Good morning,
So there is something that is burning at my mind as I start to design and codify what has become B/X Revised, and that is the point of Ability Scores. I cannot say I enjoy how they are used in 1e+ for D&D. Despite having Ability Score Checks in B/X and BECMI, they later become just a modifier delivery system and with the staggered bonuses, especially in 3e+ with the formula of -10 and divide by 2 then round-down, some numbers mean the same thing in the end.
So why even have them?
In True20 they answered this by just removing the number and ranking each ability as a modifier ranging from -5 to +5. A good system if you subscribe to the idea that all numbers should roll high.
What if, like me, you don't?
I enjoy the B/X Ability Check roll-under mechanic, so that all ability score values are useful. Just using the math and logic there is a better chance to roll under a 9 than an 8, or an 11 than a 10. This means players will find utility of those medium scores and not see them as a burden.
So here's what I propose.
All combat is 1d20 roll high, all non-attack/defend checks are 1d20 roll-under, as are Saving Throws.
What do I mean? Well we all understand the 1d20 roll high, essentially vs. AC, so there is no need to explain that. What I am proposing for the other is that we now make the Ability Check the standard for everything else. Want to climb a wall? Make a Strength Check. Need to resist that poison? Constitution Check please. Someone cast Charm Person on you? Wisdom Check por favor.
This allows us to take Saving Throws and Proficiency Throws and fold them into one mechanic, called the Ability Check. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezey.
Now the biggest part of this will be going through the spells and figuring out which effects which for purposes of Ability Checks, some are easy and others might be a bit more tricky. Breath weapons? Obviously a Dexterity Check. Death effects? Constitution Check if you will. Charm Person? As I suggested earlier, Wisdom Check please. Sleep spell? I... uh... well... we might go with Constitution again? This is where some work will have to be done, but overall it is sound.
This does, in general, increase the survivability of characters, on paper that is. We all know that on-paper character sheets vs. the random whims of the dice gods are two very different things. Nothing like a bad roll at just the wrong time to make that character you were sure had ten levels in them look like a chump, and be a dead one at that at first level thanks to a pit trap, falling rocks, or a simple snake bite.
But Andrew, I hear you say, how will they get better at these checks as they level up? Which is a good questions, and my answer is they don't, for the most part. Now before you get out the pitchforks, tar, and torches, hear me out.
I already have a mechanic for increasing one Ability Score each level (more on that in a later post), and that allows the players to choose which ones they want to increase. Normally they will either want to increase the ones that have a penalty to them, aka below 9, or their primes for more experience points, or the ones that most benefit their class. Fighters want more strength, Magic-Users more intelligence, Clerics more wisdom, Thieves more dexterity, etc... but in this situation by the time they get to second level they should have had to make enough Ability Checks to see that they might want to increase their charisma, or wow did they ever need more wisdom for all those awareness/notice checks, or what have you. The idea is that they become more rounded characters as they level and grow, not just being one-note archetypes.
Okay but what does this have to do with Class Skills you might be wondering. Well I am glad I assumed you asked.
Same system applies, allowing us to use the Non-Weapon Proficiency (NWP hereafter) system to benefit that, and here's how. Each NWP, when taken, provides a +1 to a particular Ability Score for purposes of skill checks, and have be taken a second time for a +2, and a third time for a +2 as well as Advantage on the roll. This allows the character to focus their skill sets via the NWP choices to be good at what they can be. Think of it as a gradient of Novice, Professional, and Master levels.
To allow certain classes to excel at certain tasks, for example Thieves at climbing or lock-picking, they are given a small selection of NWPs as part of their starting class, allowing them to make choices for NWPs that augment that and focus them in as specialists.
For example a 1st level Thief might get Climbing, Locksmith, and Stealth as free NWPs during Character Creation, and then choose to take a second helping of Climbing and Locksmith with their NWP choices, focusing them in as the "go-to character" for those things.
This not only allows for the roll-under Ability Check to function as envisioned, but a level of character customization that doesn't require endlessly thought out builds of Feats, skill choices, and mutli-classing, that crumble when a single bad choice is made. Furthermore, with the NWP system in place, should the Thief get killed or incapacitated, other characters might have those NWPs thereby not paralyzing the entire party. Sure the Magic-User won't be as good a Locksmith as the Thief was, but her single NWP level in it allows her to try without penalty.
Obviously this needs play-testing, and that is what I will be doing with the three (possibly four) D&D groups I am running currently, but in my head the math works, the idea works, and I can see how it should play-out. That said no mechanic survives five rounds contact with the players, so we shall see.
Until next time...
Andrew Collas
a.k.a. Celtic Viking, Grumpy Old Gamer, Bear
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