Hey everyone would like to get other people's view on this. So in my game I take into account what races characters are playing when determing what dc/ effect and effective dc success would be. An example i had was a player of mine who was a goliath barbarian tried to lift a heavy stone tablet but only rolled a total of 7. The half elf rouge said can I try and rolled a total of 20. I then said you shift it up slightly but the weight is too much and you have to drop it after your muscles have contacted to their max potential. The player wasn't too happy but I explained to him that a goliath with a strength score of 18 meaning he is exceptionally strong for a goliath could not lift it. A half elf rouge whom strength score is 12 means your slightly stronger than an average half elf but you wouldn't be stronger than an average goliath. So to me it makes no sense for this scenario for him to lift it all the way up. This does get overlooked if they are enhanced through magic means though im only talking about natural strength.
I hope I got my point across clearly but what do you guys think to this?
In the case of lifting, the powerful build trait doubles the goliath's potential. Strength challenges are kind of hard to gauge, especially when it has more to do with total power than luck or skill.
Your narration was close to a good explanation of the rules. The rogue managed to lift the tablet, but did not have the raw strength needed to move after doing so.
If a character has enough strength to succeed on the strength check to lift something, just let them lift it. There's no point in having them roll unless they're under time pressure; there's no meaningful consequence to failing the roll. They'll just roll over and over until they succeed, unless you forbid that, which just leads to ridiculous situations when weaker party members try and one rolls higher.
Maybe I didn't get my point across properly. Based on the race I believe the dc will be different to perform strength based checks. So a gnome of strength of 10 and a human with a strength of 10 performing the same strength task, the human should have an easier time doing it.
Hopefully I made that clearer from my point I was trying to make.
The DC of a task doesn't change depending on who's doing it. The DC measures the difficulty of the task. If you change the DC according to who's trying it, you're giving different tasks to different people. The difference between one creature and another is reflected in the bonus on their ability check.
If a gnome and a human both have 10 strength, they're equally strong. And while the size difference can matter for certain tasks, a simple Strength check to lift or break something typically isn't one of them, unless the object is so big that the difference in anatomy could be a concern.
Your Strength score determines the amount of weight you can bear. The following terms define what you can lift or carry.
Carrying Capacity. Your carrying capacity is your Strength score multiplied by 15. This is the weight (in pounds) that you can carry, which is high enough that most characters don't usually have to worry about it.
Push, Drag, or Lift. You can push, drag, or lift a weight in pounds up to twice your carrying capacity (or 30 times your Strength score). While pushing or dragging weight in excess of your carrying capacity, your speed drops to 5 feet.
Size and Strength. Larger creatures can bear more weight, whereas Tiny creatures can carry less. For each size category above Medium, double the creature's carrying capacity and the amount it can push, drag, or lift. For a Tiny creature, halve these weights.
The first comment made a reference to lifting capacity, and specifically pointed out a race feature in your example that fit it
You later specified with a second example that had nothing to do with strength or lifting capacity (according to rules), and more to do with your preconceived notions.
DC should be the same for every character in the same circumstance. A character's race or background may give them different DCs to persuade a certain NPC or recall certain knowledge. But moving a heavy thing is not a task made easier by anything other than different sizes.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Hey everyone would like to get other people's view on this. So in my game I take into account what races characters are playing when determing what dc/ effect and effective dc success would be. An example i had was a player of mine who was a goliath barbarian tried to lift a heavy stone tablet but only rolled a total of 7. The half elf rouge said can I try and rolled a total of 20. I then said you shift it up slightly but the weight is too much and you have to drop it after your muscles have contacted to their max potential. The player wasn't too happy but I explained to him that a goliath with a strength score of 18 meaning he is exceptionally strong for a goliath could not lift it. A half elf rouge whom strength score is 12 means your slightly stronger than an average half elf but you wouldn't be stronger than an average goliath. So to me it makes no sense for this scenario for him to lift it all the way up. This does get overlooked if they are enhanced through magic means though im only talking about natural strength.
I hope I got my point across clearly but what do you guys think to this?
In the case of lifting, the powerful build trait doubles the goliath's potential. Strength challenges are kind of hard to gauge, especially when it has more to do with total power than luck or skill.
Your narration was close to a good explanation of the rules. The rogue managed to lift the tablet, but did not have the raw strength needed to move after doing so.
If a character has enough strength to succeed on the strength check to lift something, just let them lift it. There's no point in having them roll unless they're under time pressure; there's no meaningful consequence to failing the roll. They'll just roll over and over until they succeed, unless you forbid that, which just leads to ridiculous situations when weaker party members try and one rolls higher.
The Forum Infestation (TM)
Maybe I didn't get my point across properly. Based on the race I believe the dc will be different to perform strength based checks. So a gnome of strength of 10 and a human with a strength of 10 performing the same strength task, the human should have an easier time doing it.
Hopefully I made that clearer from my point I was trying to make.
The DC of a task doesn't change depending on who's doing it. The DC measures the difficulty of the task. If you change the DC according to who's trying it, you're giving different tasks to different people. The difference between one creature and another is reflected in the bonus on their ability check.
If a gnome and a human both have 10 strength, they're equally strong. And while the size difference can matter for certain tasks, a simple Strength check to lift or break something typically isn't one of them, unless the object is so big that the difference in anatomy could be a concern.
The Forum Infestation (TM)
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/using-ability-scores#LiftingandCarrying
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
I overlooked this. Thank you!
The first comment made a reference to lifting capacity, and specifically pointed out a race feature in your example that fit it
You later specified with a second example that had nothing to do with strength or lifting capacity (according to rules), and more to do with your preconceived notions.
DC should be the same for every character in the same circumstance. A character's race or background may give them different DCs to persuade a certain NPC or recall certain knowledge. But moving a heavy thing is not a task made easier by anything other than different sizes.