Common Sense (Wis) [skill]

[Yakk]

Common Sense is a class skill for every class. It is based off of Wisdom.

Use:
(Automatic) When you are about to do something dumb, the DM can roll your common sense. On success, the DM explains why it is dumb, and the probable consequence. You are free to ignore this advice.

DC varies from 10 (trying to kill the elf queen in her throne room, with unknown magical and mundane guards surrounding her, is a bad idea. You will most likely be killed instantly) on up.

The more remote the consequences and unfamiliar the surroundings, the higher the DC.

(Manual) When you forget something obvious (like buying food for your horses, keeping track of your water supply, paying rent, buying rope when you planned on splunking), you can do a common sense roll to "actually remembered to do it". You can take 10 on this roll if you are not currently in an immediately life-threatening situation.

DC is 10 for day-to-day habits (like paying for rent)
DC 15 for details of planned tasks you haven't done before (like remembering the rope)
DC 25 for something an expert could have forseen.
DC 40 if the need for the act was not reasonably forseeable.

Modifiers:
+10 DC if the act would have occurred during a plot-threatening situation. (I tossed the rent money into the jar as we where fleeing the orc attack)
+5 DC if the act involved a substantial outlay of cash (more than 10% of your liquid assets)
+5 DC for each mundane detail (of course I would buy silk rope) prescribed.
+10 or more for extraordinary details (You said you forgot to mention buying a a red silk rope that is 7'6" long, with gold wire twisted into it, and blue tassals... Uh huh.)

Additional modifiers for "I forgot to mention I bought that":
+5 DC if it is slightly bulky relative to cargo capacity (a rope, but you have a horse).
+10 DC if it is rather bulky relative to cargo capacity (a rope, and have a pack).
+20 DC if it is quite bulky relative to cargo capacity (a 10' pole, and you have a horse).
+40 DC if it is pretty ridiculously bulky to have not mentioned (a 10' pole, and you are on foot).

The above DCs are halved if no plot-threatening event has happened since the event in question. (ie, you leave the shop and go down to the tavern, and then say "hey DM, I bought a pole in that shop, I just forgot to mention it").

By default, one gets the most common varient.

Bob goes on an adventure, and the DM says "you didn't buy waterskins before going on the expedition". Bob has a wisdom of -1 and a common sense of 7.

Water is cheap, but buying extra waterskins is not a day-to-day task. It is also not that bulky. DC 15. Bob is not immediately life-threatened by his lack of water, so he can take 10. That is enough to beat the DC of 15 -- Bob can be assumed to have bought waterskins for the planned adventure length.

(Manual) You can contemplate an action, and ask for the common-sense likely outcome. This is similar to the automatic use, but the player requests to do a common-sense check on a plan of action.

Normal: If you say "I kill the elf queen", you get killed by the many magical and physical protections surrounding the 1000+ year old monarch of the most magically advanced civilization on the planet.

Reasoning: The DM saying "no, killing the elf queen is dumb, don't do it" is DM fiat. The DM having you roll one of your skills so you can get the bonus information "killing the elf queen will probably get you killed" is a player achievement, not DM railroading.

In addition, it abstracts out the "buy up all the gear you need to go adventuring" to "I go shopping for gear for the trip, then I head out". When the players need something, they can simply make common sense rolls rather than have to have an itemized list of all of their gear.

[Swordguy]

The problem is common sense ISN'T common.

Cross-class for everyone!

[Krellen]

Ha!

No, it's a class skill. It's just no one bothers to put ranks in it.

[Holocron Coder]

Isn't this just a Wisdom check? -tilts head- I could be mistaken :P

[Inyssius Tor]

Daedu (or daedu?): True, but Wisdom covers several things; among them are: perception (which is represented by the improvable skills Spot and Listen), intuition (which is represented by your Sense Motive skill), willpower (which is represented by a saving throw), and common sense (which... isn't).

Also, awesome skill. I would make the DCs higher for the "silk rope" situations; a resolving skill for all those "forgot to tell the DM" situations is awesome, but it could be abused.

[Yakk]

I added more grainyness to the DCs, and some near-and-above-epic DCs.

DC 80 to say "I know I was just going to have a peaceful audience with the king, but of course I packed a 10' pole so I can get out of this pit trap I accidentally fell into on the way."

@_@

[That Lanky Bugger]

I like it quite a bit. I'd put ranks into it as a player, just for the convenience in case I forget to pick things up. Especially because it'd allow me to do the Jarlaxle thing with mundane items when I bought skill-pumping items, extra-dimensional storage space, and a whole lotta spare cash-money.

Sir Swithick(someone else): Quick, we need a thirty foot adamantite chain! Otherwise we'll all DIE! (DC what... 65?)
Laxlejar (me, with a Ring of Common Sense +15, Wisdom of 25, and maxed ranks in the Common Sense skill): Why of course, Sir Swithick! Permit me to reach into my bag and we shall have it.
Sir Swithick: Why, how could you have foreseen this?
Laxlejar: Because I, unlike you, possess some small amount of common sense.

Oh, I'm totally raising this idea as a skill to my DM. It's too awesome to resist.

[Rolaran]

I like the idea. Can I try it out and let you know how it works in an actual game?

[Fascisticide]

That would be perfect for Munchkin!
The DCs would have to be lowered, otherwise it's too hard to abuse!

[That Lanky Bugger]

That would be perfect for Munchkin!
The DCs would have to be lowered, otherwise it's too hard to abuse!

