Why not? That's just how it is. This NPC has some negative skill checks and that should be a feature built into the Monster creation. I just want to be thorough
Why not? That's just how it is. This NPC has some negative skill checks and that should be a feature built into the Monster creation. I just want to be thorough
Skills can't be a negative, that's not something the rules allow.
That's true according to the rules, of course, but when making a monster/NPC it doesn't show the skills unless you explicitly include them. But when you do, you can only build ones with positive modifiers. Try it out yourself. I really want to be wrong on this.
That's because monster stats only show skills that have a bonus in addition to their base ability. Otherwise it is just the ability modifier. If a monster does not have at least a +1 bonus to a skill, it does not list that skill.
Okay. I'm not disagreeing with you on the rules. We're having two different conversations. I'm saying the DnDBeyond prompt tells us it can be negative when in fact it can't. Thus, it's a bug. Try it yourself.
And besides, having negative skills would only enhance the feature without contradicting the rules. It's what PCs have, and NPCs should have it too. And Monsters. Do you disagree?
Remember that the homebrew tools are rough around the edges (they're a version of the internal tools used by the devs) and as such, some fields don't do anything and some tooltips are incorrect. They're not meant to be an exhaustive, perfect set of tools yet, that's coming in the homebrew overhaul.
As for your second bit, negative skills do contradict the rules because that's not how skills work, neither PCs nor NPCs can have negative skills because a skill doesn't have an intrinsic number associated to it. A skill is instead a broad category of actions a character can take that allow them to add their proficiency bonus if proficient. You don't have a +X in history, you have proficiency (or not) in history and that lets you add your bonus to checks that are classed as history.
Monsters don't have the proficiency system baked in, you instead have to manually enter their proficiency bonus in as a skill bonus. That's why you can't have a negative skill bonus; it's not it's own modifier, it's derived from proficiency and that can't be negative.
Check it:
https://imgur.com/NvTS8wF
Why are you trying to lower its skill from base?
Why not? That's just how it is. This NPC has some negative skill checks and that should be a feature built into the Monster creation. I just want to be thorough
Skills can't be a negative, that's not something the rules allow.
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Skill modifiers can. So am I just doing it wrong?
Ability modifiers can be because of how they're calculated. But skill bonuses are always positive
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Let me show you what I'm talking about. It doesn't work for either section, Base or Bonus. Link: https://imgur.com/SVT4S8q
If their ability score is a negative modifier the skill will be too. You don't need to add the skill with a negative bonus to reflect that.
That's true according to the rules, of course, but when making a monster/NPC it doesn't show the skills unless you explicitly include them. But when you do, you can only build ones with positive modifiers. Try it out yourself. I really want to be wrong on this.
That's because monster stats only show skills that have a bonus in addition to their base ability. Otherwise it is just the ability modifier. If a monster does not have at least a +1 bonus to a skill, it does not list that skill.
Okay. I'm not disagreeing with you on the rules. We're having two different conversations. I'm saying the DnDBeyond prompt tells us it can be negative when in fact it can't. Thus, it's a bug. Try it yourself.
And besides, having negative skills would only enhance the feature without contradicting the rules. It's what PCs have, and NPCs should have it too. And Monsters. Do you disagree?
Remember that the homebrew tools are rough around the edges (they're a version of the internal tools used by the devs) and as such, some fields don't do anything and some tooltips are incorrect. They're not meant to be an exhaustive, perfect set of tools yet, that's coming in the homebrew overhaul.
As for your second bit, negative skills do contradict the rules because that's not how skills work, neither PCs nor NPCs can have negative skills because a skill doesn't have an intrinsic number associated to it. A skill is instead a broad category of actions a character can take that allow them to add their proficiency bonus if proficient. You don't have a +X in history, you have proficiency (or not) in history and that lets you add your bonus to checks that are classed as history.
Monsters don't have the proficiency system baked in, you instead have to manually enter their proficiency bonus in as a skill bonus. That's why you can't have a negative skill bonus; it's not it's own modifier, it's derived from proficiency and that can't be negative.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here