B is for Bonuses

Okay, so which one of us has the "craft: raft" skill, and which one has "boating"?

Unlike both OD&D and AD&D, B/X has a universal set of ability bonuses that begin at relatively low numbers (13 instead of 14-16 for AD&D). It does not, however, develop any kind of universal skill system. As per previous editions, the kind of actions players might typically take in the course of adventuring (other than combat) operate on an ad-hoc basis:

• Literacy and Languages: Determined by Intelligence and race
• Stealth (aka surprise): 1-2 on 1d6 (33%)
• Stealth (aka evasion in the wilderness): 10-90%, depending on relative party size
• Search (secret doors, traps): 1 on 1d6 (16%) (1-2 for elves and dwarves for secret doors; 1-2 for dwarves on traps - 33%)
• Listen: 1-2 on 1d6 (33%)
• Climb: No odds given, but presumably possible for any character with the right equipment
• Foraging/Hunting: 1 on 1d6 (16%)
• Maintain Course (the opposite of becoming lost): On a 1d6 - 2-6 (83%) in clear or grasslands; 3-6 (67%) in woods, hills, mountains, oceans, and barren; and 4-6 (50%) in swamp, jungle, or desert.
• Diplomacy: 9 or better on 2d12 indicates a favorable reaction, with 12 or better indicating a very favorable reaction

With the exception of diplomacy and languages, none of the above "skills" are modified in any way by a character's abilities or class, and only a few are modified by one's race.

In addition, certain classes and races get additional (non-magical) abilities:

• Thieves of course get their special abilities, which increase with level.
• In addition to a better chance to detect traps, dwarves have a 1-in-3 chance to find slanting passages, shifting walls, and new construction.
• Halflings can hide in shadows in a 1-in-3 chance underground, and hide in natural foliage 90% of the time.

Frankly, the skills listed cover about 90% of what a party of PCs is likely to do in the course of your typical dungeon-crawl or hex-crawl. The time honored roll-a-d20-under-the-appropriate-ability method really does cover most of the rest. 

However, there are some limitations to the above:

First, there's little ability to improve one's skills as time goes on. Granted that most of a chracter's time is going to be spent improving skill intrinsic to their profession (class), but why would a 1st level magic-user and a 12th-level fighter have exactly the same chance to find food in the wilderness or sneak up on a band of orcs? 

Second, there's no real ability to customize one's character for a given background. Granted, B/X doesn't exactly focus on role-playing as an art of character study. What a PC does once play begins is far more important than what he did before first entering the dungeon. Even so, why should a city-born wizard be able to hunt just as well as the barbarian warrior?

For that matter, why should a whole party wearing plate armor have the same chance to surprise as a lone character in no-to-light armor?

Now in my younger days, that never bothered me. Negotiating ad-hoc bonuses for your character based on background, abilities, and situations was all part of the game when I grew up. But my best player, who pretty much cut his teeth on 3e, wanted to have a better quantifiable idea of what his character could or could not do--and be able to customize his character for a particular concept.

Okay, fair enough. The question was how to do it without devolving into the granularity of d20 D&D, which I really don't have any patience for anymore.

Well, the first question is whether to keep the various d6 rolls, or to come up with something else. After some thought, I decided to take a bit of advice I heard way back in my days of reading all the various OD&D boards and blogs and fall back on the ol' 2d6, using the reaction chart as a base:

2          Critical Failure

3-5      Failure

6-8      Neutral (or a minor success on an easy task)

9-11    Success

12       Great Success

A bit of calculation showed that when rolling an unmodified 2d6, one had the following percent chance to roll the following numbers and above:

2 - 100%

3 - 97%

4 - 92%

5 - 83%

6 - 72%

7 - 58%

8 - 42%

9 - 27%

10 - 17%

11 - 8%

12 - 3%

In other words, rolling a 10 or above on 2d6 had about the same chance as rolling a 1 on a 1d6, rolling a 9 on a 2d6 had a slightly smaller chance than rolling a 1-2 on a 1d6, and so forth. Using 2d6 instead of 1d6 gave a bit more granularity.

So what if I converted all of those skills a chance on a 2d6 instead of the various other dice?

• Stealth (aka surprise): 9 or higher to surprise, with characters using light to no armor able to add the bonus of the least dextrous character in the group to the roll. This would give those fighters with a high dexterity a good reason to forgo heavy armor in certain situations.
• Search (secret doors, traps): 10 or higher. Dwarves and elves get a +1 to detect secret doors, and dwarves also get a +1 to find traps.
• Listen: 9 or higher.
• Climb: Still subject to having the right equipment and a bit of fiat.
• Foraging/Hunting: 10 or higher.
• Maintain Course (the opposite of becoming lost): 7 or higher, with a -2 penalty in woods, hills, mountains, oceans, and barren, and a -3 penalty in swamp, jungle, or desert. (Maybe even a -4 penalty in the jungle.)

