Variable Task Dice
Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2017 3:50 pm
Here's a simple house rule I'm using while running The Cleansing of Cameth Brin (see elsewhere on these forums).
The S&W Core Rules give characters a chance to hear sounds, force open stuck doors, find secret doors and traps, etc. The rules assume the use of 1d6 and the chances are expressed as x-in-6. In Cameth Brin, some secret doors and traps are easier or more difficult to discover than normal. I simulate this by using "variable task dice", as follows:
TASK... DIE
Easy... 1d4
Normal... 1d6
Hard... 1d8
Very Hard... 1d10
Extremely Hard... 1d12
For example, when a secret door is described in the text as "Hard to find", a character who is searching in the right area has a 2-in-8 chance to find it, not 2-in-6. (An elf's chance becomes 4-in-8 if searching, or 1-in-8 if not searching.)
Additionally, I have house ruled Thieving Skills, ditching the percentages and using 1d6 (default) to resolve skill checks. The Hear Sounds column of Table 10: Thieving Skills gives the chances for all Thieving Skills except Climb Walls, which starts at 5 in 6. This makes thieves better at their job (a good thing in my book) and is compatible with the variable task dice rule described above.
Thoughts? Criticisms? Anyone else do this or something similar?
The S&W Core Rules give characters a chance to hear sounds, force open stuck doors, find secret doors and traps, etc. The rules assume the use of 1d6 and the chances are expressed as x-in-6. In Cameth Brin, some secret doors and traps are easier or more difficult to discover than normal. I simulate this by using "variable task dice", as follows:
TASK... DIE
Easy... 1d4
Normal... 1d6
Hard... 1d8
Very Hard... 1d10
Extremely Hard... 1d12
For example, when a secret door is described in the text as "Hard to find", a character who is searching in the right area has a 2-in-8 chance to find it, not 2-in-6. (An elf's chance becomes 4-in-8 if searching, or 1-in-8 if not searching.)
Additionally, I have house ruled Thieving Skills, ditching the percentages and using 1d6 (default) to resolve skill checks. The Hear Sounds column of Table 10: Thieving Skills gives the chances for all Thieving Skills except Climb Walls, which starts at 5 in 6. This makes thieves better at their job (a good thing in my book) and is compatible with the variable task dice rule described above.
Thoughts? Criticisms? Anyone else do this or something similar?