1 House Rule for Easy Roleplay in D&D

[@BobWorldBuilder]

💥 My adventure! (PDF) DriveThruRPG: www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/484637?affiliate_id=1987166 Patreon Shop: www.patreon.com/bobworldbuilder/shop/witchs-word-dragons-doom-shadowdark-rpg-238884

[@Morjixxo]

It's an interesting concept, however the purpose of having different ability checks is to have differentiation on the PCs probabilities of success, which differentiate the role of the PCs. There is also a misunderstanding. By default, the DM shouldn't have a fixed DC since the steps of the gameplay are: 1) DM describes the situation 2) Players describes their action 3) DM describes the outcome (only if needed, he can request a check to the player) As you can see, the players describes their action BEFORE you decide the DC, which shouldn't in theory predefined. However, we are used to pre-made campaign in which the DC is set, so DMs mistakenly communicate to the player the DC, and consequently the type of check they need to make. But if you follow the default process, this problem doesn't exist. I would aslo add that most of DCs are not possible to be converted in a blank check, especially the one imposed on combat by monsters and spells. In most cases, you can't really solve the problem in the way you like. A mental check is mental, not physical. What you can do, is allowing mixed checks like Constitution (Athletics) as described in the PHB p175 "Skills with Different Abilities". At that point, you don't really need blank checks anymore... However is an interesting concept which can find some application in specific contexts.

[@nsideddice]

I played in this adventure. It's great and has an interesting hook.

[@David-su4is]

Hey Bob, do you suppose Delve will find it's way onto DriveThru after the kickstarter fulfillment?

[@BobWorldBuilder]

@@David-su4is Thanks for asking! Off the top of my head, I'm not sure if Eventyr has their other books on DTRPG, but I can certainly say it will be available on their website. Probably other places too, but idk which ones yet.

[@Dayandcounting]

Here is why I think that is. More choices result in less satisfaction, it's very counter intuitive but well studied. What makes a BLT perfect it's Bacon Lettuce and Tomato, with some mayo. Just adding the option of cheese like we Americans do to everything will make the overall satisfaction decline. It's the choice not even the choice you make that caused the decline. People will be less happy with the newest version of D&D for that reason. They don't understand that aspect of human nature like they do greed.

[@violentfrog_]

Charismatic swinging on vines = george of the jungle smirking at the camera (just before smashing into a tree)

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Great reference, but it seems like it doesn't work even for him! haha

[@TheOnlyTherazan]

Yeah, you can define your character as a look-at-me who is better motivated when they know they have an audience; they wink and pose to get the party's attention as they make their attempt. It also makes me thinking of: Doing a Tarzan yell to hype themselves and ignore their fear as they swing, since this is a check with a clearly dangerous fail condition. Basically, they use Charisma... on themselves!

[@awnage]

CHA: swing with panache to distract the monster trying to lower the portcullis

[@MichaelJHinds]

Make the checks at risk of epic failure. That’s Tarzan

[@MKisFeelinSpicy]

I thought of a Druid telling the pretty vines how pretty they are and encouraging them to help the party across, but without explicit use of magic and/or the vines being sentient, I'm not sure a DM would allow it. 😅

[@alexheinonen3388]

Why is Matt Mercers face zooming in like he wants to steal your house rule

[@utopia2112]

He was getting Mercerbombed throughout the video 😂

[@Camel_Caravan]

Charisma: In spite of the evident tension and urgency of the moment, I use my force of will to temple my nerves, breath steadily, and convince myself that swinging from vines is not THAT difficult. "It's just like when we used to play as kids, only that certain death awaits underneath. If I block that deadly bit out of my mind, this will be a mere child's play. OK, *breathes*, I can do this, here we gooo!

[@Rynewulf]

thats honestly a genius internal use of charisma!

[@thecornerkid402]

My wife hated the rp of rpg. She was a theatre major in college but improv was something that she absolutely abhorred doing. Any kind of improv game gives her literal anxiety and finally, four sessions in, she confided in me that driving to the houses where our sessions were, she was fighting off actual anxiety attacks. But she didn’t want to leave the party. So we talked to our DM and he was understanding and really pulled back on having anyone talk to her during non combat. But, a few sessions later, I had an epiphany that had all of us wanting to talk to her as much as possible. Like I said, she hated improv but loved acting with a script. If there was a script, she wouldn’t mind at all. So, after a session with a fight where her character took a lightning bolt to the head and managed to survive, I wrote down over 100 random phrases, printed them out and cut them into strips of paper and put them in an envelope. We decided her brain was now scrambled and any time she had to speak, she’d reach into her envelope and read a random, nonsense line. She had fun. We had fun. It was hilarious.

[@thecornerkid402]

Our dm also started thinking that might be fun for a session where a character is starting to go mad, but there are clues to the adventure in his madness, so he could write down phrases and give them to a character and tell him when he has to draw them and slowly the mystery is revealed through his nonsense.

[@RianeBane]

She should try playing a Kenku! They are unable to speak aloud except by mimicking things that they've heard other people say. So, they're essentially built for the preset-phrase solution you came up with!

[@thecornerkid402]

@@RianeBane thanks! I’ll have to keep that in mind. We were pretty green this time.

[@geeksdo1tbetter]

This is brilliant! Way to be accommodating!!!

[@jedrzejkraszpulski442]

I like opening up avenues to alternate approaches, but I don't love the "blank check". It mostly just turns every situation into "how can I justify using my best stat/skill here?". If the wizard dumped their strength and dex, they should face some adversity in a physical challenge like swinging on vines. They could absolutely still plot an optimal path or choose the sturdiest vine with their knowledge of local plant life, but probably from the back of the barbarian who's carrying them and doing the swinging (maybe giving them advantage or something).

