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View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Importing 7th seas opportunities & consequences



MadBear
2017-03-15, 02:17 PM
So one thing I really liked about 7th seas is that hero's were likely to pass any given check, it's just that how good their roll was determined what else happened.

See spoiler for overview of 7th seas system

(this game uses d10's. If you rolled 5d10 and the numbers were 8, 5, 3, 8, 1, you could make 2 successes [8+5] [8+3])

This would mean that if you wanted to run through a burning building, you'd only need to roll 1 success (and thus would almost certainly succeed). The fun part was that you would also have multiple opportunities and consequences that additional success could add (or take away).

For example in running through the fire,

opportunities: - find a bag of coins, carry another player, find the barons incriminating note (requires 2 successes)

consequences- take fire damage, lose your money pouch

So when the player rolls 5 successes, it isn't overkill. Instead 1 success let's them get through the fire. Maybe they use 2 successes to ignore the consequences, and the last 2 to get the Barons note.

My idea would be to bring something similar to 5e's skill system. Instead of having most skills be a simple pass/fail, put them on a gradient.

Make most (not all) skill rolls a 5 DC. This makes accomplishing the given task something most players will be able to pull off.

But, in order to make the game interesting, give any given skill roll some opportunities and/or consequences.

Opportunities: For every 5 over the DC you can get an opportunity. These are boons that allow you to accomplish the task quicker, help someone else with the check, or even a secret bonus characters won't know unless they declare they'd like the secret boon (maybe while climbing a wall, they happen to notice the guards shift change, and will get advantage later at sneak through the guards quarters).

Consequences: For every 5 over you can choose to negate a consequence: avoid damage from the area, prevent an enemy from hearing you, avoid leaving tracks, prevent a NPC from being insulted, etc.

You wouldn't need/or want this system for every skill check, but it would make big/important skill checks more dynamic.

For instance:

The PC's are in the presence of the local Baron and his sheriff. The PC's decide to try and persuade the Baron to believe their story that a wraith is haunting the nearby well, and he should pay the PC's to kill it.

the old skill rolls might have set the DC at a 15, and either it 100% works or it doesn't. But now, with this it can get far more interesting. The DC is only a 5, but the hero's are made aware of opportunities & consequences they could manage.

Opportunities:
- Increase the amount of money they'll make (can take this up to 2 times)
- The Baron offers them more work after
Secret opportunity (Players won't know the details ahead of time)
- The Baron tells them some piece of information that is helpful in killing the wraith

Consequences:
- Avoid the Baron thinking of them as simple money grubbers
- Avoid the Sheriff thinking that they're taking advantage of the Baron


This sets up the scenario where you'd need a 30 to get everything. (5 to pass the check, 20 to get all the opportunities, and 10 to get rid of all the consequences). Obviously players won't get a 30 often, but now they can meaningfully set the stage for what they want.

Maybe the Bard rolls an 18, and decides to only take the increase in money. Now they'll make a bunch of money, but now the Baron and Sheriff dislike the party as mercenaries. Maybe they avoid losing respect of the Sheriff and Baron, but now they're not gonna get much out of this encounter.

In all cases, this helps accomplish the goal of failing forward, where even a low roll advances the plot in a meaningful way.

MadBear
2017-03-21, 08:47 PM
Badly timed bump