Segev
2014-02-26, 11:57 AM
Mostly a random thought, here. D&D's old, old roots had a d20 to tie to its 3-18 stats because they used a "roll under your stat to succeed" resolution system on all the things that we now tend to lump under "skills."
This proposal is not specific to D&D, but using the D&D d20/3-18 stat spread is a good reference point.
So, how well would a skill system work wherein you add your skill ranks and other modifiers to your die roll, but your die roll failed if you rolled higher than your stat? You'd also have target numbers (difficulty classes or whatever) that you had to reach to succeed. This makes rolling a range between "too low" and "too high" necessary to succeed, if you have enough skill to even have a chance to succeed at all.
The drawback is that this means low stats will be even more of an impediment than under "classic" skill systems such as d20's. If you have a 3 in d20, but you invest heavily in a skill, you can overcome the -4 to your skill from your low stat. If you fail if you roll 4+ so that your highest possible successful roll is, not d20+skill-4, but 3+skill, you're much more severely limited.
But are there benefits, from a mechanical design perspective, to this sort of system? Could it be made useful? Has it any interesting consequences that could be exploited?
This proposal is not specific to D&D, but using the D&D d20/3-18 stat spread is a good reference point.
So, how well would a skill system work wherein you add your skill ranks and other modifiers to your die roll, but your die roll failed if you rolled higher than your stat? You'd also have target numbers (difficulty classes or whatever) that you had to reach to succeed. This makes rolling a range between "too low" and "too high" necessary to succeed, if you have enough skill to even have a chance to succeed at all.
The drawback is that this means low stats will be even more of an impediment than under "classic" skill systems such as d20's. If you have a 3 in d20, but you invest heavily in a skill, you can overcome the -4 to your skill from your low stat. If you fail if you roll 4+ so that your highest possible successful roll is, not d20+skill-4, but 3+skill, you're much more severely limited.
But are there benefits, from a mechanical design perspective, to this sort of system? Could it be made useful? Has it any interesting consequences that could be exploited?