[@upbeatmaster6618]

Thiiiiis, its why im pessimistic about rule of cool and other wishi washy rules. I feel like games that lose their grounding are much harder to be invested in.

[@benscott4434]

I agree. I think there should be consequences for player decisions.

[@Jumpyfoot]

That's why I am hesitant about this blank check strategy as well. If my stereotypical buff barbarian had to study for an exam, I wouldn't mind saying that he laid his open textbook down on the floor at the gym while he was doing push-ups and studied during reps, but I would not want him to use the strength stat to pass the test. Mechanics wise, it makes more sense to lower the DC of the intelligence check for this particular exam or maybe give him advantage.

[@lordsergal8783]

​@Jumpyfoot perhaps for scenarios like that, dividing them into Physical Checks and Mental Checks might work better. Intelligence or Wisdom would be obvious picks for the exam, but I could also see Charming, Intimidating, or Deceiving your way to getting access to the answer key.

[@benscott4434]

@@Jumpyfoot Lower the DC of the check? Why would a task be more "objectively" easy for a PC with less ability?

[@joshbecka6110]

The Boyz escaping Moria? Oi Frodo, Saruman done raised an army of orcs and imprisoned me in his tower.

[@Delmworks]

Me and the boys looking for dwaven gold in balrog droppings

[@Ramperdos]

I use "blank checks" very often, but never thought a name for that before. Heavily recommended!

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Thanks for the testimonial!

[@leafandlore]

I first saw something like this on Dice Friends, where one of their DMs, Dale, would say "why don't you make some kind of running from a bunch of little dinosaurs check?" I think that having written in checks is nice and I don’t feel like it constricts imagination in any way. It can be helpful to have that sort of thing to help you if you're stuck. But there have definitely been times that I've thrown in a "make a swinging on vines check" when I couldn't decide or didn't really care what kind of check they come up with.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

That's a great way to put it!

[@yzfool6639]

You have to have an imagination to feel the constriction. Clearly, the normal D & D rules constrict imagination. One common test of a person's imagination is for them to describe how many ways a thing can be used. If you think strength is the only way to do something, almost by definition your imagination is limited.

[@benitopulatso6637]

I wrote a rules light RPG (unpublished at current) where the core rules state you choose what stat you use to meet a challenge, with the caveat you have to explain how the stat is used and then the GM determines the DC based on the player's plan. That's the core mechanic.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Nice!

[@4saken404]

Very nice. That is exactly how I would implement this idea as well. I thought of doing this or something similar for a while now but this really cements in the idea. And it solves the problem of people trying to use an oddball stat to do something. You set the DC based on how a reasonable (or entertaining!) their description/rationalization is.

[@4saken404]

This can also be used with ideas from ICRPG. Or for that matter this house rule could be used directly in IRPG. It seems like a perfect fit!

[@Viehzerrer]

Isn't that just Fate Turbo?

[@Brainstrain]

Is it Fate Accelerated

[@Gamerdudegames]

this is how I run almost everything. I always ask my players to describe what action they're taking and then either suggest an appropriate skill or let me suggest one, staying narrative focused rather than mechanics focused. I still get at least one or two times every session where a player asks if they can make a skill check without telling me what exactly they're trying to accomplish, but at least they're always the ones suggesting it and I'm never imposing a specific skill onto them.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Excellent!

[@lydiasteinebendiksen4269]

That sounds fun! I personally don't think it's inherently 'wrong' for a DM to decide that a particular roll uses particular modifiers, but I also think players should allways have a chance to make the case for alternatives.

[@fablesfounding3870]

More content like this on KZbin! Great video. Simple playable option, helpful, relatable with great examples

[@chillynewberg2652]

Do your players get to describe how their character passes and fails after the roll? Or only before

[@steved1135]

Yep. Same as what I do. You've described it beautifully. Took me some time but, as a DM, I always remind myself that the only correct answer to a query from a player of the ilk 'Can I do X...?', is yes...

[@lucaslagiewka1503]

Charisma: you make such an intricate performance while climbing on the vines, that the spirits of the forest are swooed by your charming display and help you swing across the chasm. Also the druid is now both jealous of you and worried that such news could reach the ears of the nymph of his grove, so beware of swarms of bedbubgs making the complexion of your skin turn to that of a tangerine during the night.

[@peterbillings3276]

Swayed + wooed = swooed

[@Ezullof]

Well yeah, but you just added monsters to the scene. If the DM asks how you open a locked door and you charm the spirits of the door, you aren't really reacting to the scene that the DM provided, you're adding a pretty important actor to the scene. I think it makes more sense to let make Charisma a roll that is about the characters - like "I know I need to be the example that will inspire others, so I do my best to make it look easy". Basically turning it into a Representation roll, I fake it til I make it.

[@Hot_Dice]

How does this improve your ability to perform on a vine, that’s acrobatics. A better example would be the swashbuckler from pathfinder that fights like don Quixote with a mixture of bravado and luck.

[@nekomancer47]

Nah, this ain’t it

[@TheOnlyTherazan]

That's how to describe the result of a high Charisma roll, not the action that *led* to this roll.

[@QBroun]

Yeah it’s funny how “Insight Check” is always the one players call out haha

[@markusbrunolsen6461]

I hate it when my players just say "i want to insight check". I always ask them if they want to determine if he is lying or something else? Sometimes they just want to check everything, but then i tell them that the dc is much higher if they do so.

[@EpicEmpires-pb7zv]

Great idea. In ICRPG each room has the same DC for everything in that room (monsters, traps, obstacles etc.) It's one of those things that sounds weird when you hear it but works brilliantly when you use it. Charisma to swing on a vine - convince someone who's good at swinging on vines to help you.

[@DellSala]

I immediately thought ICRPG when listening to this.

