Post/Author/DateTime	Post
masterlinktm 04-04-08, 03:01 PM	A DM buddy of mine applies critical failures to skill check rolls. To justify this he says, "No matter how skilled you are you can always screw up." I agree with him, however I don't believe that someone that is highly skilled has the same chance messing up as someone who just dabbles in the skill. In addition, even a dabbler has a chance to catch himself before making things really bad. This is what I have come to so far: Skill modifier - 20 = Failure Modifier ------> Failure Modifier + Confirmation Roll = Failure Check -19 to -10 generally means you royally screwed up -10 to 0 generally means you messed up but not so bad its not fixable 0 to 10 generally means you succeeded however at a cost 10 to 20 generally means you succeeded at the bare minimum 20+ generally means you succeeded and mostly fixed any problem that may have occurred I want to apply critical failures in my games, but rolling to confirm is just luck, while this takes into effect the player's ability modifier, rank, and any misc. modifiers that apply to that skill. It also gives the DM an idea of how badly the player messed up. That is why I came up with this variant rule. I am still working with this so please give any suggestions you may have.
katahn 04-04-08, 04:03 PM	Could you explain what you were getting at there, I'm not sure I followed your train of thought as originally written. Oh, and regarding your sig... If you don't like it don't buy it, and whether or not you like it who really gives a flying flip of other people do or don't?
masterlinktm 04-04-08, 11:14 PM	my sig was copied from another person you don't want to copy don't, you want to play 4.0 play it no need to rant on my sig as for my problem i suppose the simplest way i can say it is, I want to apply critical failures to my games but i want a way to incorperate someone's skill into the equation and not have it be just bad luck
skrap-san 04-05-08, 02:12 AM	I want to apply critical failures to my games but i want a way to incorperate someone's skill into the equation and not have it be just bad luck Sugestion: A one on a d20 roll = a critical miss (and all attacks sequences end). a critical miss = -10 to hit. now calculate to hit normaly and depending on how far away you are from hitting you get the following chart: miss by 1 to 10 Attacks end miss by 11-19 Lose guard, attack of opportunity against you. miss by 20 Lose weapon in random direction if melee, if ranged shot in random direction.(if you hit someone 1/2 standard damage) miss by 21++ Fall prone if possible, stun yourself with own weapon or something similar. I realise that the numbers might still need a bit of tweaking. But this system has the possibility of letting you skip the confirmation roll and you have a equation that depends on opponents AC and your bonus to hit.
masterlinktm 04-05-08, 12:30 PM	Sugestion: A one on a d20 roll = a critical miss (and all attacks sequences end). a critical miss = -10 to hit. now calculate to hit normaly and depending on how far away you are from hitting you get the following chart: miss by 1 to 10 Attacks end miss by 11-19 Lose guard, attack of opportunity against you. miss by 20 Lose weapon in random direction if melee, if ranged shot in random direction.(if you hit someone 1/2 standard damage) miss by 21++ Fall prone if possible, stun yourself with own weapon or something similar. I realise that the numbers might still need a bit of tweaking. But this system has the possibility of letting you skip the confirmation roll and you have a equation that depends on opponents AC and your bonus to hit. While that is an awesome idea and I do believe I will be useing it, I am asking for advise on Critical failures with Skill Checks. Thank you for the reponse and really that is an excellent idea for critical failures with attack rolls.
Lord_Varos 04-05-08, 01:30 PM	In this man's humble opinion, skills already lack so much power as far as PCs are concerned that the worst that should happen from the use of them is that they don't succeed at the task. But I offer my help nonetheless. You may not even have to go this complicated. For this system as you have it right here, it doesn't work for certain skills, such as Survival or Bluff. What if you're tracking someone or lying to them and get a "0 to 10 generally means you succeeded however at a cost?" Did you drop ten gold when you were tracking or lying? This requires a lot of interpretation (a lot) and won't always make sense. Perhaps it'd be easier to recycle that variant from the ELH. A natural "1" is considered a "-10" as a roll. Extremely skilled individuals can still achieve automatic success (and I do mean extremely skilled), but it isn't likely for PCs in the campaign. Consider the ramifications of critical failures on skill checks, though. No longer can you take 20 to find traps, which increases the danger of traps significantly. This also devalues Rogues and all skills in general, since they are now less useful from the increased chance of massive failure. If the party Cleric has a 1 in 20 chance of infuriating the enemy Kobolds so much that they call their friends and brothers in to fight with them, then he is discouraged from trying to use Diplomacy to end a fight peacefully.
skrap-san 04-06-08, 07:49 AM	I am asking for advise on Critical failures with Skill Checks. Ah missed the skill check part... but thanks for liking my idea anyway. :D