Post/Author/DateTime	Post
silvergamgee 12-01-07, 02:56 PM	I realize that this post (written reasonably late at night) was really not what I had intended it to be. This was more of a straw poll/public service announcement than anything else. The premise of it was that the terrible cycle of min-maxing skills has set up a situation where a person needs to min-max skills to hit inflated DCs set up by DMs who are trying to counter the min-maxed skills. (Say that 5 times fast!) This has become a problem with a number of local groups and I am curious how widespread it is. That, and a reminder to all people that a natural one on a skill check is not an automatic failure.
kuonji 12-02-07, 12:14 AM	I guess question 1 is, if Skip the mighty 15th level ranger can handle most easy Climb check by taking 10, why did he not simply take 10 to climb down the ladder? IMO the issue with the skill system isn't that you have to max out skills to get the most benefit, it's that there are too many skills. Even high skill point characters often find themselves having to split up points to cover all the skills they feel they need to have. As has been mentioned elsewhere, a skill such as Stealth, for example, could cover both Hide and Move Silently. That said, keep in mind that just because something is easy doesn't mean you will succeed every time. However, because 3.5 is based around increments of 5% (d20), you tend to fail more often then you probably statistically should vs. real life. But, that's where things like Take 10 and Take 20 come into play
sapient 12-02-07, 12:40 PM	My first reaction when I read the OP was: "This can't be a big problem?" Maybe its because of the example, climbing down a ladder. As a DM I can't even begin to imagine how that would require a skill check under normal circumstances. And under un-normal circumstances (at least those I can envision) it would not be the climbing in it self that was the problem, but maybe balance under threat of tipping the ladder? Anyway, as a DM I DO "inflate" skillchecks a bit. But I think I have a reason to. My party being around 15th level, the villains that own the coffins that the party rogue tries to pick the lock of, is now rich enough and competent enough to buy better locks (and have better traps built). That's no strange purpose, and since a lot of the things the rogue do (disarming traps most of all) gives XP, uping the CR means uping the XP as well. There are a lot of other similar circumstances - since the party ventures into far more dangerous dungeons now, not only are the monsters tougher but so are other challenges. The cliffs are higher to scale, the suddens drops that open up are wider and a lot of things that require skill checks have higher DC. But It's perfectly fair - it's even expected. So you can't mean that, can you? I don't want to sound rude, but are you certain that this is a widespread problem, DMs uping skill check DCs for no good reason? I don't. You may try to convince me though... .
silvergamgee 01-04-08, 12:29 AM	Thanks for the quick knock upside the head to make me revisit what I wrote. I have a tendency to let my annoyance with something to get the better of me.