[@ninjaaron]

PbtA games are similar in that way. 1-6 is failure, 7-9 success with a cost, 10-12 complete success---and statistically, it's mostly 7-9 until you get a +3 modifier.

[@EpicEmpires-pb7zv]

@@ninjaaron From a game design perspective you're usually looking to give players a 60% to 70% chance of success most of the time...the success level where it still feels like a challenge but you're not failing all the time. With PBTA that's built into the game.

[@derekmenebroeker4993]

The way I treat Charisma, it's not just being able to influence others. It also deals with self-confidence and the ability to maintain a level head and keep up your own morale in stressful situations. Characters with low Charisma being more likely to doubt themselves and hesitate, in social situations, they would be insecure about themselves. I tend to lump each ability score into two separate sub-attributes: Strength: Muscle (ability to exert sheer power at a moment's notice) and Stamina (muscle efficiency, used to resist fatigue) Dexterity: Finesse (hand-eye coordination, fine motor skills) and Agility (ability to maintain balance, dodge, and otherwise move with grace) Constitution: Fitness (ability to endure pain and hardship; external Con, used to resist heat and cold, torture, starvation, suffocation) and Health (strength of immune system; internal Con, used to resist poison and disease) Intelligence: Reason (analysis and deduction skills, used to resist illusions and charms) and Memory (info retention and recall) Wisdom: Acumen (perceptiveness, foresight, gut instincts) and Resolve (willpower, impulse control, used to resist compulsion effects) Charisma: Influence (persuasiveness) and Conviction (confidence, self-assurance, used to resist fear and emotion effects) Therefore, Charisma can be used in non-social situations to amp themselves up and act with confidence instead of hesitance.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

This is an interesting idea! Never saw it this way, but a couple others have brought it up in the comments. I think there could be an issue of Charisma being able to psyche yourself up for ANY challenge, but I guess I'd have to see how it goes.

[@maz.s]

​@@BobWorldBuilderI think it probably makes sense for someone to be able to use charisma in any situation where being paralyzed by fear is a reasonable barrier. So maybe not trying to swing on a vine, but maybe in a case of escaping a pit trap full of spiders, or not freezing when they see something about to fall on them. But also, hey, using charisma to swing from a vine might be really satisfying if the character has pre-established that they're afraid of heights!

[@derekmenebroeker4993]

@@BobWorldBuilder It would be particularly appropriate for characters that use Charisma for spell-casting to use spells in creative ways not explicitly rules as written to accomplish said non-social challenges.

[@Dru20]

This is why I like running many games using the Fate Accelerated rules. You don’t have attributes, you have Approaches which describes how your character tends to approach problem solving. As long as you can describe how you Sneakily, or Forcefully do something then you can use that approach.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Never tried that but it sounds good!

[@robciccolini7460]

I agree with you that this technique can be great. That said, two things. 1.) Written adventures need to be written so new, less sure GMs can run the adventure. Specifying attributes as a default helps them move the adventure along. 2.) Allowing the players to consolidate all rolls needed to overcome obstacles to one chosen stat both rewards power gamers who build by focusing everything on one maxed stat, but you also lose the opportunity to let alternate characters shine when the Dexterity or Charisma power build can do... well everything.

[@mjp152]

This is soooo good advice - it basically amounts to the GM saying "Yes, you can do that, but you need to describe how and why it would work".

[@JKevinCarrier]

DM: Ok, you can use any stat you like to swing on this vine, as long as you can justify it. Bard: Got it. So, you know how they say that talking to your houseplants makes them grow faster? DM: Um... Bard: I give the vine an inspiring speech, encouraging it to dig its roots deep and carry me across. DM: Get out. (But seriously, I do think it's a solid idea, especially in OSR games where things are a little more loosey-goosey and open to interpretation)

[@CaptainWizard3000]

This is funny, but I think the point of the blank check is to think creatively. I feel like “I woo the world to make me succeed.” is not all that creative. I think CHA is a stat that is needed in many situations, but is super helpful in almost all others…and that’s kind of the point?

[@philippemarcil2004]

This interaction get to the main issues that some players will try to use their best stats or skills on all of their role. Robin D. Law had a good article on this in the P.XX Pelgrane newsletter a while back with the example of a PC that use intelligence for everything they do. There is a lot of solutions to this, my favorite is to have a sniff test, (in the previous example, that just smell like abuse, so no) and to change the difficulty/time it takes/ressource/negative world impacts to succeed (in the above example, you can convince the plan to grow but it will requires you to use an inspiration dice and you better rolls high, the DC is going to be 25, assuming the bard was the one suggesting this ludicrous plant)

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Hmmm... idk I'm still not buying it xD

[@CaptainWizard3000]

@@philippemarcil2004 also “You succeed in convincing it to grow! …however it’s still just a plant and it can’t really grow all that fast. Check back in a couple hours.” Unless they cast a spell 😂

[@kevinbroussard8136]

This is how Blades in the Dark treats all skill checks. Gonna be running my first session of that coming up soon!

[@b4ux1t3-tech]

This was my first thought. Good luck on your first BitD session!

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Great to know there's a precedent for this!

[@b4ux1t3-tech]

@@BobWorldBuilder yep! To be clear, this isn't me saying "lol Bob stole from BitD". But, you'd probably enjoy BitD. :)

[@adamdorris7104]

@@b4ux1t3-tech BitD does look like it has lots of great worldbuilding and mechanics. BUT the city setting, while great if that's what you want, doesn't appear to fit with the stereotypical dungeon crawling and town hopping that I like. Do you know of any similar games or offshoots that have a less urban setting?

[@notallwhowanderarelost4797]

@@b4ux1t3-tech My first thought too. I haven't actually played BitD so far but I know I like some of the mechanics, and I like that my Wednesday DM occasionally brings some of them into our DnD.

