"Reliable Talent" Feat

[Dragonsonthemap]

Hello Playground,

In one of my playgroups there's frequent frustration with the fact that a character who should be highly skilled at something can still whiff a roll while another, theoretically much less capable character can outdo them by rolling well. I don't necessarily want to get rid of doing well because you got lucky, but resolving the first part of the issue is usually what people are looking for, anyway.

We've seen a couple subclasses implement a feature where, for certain skills that subclass specializes in, you can't roll below an 8 or a 10. What I'm wondering is if this feature could be worked into a feat, perhaps something like the prodigy feat, but instead of gaining new proficiencies it gives you this roll floor benefit. The second question is if it would work to apply this to your proficiency with a specific weapon, as a sort of successor to the Weapon Focus feats of previous edition?

[Waterdeep Merch]

It's easier to just allow players past a certain threshold to automatically succeed at certain things. That's all this rolling thing does anyway, removes the necessity for rolling on certain things. If they could succeed on a roll of 8+, go ahead and handwave it. Without requiring a feat, even. It gives some incentive to getting higher skill numbers in whatever way they can be had.

I wouldn't do this for combat, though. It's either useless or broken with no in between- if you'd hit on 8 but just barely it's broken for affording you the equivalent of up to a +7, whereas if an 8 wouldn't hit, it's completely useless as it changes nothing.

[Droppeddead]

Hello Playground,

In one of my playgroups there's frequent frustration with the fact that a character who should be highly skilled at something can still whiff a roll

Well, the solution is simple. Just go by the basic tenet of the rules that says that you should only roll if there is a chance of failure or success and if it actually matters. Often players are too quick to jump straight to rolling the die even though they really don't need to. The DM can just say "it's an easy lock and it will just take you a couple of minutes to open it" or "with your knowledge of religion you already know X". Simple as that.

[Quietus]

It's easier to just allow players past a certain threshold to automatically succeed at certain things. That's all this rolling thing does anyway, removes the necessity for rolling on certain things. If they could succeed on a roll of 8+, go ahead and handwave it. Without requiring a feat, even. It gives some incentive to getting higher skill numbers in whatever way they can be had.

I wouldn't do this for combat, though. It's either useless or broken with no in between- if you'd hit on 8 but just barely it's broken for affording you the equivalent of up to a +7, whereas if an 8 wouldn't hit, it's completely useless as it changes nothing.

Pretty much this. Use passive scores more often; perception and investigation already call for these, but you can also apply it to certain other tasks. A person with proficiency in a knowledge skill doesn't have to roll for basic knowledge, and if they have above +X and the fact they're looking for is relevant to their character, they automatically know it.

That person who's built themselves around parkour, with +X to acrobatics and athletics? If it's reasonable that they be able to climb the thing, then they do it.

Also an option, have these characters roll not to see if they succeed (they will, they have the training) but instead to see how quickly they do the thing. The parkour master may require a couple tries, and only one person can attempt to climb that wall at a time. The sage may know the name of that particular creature, but it's on the tip of their tongue, and they won't get the details on its abilities until they sort that out. These are good for situations with a time crunch, I'd generally go by the skill check increasing by 5 each turn - so if it's a DC 20 wall to parkour up, and the parkour master rolls a total of 12, it'll take them two more turns to get up. The rest of the team will have to hold off the horde until parkour guy gets up to the top and can secure a rope for the rest of them to climb.