Nah, it's powerful, true... But requires a boatload of cash to use. That 30-foot adamantite chain probably would have run me a few thousand gold, and let's face it... Even a level 20 character is going to balk at spending a few thousand gold for a single-shot use of an item which will be impractical in other situations.

[Maldraugedhen]

And the irony is that they'd balk because NOT buying it would be common sense.

[Meat Shield]

We actually use something like this in our group. We don't have all the DCs nicely codified as above though - the DM just makes up a reasonable DC in his head, and asks the player to roll for a common sense check.

Check result is d20 + Wis modifier + 1/2 character level

If that beats the DC the DM has in mind, PC is successful.
We use t as a catch-all, and for things that the players otherwise would have missed.

[JackofAllBlades]

I like it.It will keep players alive,a DM wants that right?

[Black Mage]

Unfortunately in most of my games, this skill is like a fighter to cross class UMD. Nobody has it, and nobody can get it either.


A 5th level barbarian: "I'm going to charge the ten angry ogres and three angry ogre barbarians!"

He actually charged them....

[Mewtarthio]

I like it quite a bit. I'd put ranks into it as a player, just for the convenience in case I forget to pick things up. Especially because it'd allow me to do the Jarlaxle thing with mundane items when I bought skill-pumping items, extra-dimensional storage space, and a whole lotta spare cash-money.

Sir Swithick(someone else): Quick, we need a thirty foot adamantite chain! Otherwise we'll all DIE! (DC what... 65?)
Laxlejar (me, with a Ring of Common Sense +15, Wisdom of 25, and maxed ranks in the Common Sense skill): Why of course, Sir Swithick! Permit me to reach into my bag and we shall have it.
Sir Swithick: Why, how could you have foreseen this?
Laxlejar: Because I, unlike you, possess some small amount of common sense.

Oh, I'm totally raising this idea as a skill to my DM. It's too awesome to resist.

"Oh, no need to fret! I've got a mint chocolate cake with raspberry frosting and "HAPPY BIRTHDAY SICNLSNKDY!" printed in Ingan right here on my person!"
"What?"
"I bought it in town last week. I must have forgotten to mention it."
"Why?"
"Well, it's just common sense, no?"
"No, it's not! It doesn't make any sense at all!"
"It doesn't seem so silly now, does it?"

[Yakk]

Not reasonably forseeable: DC 40 (Happy Birthday Cake for Sicnlsnkdy)
Mint Chocolate +5 Raspberry frosting +5 In Ingan +5

Assuming a bag of holding (so you don't have to worry about having to carry it):

Total DC: 55

45 skill could take-10 and get that.

At L 20 with 23 skill with a wisdom of 30 and a +10 Ring of Common Sense and Skill Focus(Common Sense), you could do that.

I really don't see a problem. :)

[Demented]

This has gone from Common Sense to Uncommon Nonsense!
So, here's some ideas....

For many things, the DCs are too high, and for others, too low. A check to know if you bought rope for today's dungeon adventure should NOT be better than making a Knowledge (Dungeoneering) check when you're buying the equipment.
Examples:
A majority of day-to-day things should be within a DC of 10-15 (i.e. "There IS a cliff behind you, you realize.") as would be doable by a person with 10WIS and 2 or less ranks in Common Sense. The most eccentric or obsessive-compulsive should go up to 25 ("You can never have too many batteries!"), and heroic idiosyncracies at 30 ("Oh please, even a Tarrasque likes a good scratching behind the ears."). Things that are absolutely absurd (such as aforementioned birthday cake) really ought to be in the hundreds.

As for the skill itself, it should be made so that it won't override a Knowledge check in a situation where Int and reason should be more useful than Wis and intuition, so that the Knowledge skills are still useful. It should also receive synergy bonuses from related knowledge skills. After all, Common Sense should benefit from–not replace–what you already know. I.e. You succeed on your knowledge check to realize you can propel yourself mentally in the plane of Air. Your Common Sense check is to remember to tell your allies about it. ("What? I thought everyone knew that!")

Also, you need to mention rules about retries (obviously, none, but it needs to be specified).

Additional:
It really should be a cross-class skill. A few ranks in it is totally worth the cost for an absent-minded player. =P

Edit:
Also, the skill seems to have two functionalities....
Passive Common Sense: A skill-based version of Augury (the DM tells you that you probably should or shouldn't do something), and active Common Sense: A skill-based version of Wish (the Game tells you that you actually did or didn't do something).

It seems a little powerful to have both of these in one skill, especially the latter. If you don't want to split these into two different skills (I.e. Common Sense and Forethought), then perhaps the active variety of Common Sense should have consequences if you badly fail the check. ("What? You want a bribe? But of course, I have right here... a... um... do you have change for a Rod of Wonder?")

[Yakk]

Cross-class vs non-cross-class just scales the amount that the luck of the dice and the character's stats matter.

Maybe a modified roll against DC 25(?) gives you the ability to make a retroactive Knowledge(*) check to see if you bought the item?

[alchemy.freak]

I love it,

sometimes i think it is sorely needed in my games, Sigh

[Nocte]

What classes get this skill as class skill?

[onasuma]

All of them

[ajkkjjk52]

I think another use of this should be to remember to do the obvious, but things you didn't mention. Like if your rouge sneaks into the kings chamber, he shouldn't have to say that he closes the door behind him. It should be implied. And if the DM disagrees, this skill makes sense as something that could adjudicate.