I am an aspiring DM looking to prepare an adventure that is set in the campus of Strixhaven and in Chapter 3 of the book "Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos" I ran across a minigame called Wizard Gizzard where the objective is to throw magically unstable balls into a bucket across the room. The way the game is written in the book reminds me of playing cornhole. Anyways, the book on D&D beyond calls for a Dexterity (Arcana) check to see how successful the characters are at the game and I was thinking to myself wait a minute, how would proficiency in Arcana apply to a Dexterity check unless the balls are so magically unstable that knowledge in magic would apply to the throw. I would like to know if anyone knows whatever or not this is a misprint. Thanks in advance for helping me out.
It's not a wrong call, but an alternative skill check. A Dexterity(Arcana) check would be based on dexterity with a bonus if you were familiar with Arcana to represent the control or knowledge of how the weave of magic will act/react to the player's input. DMs have the ability to scramble any ability skill check to suit the task at hand. Another representation might be for a Barbarian to make a Strength (Intimidation) check to perform some feat of strength designed to show off their physically dominating presence.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
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I am an aspiring DM looking to prepare an adventure that is set in the campus of Strixhaven and in Chapter 3 of the book "Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos" I ran across a minigame called Wizard Gizzard where the objective is to throw magically unstable balls into a bucket across the room. The way the game is written in the book reminds me of playing cornhole. Anyways, the book on D&D beyond calls for a Dexterity (Arcana) check to see how successful the characters are at the game and I was thinking to myself wait a minute, how would proficiency in Arcana apply to a Dexterity check unless the balls are so magically unstable that knowledge in magic would apply to the throw. I would like to know if anyone knows whatever or not this is a misprint. Thanks in advance for helping me out.
It's not a wrong call, but an alternative skill check. A Dexterity(Arcana) check would be based on dexterity with a bonus if you were familiar with Arcana to represent the control or knowledge of how the weave of magic will act/react to the player's input. DMs have the ability to scramble any ability skill check to suit the task at hand. Another representation might be for a Barbarian to make a Strength (Intimidation) check to perform some feat of strength designed to show off their physically dominating presence.
(See Also: Variant: Skills with Different Abilities)
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad