"Characters atop the 80-foot-high lighthouse outcropping might try to climb down its slope to reach the water. The slope has abundant handholds but is wet, so that ascending or descending it requires a successful DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check. A character who fails the check slips and falls, landing in the water below and taking 1d6 bludgeoning damage per 10 feet fallen."
I'm thinking of having each player roll their d20 8x each to see how far down they make it to bottom without a slip & fall
So up to 8 rolls until they fail the DC STR Athletics âïž for each PC brave enough to descend the lighthouse
Any thoughts on this?
(I'm a stickler for "rules" so I don't mind having each of my players make these rolls no matter how time consuming it may be)
Well the more you make them roll for the same check, the more likely they will fail. With 8 rolls, your basically saying you want your party to fail at some point except for maybe the most athletic. Seems a little harsh to me. They will most likely choose to use rope if they have it available so be prepared to adjust what you make them roll based on that. I've personally never had a DM make me roll more than 2 times on 100 foot climbs. Per the adventure, 1 check is enough for the entire climb, but because of the lower DC and the fact that it's wet you could be justified in either raising the DC or making more than one check. 8 is a lot though. None of the players I've run through this adventure chose the climb route from the top. They either built rafts or found a lower point and swam around. So be ready for those things too.
The easiest way to do this is scale the level of failure so a 10+ succeeds, so you have 1-9 that can fail, simply take what they roll and use that to determine the height they are when they slip. So if they roll a 1 itâs the full 80 feet regardless of the modifier, 2+ you apply the modifier and then work out the amount fallen (2 total is 80, 9 is 10)
Or roll a D8 to see how far they slip.
If you are going to make them roll multiple times then 8 is far too many, with 4 players that would be 32 D20 rolls which is more then in many combats at this level.
If you feel 1 roll is not enough I would have them make 2 rolls, if they succeed the first the dc for the second is reduced, if they fail the first they take damage for falling but get to make a second to catch themselves. Again how well they succeed this second roll could determine how far they slip, so if they roll an 8 for the first roll and then a 16 then they slip just 30 feet an 8 then a 12 is 60 an 8 then an 8 or lower is the full 80.
Remember this is not a competition between DM and players, you are not going out of your way to make the players life artificially hard by putting statistics against them, this is about telling a story and giving the players a challenge to overcome. By forcing a situation that is a statistical failure you risk a TPK because of stats which is never fun.
I agree with Scarloc_Stormcall here. I would either roll a d8 or base the fall by how far they missed the DC by. I prefer basing it off the DC because its less rolls and it aligns directly with their check.
Spoiler đš
Question on how I should run this:
"Characters atop the 80-foot-high lighthouse outcropping might try to climb down its slope to reach the water. The slope has abundant handholds but is wet, so that ascending or descending it requires a successful DC 10 Strength (Athletics) check. A character who fails the check slips and falls, landing in the water below and taking 1d6 bludgeoning damage per 10 feet fallen."
I'm thinking of having each player roll their d20 8x each to see how far down they make it to bottom without a slip & fall
So up to 8 rolls until they fail the DC STR Athletics âïž for each PC brave enough to descend the lighthouse
Any thoughts on this?
(I'm a stickler for "rules" so I don't mind having each of my players make these rolls no matter how time consuming it may be)
Well the more you make them roll for the same check, the more likely they will fail. With 8 rolls, your basically saying you want your party to fail at some point except for maybe the most athletic. Seems a little harsh to me. They will most likely choose to use rope if they have it available so be prepared to adjust what you make them roll based on that. I've personally never had a DM make me roll more than 2 times on 100 foot climbs. Per the adventure, 1 check is enough for the entire climb, but because of the lower DC and the fact that it's wet you could be justified in either raising the DC or making more than one check. 8 is a lot though. None of the players I've run through this adventure chose the climb route from the top. They either built rafts or found a lower point and swam around. So be ready for those things too.
Understood but I only thought to do this to determine the height from which they fall (if they fall at all)
How could I determine if they fall 10 ft., 40 ft., 80 ft. etc. from their climb?
The easiest way to do this is scale the level of failure so a 10+ succeeds, so you have 1-9 that can fail, simply take what they roll and use that to determine the height they are when they slip. So if they roll a 1 itâs the full 80 feet regardless of the modifier, 2+ you apply the modifier and then work out the amount fallen (2 total is 80, 9 is 10)
Or roll a D8 to see how far they slip.
If you are going to make them roll multiple times then 8 is far too many, with 4 players that would be 32 D20 rolls which is more then in many combats at this level.
If you feel 1 roll is not enough I would have them make 2 rolls, if they succeed the first the dc for the second is reduced, if they fail the first they take damage for falling but get to make a second to catch themselves. Again how well they succeed this second roll could determine how far they slip, so if they roll an 8 for the first roll and then a 16 then they slip just 30 feet an 8 then a 12 is 60 an 8 then an 8 or lower is the full 80.
Remember this is not a competition between DM and players, you are not going out of your way to make the players life artificially hard by putting statistics against them, this is about telling a story and giving the players a challenge to overcome. By forcing a situation that is a statistical failure you risk a TPK because of stats which is never fun.
I agree with Scarloc_Stormcall here. I would either roll a d8 or base the fall by how far they missed the DC by. I prefer basing it off the DC because its less rolls and it aligns directly with their check.
Thanks for this... this is genius
Honestly, although I'm aware this isn't DM vs. PC I'd like to implement any/every official (variant) rule possible to bring the game closer to realism
Not my only goal but it makes this game more fun for me so far
(I've literally only played one game in my life) đ©
I think I'll go with the d20 + d8
You just made my life way easier... Thanks again đ