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Post by Hydranis on Nov 1, 2014 14:46:45 GMT -5
Sheltem brought up a good point on 10/29/14. You cannot technically critically fail etc. on a skill. The way I've always done it is that if you roll a 1 or a 20, something special (or horrible) would happen. If someone was to try and climb a rope and they roll a 1, I would give them a reroll. If that reroll was 5 or below, something terrible would happen. Perhaps they wouldn't simply fall, but fall and break their arm or something similar.
This type of ruling has also been used when it comes to attacking. If you roll a 1 while attacking, you reroll. If that reroll is a 5 or below you either throw your weapon or break it. If you roll a 1 again, you usually will do damage to yourself.
What do you guys think about this for skills? Should we go 100% by the book, where if you roll a 1 for a skill check that it's simply a 1? Or should something special happen if you roll a 1 or a 20.
The reason I am putting this up for discussion is because I, as a game master, want my players to be able to have input. There are ways you want to play this game and if you wish to have it done a certain way, and can back up that decision, then we can make those changes. Also, if anyone has any rules that they find in any of the books or the SRD, please reply with the page number or a link so that we can all read what you've found.
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Post by BlindGecko on Nov 3, 2014 5:19:37 GMT -5
I think crit fails and crit successes should be in play for skills. It doesn't bother me at all and I feel they make a more realistic experience
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Post by Hydranis on Nov 4, 2014 11:06:32 GMT -5
We also used to have a +10 rule if you rolled a natural 20. Haven't been doing that recently, though, but it was a house rule we adopted back in like 2010.
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sheltem
Newbie
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Posts: 30
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Post by sheltem on Nov 13, 2014 9:33:16 GMT -5
To me, if you are a trained lifeguard (Say a +15 to swim) You aren't going to drown 1/20 times going to the pool. You might be sloppy or lazy one day, but you have the muscle memory it takes to get through your check without drowning yourself. Let's say you wanted to make it interesting and double 1's meant something bad, someone goes swimming and gets a sudden leg cramp, the lifeguard is going to know how to handle himself out of the water, or work out the cramp.
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Post by Hydranis on Nov 13, 2014 11:17:25 GMT -5
To me, if you are a trained lifeguard (Say a +15 to swim) You aren't going to drown 1/20 times going to the pool. You might be sloppy or lazy one day, but you have the muscle memory it takes to get through your check without drowning yourself. Let's say you wanted to make it interesting and double 1's meant something bad, someone goes swimming and gets a sudden leg cramp, the lifeguard is going to know how to handle himself out of the water, or work out the cramp. I could live with that. In combat, if you roll a 1 I make you re roll it. If you roll a 5 or less you may throw your weapon, stab your friend, etc. So if you're a trained lifeguard and roll a 1 and a 3, then something bad happens and you have a really rough time swimming.
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sheltem
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Posts: 30
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Post by sheltem on Nov 13, 2014 15:06:03 GMT -5
Yeah I don't mind things in that kind of case, as long as the "something bad" takes the actual skill level into account.
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Post by yunoplaywizard on Nov 30, 2014 16:07:49 GMT -5
As far as combat i would use the critical decks. They add flavor to the game. Skill checks go with nat 20 is a +10 Nat 1 is a -10. The game says there so crit ether way. The only problem is with that if the life guard rolls a 1 its a 16. so theirs no chance he will ever drown.(even then a swim miss you only go under 10ft for every consecutive miss until you drown so theirs plenty of chances) the real issue is things like disable traps and bluff. There should always be the slight chance of fail with this.
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Post by Hydranis on Nov 30, 2014 18:47:30 GMT -5
Good point, Mike. We have in the past used the +10 -10 rule. So Let's say said life guard had a swim of +15 but rolls a 1, he will get a total of 5 which would fail him on the check. This will give a bit of realism to the game by allowing even masters of an art to fail. As they say, even a monkey falls out of a tree once in a while.
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sheltem
Newbie
Rejected Applicant
Posts: 30
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Post by sheltem on Dec 18, 2014 22:57:39 GMT -5
Good point, Mike. We have in the past used the +10 -10 rule. So Let's say said life guard had a swim of +15 but rolls a 1, he will get a total of 5 which would fail him on the check. This will give a bit of realism to the game by allowing even masters of an art to fail. As they say, even a monkey falls out of a tree once in a while. A +10/-10 sort of goes against the entire point of skill checks. A lifeguard isn't suddenly going to forget how to swim, and a 1/20 chance is pretty high for "once in awhile". By those rules, you would have gotten into about 15 car accidents a year. But, it is your call.
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Post by Hydranis on Dec 19, 2014 0:11:59 GMT -5
On the note of driving, you wouldn't be making a drive check every time you get into a car. You would be taking 20 or 10, unless making some crazy maneuvers. Same goes with swimming. If that lifeguard is chilling in the water, he's going to rest at taking 10 or 20 and be just fine 100% of the time all day, every day. But when he has to jump into that water, things may go wrong. He cramps up, he accidentally gulps down a bunch of chlorinated water. Etc. Same with driving, how you may hit the brakes a bit too hard when you saw that squirrel almost run into the street, or you over steer by a long shot when you slid on that patch of ice.
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Post by yunoplaywizard on Dec 19, 2014 12:46:15 GMT -5
^
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Post by philo on Dec 19, 2014 16:22:52 GMT -5
does a natural 1 roll always fail a skill check?- googled it and no it doesnt
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Post by philo on Dec 19, 2014 16:38:02 GMT -5
There is a better way then +10/-10 I'm not sure how to explain it but roll a second d20, then take into the account the skill points.
Lets say I roll a natural 20, instead of just making it a 30, why not let me roll another d20 and add that to the first roll?
Lets say I roll a 1, instead of it being a -9, why not let me roll a second d20 and subtract its total from my first roll?
Lets take Swimmy McSwimmerton, lvl 5 lifeguard with +15 to swim and do some examples
He rolls a natural 20, and on his second roll rolls a 5- wham! his roll would be (20+5)+15 - he just got a 40 in swim and swam the fuck out of it
He rolls a natural 1, and on his second roll he rolls a 5- wham! his roll would be (1-5)+15- he just got an 11 in swim and didn't swim as much fuck out of it as he would have liked.
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Post by Hydranis on Dec 19, 2014 17:33:41 GMT -5
That is another idea that could work. Makes it even a bit more random with a chance of still not failing a skill if you're technically an "expert" in it. What do the rest of you think of this one?
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Post by yunoplaywizard on Dec 19, 2014 17:54:39 GMT -5
There is a better way then +10/-10 I'm not sure how to explain it but roll a second d20, then take into the account the skill points. Lets say I roll a natural 20, instead of just making it a 30, why not let me roll another d20 and add that to the first roll? Lets say I roll a 1, instead of it being a -9, why not let me roll a second d20 and subtract its total from my first roll? Lets take Swimmy McSwimmerton, lvl 5 lifeguard with +15 to swim and do some examples He rolls a natural 20, and on his second roll rolls a 5- wham! his roll would be (20+5)+15 - he just got a 40 in swim and swam the fuck out of it He rolls a natural 1, and on his second roll he rolls a 5- wham! his roll would be (1-5)+15- he just got an 11 in swim and didn't swim as much fuck out of it as he would have liked. I like this a lot!
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