[@johnmagowan6393]

I yell, "WHY CAN'T YOU BE LIKE BOB!?" at my players. Everyone really. World needs more Bob.

[@mdpenny42]

Ahem, mandatory (?) meme follows... ---- This is Bob. Bob is a great TTRPG world-builder. Bob gives his advice so that we can become great TTRPG world-builders too. Bob is smart. Be like Bob.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

🙏🙏

[@ZeroFighter]

If your players were more like Bob, they'd be constantly talking about the virtues of other systems while digging their heels in and refusing to use anything but D&D 5E.

[@torva360]

World needs to build more Bobs

[@kainan613]

In the PF2 Adventure Path I'm currently running, Strength of Thousands (Essentially african hogwarts, it's great), a lot of the DC's state 1-3 different skills to use, but slso state something like "Or other skill you feel is appropriate". This was already something I had in mind and was doing, but it was nice to see in writing

[@courtrat2]

I was going to share the same thing. PF2, you get to use literally any skill for initiative, as long as it makes sense

[@omega311888]

i dont quite use the blank check rule, but often i will let my players choose between 2 or more skills to accomplish certain tasks or to allow them to glean certain extra information they might have otherwise missed.

[@Joe-dy7ln]

This is what I do and I think it works better that a completely open blank check. It allows other PC's room to use what they are good at instead of letting the player who is the most assertive being able to more-or-less cheese the roll. I think that's the spirit of the video as well hence the capital REASONABLE haha.

[@masonmills8140]

I have to say: the sound design in this video was fantastic! It really did wonders to keep focus and make the video engaging

[@crapphone7744]

Bob, congratulations you're seeing that 4D role-playing is the way forward! Describing what your character is doing instead of saying I'm going to use my strength... This is going to make your games much better.

[@SkittleBombs]

What is 4D roleplaying? Is it 4 dimensional or like dip, duck, dice & dodge but roll playing words ?

[@zachellis1902]

we did this with intimidation checks. My character was 20 str and 9 ft tall. He was covered in blood and screaming at an enemy he had captured. I failed my check by 1 because his charisma was low. I told my DM that intimidation should also be on a physical level because my character was definitely intimidating in that moment. He let me use str and after that we kept it going because it continued to make sense

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Classic example!

[@FrostSpike]

That's actually in the D&D 5e PHB pg.175 - you can use skills with different abilities as the base in appropriate situations.

[@Psynister_PBP]

As with Sorcerers, Charisma is also your force of will, so while you might not be able to talk your way, or perform your way, through a vine swing, you could exert your will to influence the vines strength and the precision of your swing.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Hmmm, charisma check on yourself... that's an interesting option

[@ReubenBruchez]

I think this approach is sufficient to work and apply to all of the Charisma based casters. They are using their Charisma to try to magic a solution in a way that isn't a cantrip or spell slot, but magic is magic. And it might require the use of a resource anyway.

[@microhomebrew]

Thankyou for this! I instantly grabbed this to playtest in my RPG. Specifically, I'm adding it to the saving throws mechanic via traps and nonmagical effects (those spiders make sense too). Any traps can be resisted however you choose, so long as it makes sense.

[@coltonlong-causey1978]

Bravo to you sir for zooming in Mercer's face throughout the video! Absolutely golden. And really well made points about encouraging players to use their skills to address situations! I'm definitely using this

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

So funny. This is how Traveler is played by default. Love this.

[@salimufari]

Tip 5 is very underrated. They may or may not be a long time friend but in that scene the character is who is doing the thing. Addressing the character helps keep a stronger hold on immersion I find.

[@garrettshephard]

Charisma is, in part, your character's confidence, so a case could be made that you use your confidence to sike up your character to make a bold move that turns out to be the correct one. Additionally, morale has been shown to, at times, be the make or break difference on whether someone succeeds or fails.

[@CommadoreGothnogDragonheart]

I could imagine Charisma being used during the vine situation if charisma is re-framed to include courage or confidence. This means the person is able to psych themselves up for the jump, or perhaps overcomes the fear that might normally cause them to hold back or second guess an action. A lack of physical ability or skill can sometimes be compensated for with absolute confidence.

[@chrishunn3872]

The Warlock uses her incredible presence to dare the trap to trigger under her foot with a disdainful look! Lol

[@helixxharpell]

Ok. Bob. I love this! I'm totally gonna integrate this into our Kickstarter & absolutely credit you . ❤

[@ArakkoaChronicles]

Dude, I've been doing this for a while and I just needed the right name for it. That's it, the blank check.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Glad you like it!

[@ArakkoaChronicles]

@@BobWorldBuilder For a while I've been saying things like "so to find this guy let's do this thing where you pick persuasion, insight, perception, etc. whatever you think fits best". That is naturally a little bit long. So thanks for the name, lol.

[@partyhardyxyz2270]

I think the music really helps the video without being too distracting Kudos

[@DMBombat]

I had a recent session with my players where they were using Zone of Truth to interrogate the crew of a pirate ship. Everyone prior to this session had relatively easy-going/passive personalities. Setting and actual 10 minute timer to time zone of truth really allowed the players to assert themselves and get into the characters' frustrations and in-the-moment personalities, rather than trying to stay consistent to some pre-determined attributes. There are always little constraints and tweaks you can enact as the DM to get people out of their heads and into character. Awesome video!