Per the pattern set by the given skills, anything easy takes a 7 or better, anything moderately hard takes a 9 or better, and anything hard takes a 10 or better. Skills directly related to a particular ability (like the stealth/surprise check above, or diplomacy/the reaction roll) can be modified by the bonus for that ability.

Okay, but why bother? Simply put, because the slightly greater granularity gives me a bit of room to introduce other bonuses and penalties. For example, foraging might only take a 10 or better in the light woodlands, but in the desert might take an 11 or even 12 (especially to find water). But on the other hand, I could introduce backgrounds that give characters small bonuses to those kinds of checks: Perhaps a person with the desert nomad background gets a +2 to forage in the desert, giving him the same or better chance of finding food and water than most other characters have in their home territories.

So how would this map to the various skills found in 3e?

Appraise - 10 or better on 2d6, modified by Int

Balance - 2d6 modified by Dex, DM sets target number based on circumstances.

Bluff - Use Reaction Table, modified by Cha

Climb - Almost always possible if character has right equipment and enough time

Concentration - No such skill; being hit always disrupts a spell

Craft - I'd have to work this out based on character background; most PCs would have spent the majority of their lives in their chosen class/profession

Decipher Script - Thief ability

Diplomacy - Use Reaction Table, modified by Cha

Disable Device - Thief ability, or by player correctly figuring out the trigger

Disguise - Use Reaction Table, modified by Cha, penalty based on absurdity of disguise

Escape Artist - Saving throw vs. Paralysis, modified by Dex, at a -4 for rope and a -8 for shackles.

Forgery - Special circumstances, requiring DM fiat

Gather Information - Ye old "rumor" table

Handle Animal - Reaction Table, modified by Cha or Wis (whichever is higher)

Heal - Modified by Int, 10 or higher heals 1 hp, 12 or higher heals 1d4; one chance per wound only

Hide - Modified by Dex, roll depends on amount of cover available. Only thieves and halflings can hide in nothing but shadows

Intimidate - Target rolls against their morale, modified by intimidating character's Cha and circumstances (actually heating irons in front of a prisoner subtracts 2 from their morale)

Jump - DM fiat, depending on Str, Dex, and how much is being carried

Knowledge - Frankly, I think PCs should have to learn most of their knowledge by actually playing,and we all know that if the knowledge is essential to letting the adventure continue, the DM will make sure somebody knows it. But for those occasions where a roll is needed, 10 or better, modified by Int.

Listen - 9 or better

Move Silently - Use surprise (9 or better, modified by Dex if wearing light or no armor); only thieves can move with absolutely no sound at all.

Open Lock - Thief ability

Perform - Reaction Table, modified by Cha

Profession - Like Craft, depends on PC background, but few would have gotten past the apprentice stage

Ride - All PCs are assumed to be able to ride, and all fighters and clerics can use a warhorse in battle. 

Search - 10 or higher. Dwarves and elves get a +1 to detect secret doors, and dwarves also get a +1 to find traps.

Sense Motive - Role play it out.

Sleight Of Hand - Thief skill (pick pockets), though in certain circumstances, let a PC roll 10 or better, modified by Dex. (Yeah, Bilbo, trying to pick that troll's pocket was a great idea.)

Speak Language - Covered under Int ability

Spellcraft - Covered under cleric, magic-user, and elf classes

Spot - Handled by modifying your chance to be surprised.

Survival - As above for foraging, hunting, and avoiding getting lost.

Swim - All characters are assumed to be able to swim. Swimming for long distances, in rough seas, or cold water will start to require the character to roll saving throws vs. death modified by Con to avoid drowning.

Tumble - Depends on what the character wants to do. A lightly-armored PC trying to tumble past an opponent might make a save vs. wands modified by dexterity to avoid taking a hit. 

Use Magic Device - Thief ability

Use Rope - Like any real adventurer couldn't. Why do we need this skill again?

So, can PC's improve their skills? Sure. Instead of having the rangers of the Kalalali Forest give the PCs gold and magic items, what if they trained them to have a +2 chance at their forage and find direction checks over the course of a summer? Instead of making improving skills an automatic at any given level, why not let the PCs seek out training and/or sacrifice XP to learn them. That way, those who want to completely focus on their class (like that wizard who is utterly obsessed with learning that next spell) don't have to make the exchange?

Obviously, this is an idea in progress, but I think it has a lot of merit. I'll let you know how it does in play.