D&D General Testing Players

[Campbell]

I think both only Rogues take the skill and all rogues maximize it bits are incredibly wrong in modern D&D (5e as well PF2). I do not mind leaving picking a lock or disarming traps as areas of player skill in OSR play, but I think you have to not include thieves if you are going to do so. Not a fan of it in modern D&D.

 

[tetrasodium]

I’ve wanted to learn more about lock picking just to be able to better describe what’s going on when a PC tries to pick a lock. Especially in a game that relies on description rather than an ability test (like b/x), I feel this would be useful. Not sure how I’ll gain similar practical information about finding secret doors though…

There are a lot of great links to youtube videos in this post from various channels & presenters that can give you a good enough splash in the pool to get a feel for things enough to be descriptive on the lockpicking & perhaps a bit of the secret doors depending on your campaign world.

 

[Mort]

Yeah....no...Next up...players are forced to march 20 miles in a day carrying 50 pounds of gear before they can play a char Fighter with the Outlander Background.

Whenever the threads come up re: using the players own charisma vs. persuasion checks etc. I always joke - next time the fighter wants to break out of a prison cell, toss the player a steel bar and say "let's see how you do..."

Someone actually implemented a version of that!

But, yeah, not really my thing!

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Absolutely not.

Why is it only skillful characters get subjected to this stuff? Nobody's asking the Wizard to learn how to perform actual magic tricks (let alone literal magic) in order to cast spells. Why do people keep inventing extra hurdles for the mundane characters in the party?

Why are so many people so dead-set on making everything stupidly difficult unless it's solved by magic? And why do so many people then complain that magic is too prevalent and needs to be nerfed or made foolishly dangerous?

I just...I don't get what people are getting out of all this. What's the point? Why is it fun to have to jump through hoops (perhaps literally?!?) before you're allowed to enjoy the cool stuff your character is capable of doing?

 

[Mort]

Absolutely not.

Why is it only skillful characters get subjected to this stuff? Nobody's asking the Wizard to learn how to perform actual magic tricks (let alone literal magic) in order to cast spells. Why do people keep inventing extra hurdles for the mundane characters in the party?

Why are so many people so dead-set on making everything stupidly difficult unless it's solved by magic? And why do so many people then complain that magic is too prevalent and needs to be nerfed or made foolishly dangerous?

I just...I don't get what people are getting out of all this. What's the point? Why is it fun to have to jump through hoops (perhaps literally?!?) before you're allowed to enjoy the cool stuff your character is capable of doing?

Well, I can give the the long version. But it boils down to:

WAY too many people just don't believe martial/skill characters can have nice things.

 

[tetrasodium]

Absolutely not.

Why is it only skillful characters get subjected to this stuff? Nobody's asking the Wizard to learn how to perform actual magic tricks (let alone literal magic) in order to cast spells. Why do people keep inventing extra hurdles for the mundane characters in the party?

Why are so many people so dead-set on making everything stupidly difficult unless it's solved by magic? And why do so many people then complain that magic is too prevalent and needs to be nerfed or made foolishly dangerous?

I just...I don't get what people are getting out of all this. What's the point? Why is it fun to have to jump through hoops (perhaps literally?!?) before you're allowed to enjoy the cool stuff your character is capable of doing?

I think that the point is more subjecting skilless PCs to it

 

[Mort]

I think that the point is more subjecting skilless PCs to it

IF that's the case - that's equally terrible except as a (for some) fun one off!

 

[ersatzphil]

This channel.

...in a weird intersection of "things I know about", I'd actually recommend BosnianBill over LPL if you wanted to know the basics of bypassing common locks, as amusing as LPL is to watch. That being said, if the goal was to make the rogue character feel cool rather than try to challenge them in an out-of-the-game sort of way, you could pick up a set of skeleton keys and a cheap warded padlock, and let them feel like an absolute ninja for a session:


Warded locks were also known since the Roman era and really came to historical prominence during the monastic period in the middle ages, so it's arguably more like what a D&D rogue would be picking anyway. Pin tumbler locks were known in ancient Egypt, but didn't really come to prominence until Linus Yale popularized them in the 1800s.

edit: If anyone actually wanted to do this, cheap warded lock picks: link.
A cheap warded padlock: link.

edit 2: This additionally has the benefit of allowing you to say to your player, "Congratulations, $name, you've now multiclassed into rogue in real life!"

 

[James Gasik]

Whenever the threads come up re: using the players own charisma vs. persuasion checks etc. I always joke - next time the fighter wants to break out of a prison cell, toss the player a steel bar and say "let's see how you do..."

Someone actually implemented a version of that!

But, yeah, not really my thing!

What I always like hearing about are tales of DM's who insist on players who cannot have their characters perform better than they themselves can...and then have the players outperform their characters!

"See Mr. DM, I can do backflips in full plate, can we get rid of my penalties now?" "You say I can't trick the King into accepting me as his long lost heir, but I tricked you into buying pizza tonight." "I'm tired of you telling me how fireball works. VAS FLAM!"....kids, don't try this at home.

 

[MichaelSomething]

This is why I want to implement Double Date style physical challenges into my game...