[@ezekielharris7443]

I'm working on a cozy dark fantasy RPG, and our basic system of check is that the GM assigns a stat to the player, but they have to add their proficiency by way of story. They can add dice to the roll from their race, class, and background, and the GM decides if the reason is good enough. Example - Player: I would like to jump onto the vines and swing across the cavern. GM: Roll your agility dice. Any proficiencies you want to add? Player: Yeah. I'm an elf, so the forest responds to me naturally, and I was raised on aship, so I spent a lot of time hanging on rigging. I don't think I can add anything from being a Lifemender, though. GM: Sounds good. Roll an additional d4 and d6 The idea here is that while you may not be naturally gifted at something, you can easily supplement that with backstory. This also means you basically always have a "skill" for each challenge, instead of trying to shove them into the categories that traditional d20 systems use. It's a newer system I haven't seen before, but I like it.

[@polvotierno]

I use a variant of the Journey DC used by Cubicle 7 in Unchartered Journeys. You set a DC for a particular part of the map or part of the journey. My players know that they can roll any check against that DC in any moment of roleplay. So, basically, the blank check is the default in my games.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Nice! I know ICRPG uses that single-DC concept too for rooms

[@yuvalne]

I recently got to play one of the games you told me about - skate wizards - and i'm not sure if it was fully intended or if I took it further than the rules asked for, but I told mh players at the start of the game: the way this game works is you convince me of what you are doing, and only if i'm not convinced will I ask you to roll. it definitely brought out a lot of creativity!

[@suburbohemian]

My very first GM back in the early 80's ran his homebrew of a mix of Traveller and some other game whose name I forget, and he did the blank check all the time. He'd give us a situation, ask our characters what we were going to do, and then depending upon the riskyness would give us a number to roll for. Sometimes if it was just a plainly great decision, he'd just tell us it worked and we'd carry on from there. Not everything depended on the dice but way more on the players. It was sooo fun and much more immersive. (We only did Theatre of the Mind too.)

[@BobWorldBuilder]

That sounds great!

[@Samboy64]

In most of my games; if you say something that makes everyone laugh, you get a point of inspiration. Also, inspiration stacks.

[@steevemartial4084]

Worlds Without Number is a D20 Fantasy TTRPG and it pretty much has the blanck check built-in. I like this system more and more.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Awesome!

[@steevemartial4084]

@@BobWorldBuilder It really is. It doesn't explicitly go as far as what you're saying, but it's pretty close. Here's the relevant passage: "Some checks might be suitable for more than one skill. A javelin-throwing contest might use Exert for being an athletic contest, or Shoot for involving a ranged weapon, or Stab for using a muscle-powered thrown weapon. In such cases the PC can use the best applicable skill. In other situations, a skill might seem peripherally relevant; trying to find the damaged component in the ancient magical engine before it explodes would certainly be Magic, but a GM might also let Notice or Craft be applied, as a skilled craftsman or sharp-eyed observer might be able to recognize signs of damage. In such peripheral cases, the check difficulty usually increases by 2."

[@derekseaton4412]

I do a Skill Challenge rule like this in my games. I saw Jocat essentially do it this way, and I ran with it to change a few things. - I set a DC, and set an amount of needed successes, but I always have the failures set to 3. Either you get X successes or 3 failures. Then I let the players and the dice tell the story. - The Players need to work together to do the thing, and take turns in initiative to complete the challenge. - You can use any roll but based on the player’s description, I as a GM, award advantage or disadvantage to the check. - Once one player uses a skill (or other roll, but most often a skill) the other players can’t use that skill. The meta reason is that who ever if doing it best is making up for who ever is doing the worst at it, but it’s really so I can see more people coming up with different strategies and descriptions that aren’t just using the same skill 5 times in a row. I have had success with this method almost universally. Tracking/Chasing the Monster, Prepping for battle, Fleeing from danger, Navigating unfamiliar terrain, Sailing a mutli-planar ghost ship on the waking rainbow bridge of dreams while fighting Ninja Shadow Clones…. That one was mostly combat, but I am pretty sure I had a Skill Challenge during combat as well.

[@johnc7389]

same brain cell In a lot of my homebrew I'll use phrasing like, "-with a 15+ Check (usually with Wisdom)," to imply there can be other ways, but still point them in the intended direction.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Nice!

[@dantherpghero2885]

I Love ALL Bob World Builder videos! And I Love creative thinking in game design and RPGs.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Thanks! :)

[@yesthatpaul]

I've actually instituted this rule a lot of times. Usually, it's fairly effective, and players get way more creative with their solutions as a result. Easily my favorite reaction I've ever seen to this approach, though, was when I asked for a player to make a check, they said "okay, what skill?", I responded "your choice", and they countered "no, that's YOUR job!"

[@JustBenUnofficial]

This is how my favorite ttrpg City of Mist handles basically every dice roll in the game.

[@EunoiaRPG]

Great tip Bob! Sounds perfect for my upcoming Daggerheart session. The system already prompts you to get players to fill out a scene with the details so this is a perfect jumping point from that.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Thanks! And yeah it really feels like something Daggerheart should have built in. Not sure if it mentions this somewhere already.

[@New2DM2]

I use blank checks for many things, but not all things. It has 2 great benefits. Bob points out the main one; fun... the game running as it should with players giving us the solution instead of just rolling for it. Also, if everyone is going to use their best stats, then setting DCs are easy. 8 + player level PB + average best stat bonus +/- mods depending on how difficult you want it to be. The base is about a 60% success rate on average with +/- 5% for each +/-1. This is way more fun than subjecting everyone to one type of check where someone will be awesome and someone will suck and you don't want to potentially kill one player or not challenge another.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Great breakdown! And I agree, probably not best for ALL checks/saves, but it works for more rolls than the books have conditioned us to think

[@New2DM2]

@BobWorldBuilder I take this as a high compliment. Thank you, sir. And thank you for the quality content.

[@jasonrothenberger984]

I tried some blank checks this weekend and it worked great! The PCs chased a horse-riding dwarf through a crowded bazaar. They used intimidate and handle animal to slow him down, and the druid's leshy companion used stealth to sneak through the stalls and cut him off!

