Folks, I play all sorts of RPGs, but my favorite two are D&D and the White Wolf series of games in the World of Darkness using the Storyteller system. One of the mechanics the Storyteller system has that I've always wished D&D had was rules for "extended actions." If you're not familiar with this concept, it's basically this (from the Storyteller system):
An action which takes more than an instant to resolve. For example, a character may wish to search a library for specific occult lore, repair an engine, or break down a door. These rules are generally only used when it is important to know how long a task takes to complete, as well as how well it is executed; time-consuming actions in which the character may take as long as she likes are resolved in the normal way. Typically a player performing an extended action will repeatedly roll the appropriate dice pool until she achieves a set number of successes. The number of rolls indicate how long the character spent completing the task; the time scale is determined by the Storyteller or by specific task-related rules, and may be anything from a single turn per roll (typical in combat situations) to days or even weeks.
So, how does this translate into D&D? Well, I think certain actions, like research, trying to decipher a language, or other tasks that realistically might longer than one round (10 seconds), could benefit from using an "Extended Action" system. The following are my thoughts on how such a system could work:
Any skill can be used in an Extended Action as determined by the DM. The desired action is completed successfully when a total threshold, set by the DM, is reached. Each skill roll (d20 + skill modifier) for the character is added together until the threshold is reached. Each roll signifies an extended amount of time determined by the DM (e.g., learning the basics of a new language could take a day per roll, whereas doing simple historical research might only be an hour per roll). The total threshold may be determined by taking the numeric value for each Task Difficulty Class found in chapter 7 of the Player's Handbook and multiplying them by 10.
Very Easy = 50
Easy = 100
Medium = 150
Hard = 200
Very Hard = 250
Nearly Impossible = 300
Proficiency in certain abilities, having certain backgrounds, or even using specialized equipment may grant the character Advantage on these rolls (e.g., Maerlyl the dwarven cleric is trying to decipher a new Ostorian runic magic system. Her proficiency in the Giant language grants her an Advantage on the Extended Action rolls to decipher it.).
Thoughts?
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C. Foster Payne
"If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around."
I just use a Target number of successes (easier to track than trying to add rolls together to attain an inflated target number/DC). Ex: party is gathering information at some nobles fancy ball. Number of successes required is 7. DC is 20. On a Nat 1 the party loses one success from the pool and Nat 20 would count as 2 successes. Any number of players may contribute. But they may not all use the same skill proficiency for the checks. They may however use any proficiency that they can reasonably justify. Each roll will represent a unit of time (situationally based; but not to exceed 1 hour) that player expended in the endeavor. Additionally; Some "extended checks" will also come with a failure number. If the fail TN is reached before the success then appropriate consequences would be applied.
Sometimes a character fails an ability check and wants to try again. In some cases, a character is free to do so; the only real cost is the time it takes. With enough attempts and enough time, a character should eventually succeed at the task. To speed things up, assume that a character spending ten times the normal amount of time needed to complete a task automatically succeeds at that task. However, no amount of repeating the check allows a character to turn an impossible task into a successful one.
In other cases, failing an ability check makes it impossible to make the same check to do the same thing again. For example, a rogue might try to trick a town guard into thinking the adventurers are undercover agents of the king. If the rogue loses a contest of Charisma (Deception) against the guard’s Wisdom (Insight), the same lie told again won’t work. The characters can come up with a different way to get past the guard or try the check again against another guard at a different gate. But you might decide that the initial failure makes those checks more difficult to pull off.
I just use a Target number of successes (easier to track than trying to add rolls together to attain an inflated target number/DC). Ex: party is gathering information at some nobles fancy ball. Number of successes required is 7. DC is 20. On a Nat 1 the party loses one success from the pool and Nat 20 would count as 2 successes. Any number of players may contribute. But they may not all use the same skill proficiency for the checks. They may however use any proficiency that they can reasonably justify. Each roll will represent a unit of time (situationally based; but not to exceed 1 hour) that player expended in the endeavor. Additionally; Some "extended checks" will also come with a failure number. If the fail TN is reached before the success then appropriate consequences would be applied.
That's a good option that even includes the possibility of failure.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
C. Foster Payne
"If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around."
“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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Folks, I play all sorts of RPGs, but my favorite two are D&D and the White Wolf series of games in the World of Darkness using the Storyteller system. One of the mechanics the Storyteller system has that I've always wished D&D had was rules for "extended actions." If you're not familiar with this concept, it's basically this (from the Storyteller system):
So, how does this translate into D&D? Well, I think certain actions, like research, trying to decipher a language, or other tasks that realistically might longer than one round (10 seconds), could benefit from using an "Extended Action" system. The following are my thoughts on how such a system could work:
Any skill can be used in an Extended Action as determined by the DM. The desired action is completed successfully when a total threshold, set by the DM, is reached. Each skill roll (d20 + skill modifier) for the character is added together until the threshold is reached. Each roll signifies an extended amount of time determined by the DM (e.g., learning the basics of a new language could take a day per roll, whereas doing simple historical research might only be an hour per roll). The total threshold may be determined by taking the numeric value for each Task Difficulty Class found in chapter 7 of the Player's Handbook and multiplying them by 10.
Proficiency in certain abilities, having certain backgrounds, or even using specialized equipment may grant the character Advantage on these rolls (e.g., Maerlyl the dwarven cleric is trying to decipher a new Ostorian runic magic system. Her proficiency in the Giant language grants her an Advantage on the Extended Action rolls to decipher it.).
Thoughts?
C. Foster Payne
"If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around."
I just use a Target number of successes (easier to track than trying to add rolls together to attain an inflated target number/DC).
Ex: party is gathering information at some nobles fancy ball.
Number of successes required is 7. DC is 20.
On a Nat 1 the party loses one success from the pool and Nat 20 would count as 2 successes.
Any number of players may contribute. But they may not all use the same skill proficiency for the checks.
They may however use any proficiency that they can reasonably justify.
Each roll will represent a unit of time (situationally based; but not to exceed 1 hour) that player expended in the endeavor.
Additionally; Some "extended checks" will also come with a failure number. If the fail TN is reached before the success then appropriate consequences would be applied.
That's a good option that even includes the possibility of failure.
C. Foster Payne
"If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin' somebody else's dog around."
Effectively a Skill Challenge from 4e.
“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