it occurred to me that Tumble requires you to interact with another character. It seems to me that it's going to be a bit more difficult to tumble past a 20th level fighter than a 1st level fighter. A static DC is not appropriate for Tumble Checks.

 

[SableWyvern]

I actually use this formula

tumble around dc= 10 plus BAB of person being avoided
tumble through DC 20 + BAB of person being avoided.

So far has worked and kept a certain level of uncertainty for the roll. Also gives a chance at low levels to make the rolls.

Later

This I like. Methinks I'll be stealing that idea, and using it for casting defensively as well.