[@mathmusicandlooks]

I actually love it when my players ask to make an insight, perception, or investigation check or whatever. It signals to me that they are engaged with the NPCs and/or setting/scenario and they want to know more! I’m happy to reward them with more information. Sometimes I’ll do so without a roll, sometimes I’ll let them roll for kicks, and just flavor the info with how they rolled. It’s really funny if they roll very poorly on an insight check, and you tell them that the NPC appears fully honest and genuine…. And they really are. Either that, or tell them they intuit something that is OBVIOUSLY completely false.

[@Daxiongmao87]

this is exactly how ive run my sessions, if the player can justify it, they can use that stat/skill for a check. its worked pretty well

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Excellent!

[@ItsCliffGaming]

This is how I've always ran it at my "table". I will typically say something along the lines of "give me a [insert skill check here that I know the player doesn't really have that great of a bonus with] check or tell me why it should be something different" - and I let them describe what skill and how it was used. Do they almost always pick their best skill, of course, but it gets them to creatively come up with a reason that that max skill could be used in this scenario.

[@LiberatedAmon]

Performance is a charisma check. You could do anything as a performance as long as you do it with a flourish and ham it up.

[@SpiritWolf1966]

I enjoy all of Bob World Builder videos, utilizing the Tarzan collect jungle call,getting a murder monkey to deliver the correct vine 😊

[@MarSara1]

Love the idea, going to try it in my next session for sure

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Awesome! :)

[@sleepnt992]

In one of my systems I wrote, the player had to choose the ability, too. But every ability was used up and replenished at a later point. If use have it totally open, every player just tries to get the best ability to apply each thing. But have a limit, a drain on your strength, or a mental exhaustion was the solution... And opened up a lot of another options in the system (like attacking anothers ability-pool and dismiss HP). It was fun! I wpuld not recommend to open it up without limits!

[@BobWorldBuilder]

That's a really interesting idea!

[@newmanwolfry1630]

While this is something I've seen done before and used myself for a while, calling it a ''blank check'' is both catchy as hell, makes it fun to say, and is so easy to explain or invoke when referencing it with a name, thank you sir.

[@trafalgarla]

I've had a similar idea with enemies/npcs and adventures. Any module you're writing you can slap in "blank creature" and then the GM can just make up all the stats, descriptions, and character. Or even better when you sell GMs an adventure module you can just send them a blank book and the GMs can fill in the rest.

[@Cupheesh]

I’m so surprised that this approach hasn’t been written in any games so far, good catch on finding this and amazing video!

[@OMGSAMCOPSEY]

A good way to attempt to charm your way off of that portcullis is to acknowledge the spirits gods and fates. If your world can establish spirits everywhere it turns your dnd sesh into a Ghibli movie. Everyone's doing acrobatics but your begging the wind spirits to soften your landing or the earth spirits to catch you in a net of vines. Then maybe you have to spend your short rest thanking the spirits but thats just more roleplay

[@chrisberkel3674]

I am currently writing an adventure module to publish on my online shop that calls for this very thing!! Glad to see this rule get some more love!

[@912695ify]

This is quite similar to one of the things I like to do: prompting a player at random to describe a notable feature of an NPC that they are talking to/fighting or describe a feature of the environment they are in. Often times they end up giving me cool details that I expand upon. Sometimes it even goes so far as to change the entire theme of an encounter, but every time the players become much more invested in what was happening. Try giving a little creative control of the world over to your players!

[@commanderwyro4204]

definitely using this! Something i started doing that makes my players want to use them more and earn them is making inspiration a shared resource and it can be pooled. The pool is 5 inspiration points total for 3 players. and if all of them are used, the next session always has 1 point to start. The group went from using inspiration extremely rarely to more freely and its been a lot of fun

[@davidjennings2179]

Great advice as always Bob. I use this with a couple of variations. First is where you can replace a the stat. Is your barbarian not intimidating because their charisma is low? Of course not! Look at the guns on that MF! So the intimidation check becomes 1d20+ STR + prof (if they're proficient in intimidation). It's all down to the roleplay though and I've found this really encourages my players to emphasise what they're going for. Second is where you're investigating an ancient shrine and the wizard and cleric want to do their own checks. Arcarna will reveal different insights to Religion or investigation. You can vary the DC for the different skills too. Lastly, rewarding amazing roleplay and justification works wonders. The player who comes out with a persuasive speech or gives the rest of the table a real insight into their character will usually get advantage on their roll.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Great examples!

[@CookingwithKane]

One of my favorite things I've seen a DM do was Nate Taylor at Gen Con. Luke Gygax asked if he could have advantage on an attack due to some situational stuff happening. Nate's response was perfect; "sell me on it." He didn't just say no or arbitrarily say sure, he brought Luke in to convince him and rewarded it based on the creativity of the player, rather than sticking hard to the rules.

[@Anyona29]

I am terrible at knowing what my players should roll for all the random things they try. So moved to this approach every early on. Made it way easier to be 'tell me how you approach that situation and what roll you are doing'. Of course as DM i can still veto any ideas that don't quite make it. Didn't realize it wasn't such a common approach. as always, love the videos! Thanks heaps~

[@GutisFive]

You basically described DC20's prime attribute approach lol

[@BobWorldBuilder]

There's definitely overlap! But I think DC20 also assigns specific skills/stats to checks and saves in modules

[@madeleine61509]

On top of improving roleplay, I think this also creates an answer for the super annoying "well, my character is like... super good in this stat so they should never ever fail anything to do with this stat". Using the swinging vines and intelligence example, if the player fails, rather than the annoying conversation of "that's stupid. my character would absolutely be able to identify that super common plant", you can describe it as "even though you correctly identified that type of vine and its characteristics, it wasn't enough. your grip wasn't strong enough". By introducing the fact that they can succeed an action through any possible means and skillset, you're also establishing that they can equally fail in any skillset.

[@kaleem_k]

My table just started playing Worlds Without Number. I'm only 1 character and 3 sessions into this game, but the skills don't have specific attributes assigned to them in WWN. It's up to the player and GM to agree on whether (for example) to use your Dex to make a first aid check because of your skill with delicate tools, to use your Cha. to make a first aid check because of your soothing bedside manner, to use your Int to make a first aid check because of your knowledge of anatomy and physiology, and so on.

[@patrickmore9341]

I have a small, pleasant story that relates to one of his final points about complimenting other players roleplaying. I am sorta CoDMing and playing in a campaign a friend of mine started today, actually. Early during the roleplay, when the characters were brought together by a significant NPC to introduce them to each other and start the call to adventure, we quickly got into a bout of playful banter and bickering in character. Nothing mean spirited, just a bunch of people who are being pushed to work together trying to press each other's buttons a little to get a feel for the type of people they're working with. Didn't help that once I got into my character a little, the snarky young tiefling I'm playing was on a roll, and I was feeling it. This kept going off and on through a bit of exposition and so forth, but when we started to get a little lost in the weeds and things needed to move along another player took the perfect opportunity in character to get things back on track with a brief comment. Now, this particular player I don't think is new to roleplay in general but very new to this nerdy game we all enjoy. We are playing online since we're all over the place location wise. So, during a brief minute in the following scene where I wasn't needed, I shot him a brief message to let him know how helpful that was to encourage this type of in character effort to make sure we don't get too stuck in our own shenanigans and to let him know that he was doing a good job.

[@knaz7468]

I've been doing this for the past couple months in my Fallout 2d20 campaign, it works super well. It lets the geeky science person think of a technical solution, or macho survival guy tactically strategize, or charismatic barter/speech person think through solutions from a social perspective. It works for tons of problems. I usually write up a brief description of each possible outcome or think of a different angle the different characters would have due to their preferred stat check. Which is fun for me too. It really prevents that "oh well i guess I'll just sit here because my character can't contribute right now, it is someone else's time to chine" problem. I also have been REALLY liking the use of "multi-check" tests (i.e. multi-stat, multi-skill, multi-character). They are called extended tests and you actually end up doing "damage" to a problem's "hit points" with your skill or stat. The combos you can have doing this is super fun and we find it faster and more fun than combat. You are battling a problem to be solved. It's much more dramatic than just a single dumb roll and there are also "complications" along the way that can happen leading to more reactions. Not sure if it is a unique rule to FO 2d20 or not, but it has given me a whole new dimension to play. Really shakes things up.

[@azure6743]

For Charisma, I tend to closely connect that stat with willpower, which can make it more versatile under this system. Not a criticism, but I love how almost every "this house rule will make your D&D game better" video is a mechanic that's present in either Into the Odd or Forged in the Dark. There's so much we can learn from how other systems do things :)

[@votch2798]

I've been doing a version of this for a while now. Whenever a player says they want to do something, most of the time I ask what their plan is and then give them a choice of stats that are relevant to their plan.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Bingo!

[@DMRaptorJesus]

One of the old definitions of Charisma is "Blessed by Divinity." So thinking about it this way and not as your personality still has the same effects of being the charm skill and how many henchmen you have (in old D&D anyway), since someone with friends is certainty blessed. You could also treat it like viking Wyrd, its your destiny as you were destined to not be struck down by that orc. Thats just my 42¢ anyway.

[@Demidark33]

I think that part of the benefit of calling for specific stats for a check is that it can help spotlight strengths from different characters and give them time to shine. It kind of helps keep IRL outgoing players from just inventively using everyone one of their stats to keep the spotlight on their character (even if they don’t mean to)

[@Zr0din]

@6:00 Charisma - My epic Strength of will allows me to push myself beyond my limits to swing on the vine... Yeah that Strength of Will issue for Charisma is going to be dangerous.

[@gds-productions]

Great idea that has existed for a long time in the TTRPG mind-geist but hasn't actually been used that often like you said. Some of the best value from this video imo is in the last minute where you rapid fire tips. One point of contention: the blank check approach can trivialize stat specialization and somewhat damage niche protection in that regard. My secret for making people roleplay is chasing players up a tree with a problem they can't solve with their character sheets. Excellent video as always!

[@oneheart537]

Sharp Swords and Sinister Spells has a neat mechanic that is similar. It's called "Pushing the Roll" which allows players to try after after a failed check as long as they put forward a description of how that is possible. I think Traveller also allows for players to pitch which skill they will use in a check and have to provide a plausible description of the action.

[@kongu12395]

So I’ve been running Legend in the Mist (a fantasy, rules light version of City of Mist) for about 2 months now and this is essentially how every roll works in that game. Since your character traits are your abilities, if presented with a similar situation a player might say “I use my *keen senses* and *plant knowledge* to decide what vines are strongest.” Then they’d roll with a +2 to beat the fixed DC of 7 on 2d6. Role playing is everything and I love it a lot so far - even though most of the rules have yet to be released.

[@littlemonztergaming8665]

I enjoy having either a [Physical] check that can use STR/DEX or CON depending on how you describe it. Or a [Mental] check that uses INT/WIS or CHA depending on how you describe it. That description of using WIS/INT to swing on a vine is pretty cool, I'd use CHA to watch one of my party member do it. Meticulously watching their body language and how they shift their weight. Then I'd calm my nerves, and enact the performance exactly as I saw it, modifying the act slightly to not just rely on my arm strength.

[@ImSimmin]

I do a little bit of DMing in a westmarch I play in. And one of my table rules that im very happy with is "When asked to make a skill check you can use any skill once you convince me how it will be helpful." and it leads to so much creativity from players who's best stats DO NOT match up with the current situation, but because they want it to so bad, they come up with some convoluted way it would work, and its so fun. "I use my persuasion to convince the scroll to work by saying its paper is looking really crisp, no folds or wrinkles here, **wink**""

[@thedarthbear]

Wild! Slowly making progress writing my own system, and one of the tenets of it is that skills stand alone - attributes rolled for the check are determined on a case by case basis! Cool to see something like it elsewhere! Thanks for posting this!

[@carolinelabbott2451]

For charisma and vine swinging, either use charisma to build up ones own confidence to swing on that vine (giving a bonus to add to the later physical swing), or use their charisma to pursade another npc to help them across. Those are the only two options I can think of.

[@lydiasteinebendiksen4269]

I usually don't like leaving things THIS open, as though I am a fan of asking for the odd strength (intimidation) check, or intelligence (medicine) check, I don't like it when I risk undermining character build choices and specialisations. But that said, this specific variant actually really works for me, because it doesn't undermine your choices, but rather liberates the player to make choices based on what character they wanna be, rather than dumping intelligence because it's hardly ever used, and it doesn't completely invalidate anything either, so long as you don't make all abilities purely down to flavor.

[@bleuoval64]

We already use some minor sliver of this at our table. Such as a strength-baded character using strength for intimidation or Athletics or Acrobatics checks being interchangeable for all but specific situations. This takes it to another level.

[@MKisFeelinSpicy]

My DM usually asks us what we want to do and how we want to do it before telling us what to roll, if anything. Occasionally he gives us a choice of what to roll but usually only if we weren't specific enough in our description or if it really could draw from multiple skills even as described. I think he even adjusts the DC depending on if he thinks our idea is clever or would be particularly effective. I didn't realize the books were so inflexible.

[@jedinhite9872]

I've done something similar at my table. Occasionally I'll call for a "mental check" or "physical check". I let the player decide which stat to use. Also, love the Hero coins...I call mine dragon coins at the table. They've created some seriously epic moments.

[@Keovar]

Initiative works like this in Pathfinder 2e. It defaults to Perception (which everyone has), but if the player describes the use of another skill, that works too. For example, one could use Stealth when trying to ambush the enemy.

[@domgames249]

Love your videos man! You’re the first channel I turn to when I want to learn more about DnD!

[@TonyD-ox5nt]

I immediately thought of charisma with the vine check. Years ago, some friends and I were swimming in the local lake and happened on a rope swing. My friends were all more athletic and fearless than I was (as the bookish, straight-A, DM that I was). But I thought of Tarzan (or Luke Skywalker) and wanted to create a dramatic scene, so I took a deep breath, ran to the vine, and hollered "OH EE OH EE OH!" as i sailed through the air before splooshing into the water. I was pretty good. And I was sore for days! Charisma is not just confident ability to act... it is also keen awareness of the gaze of others and a desire to avoid shame. (for the record, I don't think I could charisma my way though picking a lock, but swinging on a vine? Yeah!) :)

[@BobWorldBuilder]

First, awesome story! Second, this is an interesting idea! Never saw it this way, but a couple others have brought it up in the comments. Yeah there could be an issue of Charisma being able to psyche yourself up for ANY challenge, but I guess I'd have to see how it goes.

[@LIFEcjs]

I basically already do this in my stars without number home game. it helps that none of the skills are actually tied to the stats, which makes it even easier for players to get creative and convince me how a skill like notice can help them with convincing the navy security to not suspect them of their nefarious plans

[@petershea6666]

Two thoughts on Charisma: 1) For the vines, I would allow a player to use Charisma as a variation on the help action. For example, I can say that you are persuading someone else (a player or an NPC) to come to the edge and give you a push to help you across. The closer to the edge of the cliff they are, the more distance you'll get. But it's unnerving standing that close to the edge, so even an ally might be afraid to help a lot. The Charisma check is to see how close to the edge you can persuade this person to put themselves. Your ability to talk them past their fear in order to help you. 2) I played a game where my character (a cleric of an Earth god) gained the ability to speak to the spirits of the rocks, and get the rocks to do things for him. Basically making me an earthbender. However, a rock's natural state is that they like to stay still, not move, and be stable. So anytime I wanted to use this power to make rocks move, I had to persuade the rocks that it was worth doing something that was contrary to their nature. Turning every use of my Earth Magic into a roleplay and Charisma check. BUT: I had terrible charisma, and if I failed, the rocks might wedge themselves in place and refused to be moved by *any* means, or take some other action against me because I had offended them. If you are playing in a game with object spirits or are ok personifying your world a bit, it's actually very doable and fun to make charisma into a problem solving stat. Highly reccommend.

[@yukikosan5468]

Very great advice !! I thinks it's central question in the embrela of OSR scene, rulling not rule. And with FKR, you go in another step in this direction "If it's coherent with you're character and scene, you don't need make check, you succed"

[@BlockOFish]

As a newer DM, I'm definitely going to try this out. I think my players would really enjoy it.

[@antigrav6004]

The blank check idea kinda reminds me of the CBR+PNK way of doing stats, which has a bonus to your Approach rather than specific stats. Aggressive, Smart, Empathy, and Stealth are the options, and its based on the fiction of how you handle a task. I really like how straight to the point it is.

[@thechosenone000]

Charisma is confidence. You can use that to fight back the fear, risk everything, and push for vine clumps that would put of reach to anyone but the most reckless

[@Addrum]

Charismatic swing on a vine: starts singing like a Disney princess (performance) so the little critters of the forest come to your aid, birds lifting you, squirrels bringing the vines closer to you, all singing in unison with you