General skills
by LibraryOgreIrondrake wrote:
except for skills based on Intelligence or Wisdom. Those types of general skills can never be attempted unskilled.
I might allow a few exceptions to this, but the knowledge would be of lesser quality... you should be able to attempt Disguise, even if you can't look like Bob the Guard, you can make a passable attempt to look like A Guard. Fire building, if you've got some tools (i.e. flint rock and a steel knife), binding wounds for 1 HP (as opposed to healing's 1d3 HP), Labor (doing ok under supervision at some tasks), Detect Deception, some basic knowledges (like about the area they grew up in, even without spending a slot).
Here'd be my suggestion:
Skilled Level/Score/Yes, But/Yes, And
Unskilled/Half attribute/1-3/None
Basic/Attribute/1-2/Score
Skilled/Attribute +2/1-2/Score
Expert/Attribute +4/ 1/ Score -1 to score
Master/Attribute +6/ 1, then 1 on d4/ Score -2 to score
Grand master/Attribute +8/ 1, then 1 on d6/ Score -3 to Score
Under "Score", Unskilled is half attribute, rounded down
"Yes, But" indicates a success with a complication; if your roll is 1-2 with basic skills, you succeeded, but there's some sort of a problem; you used more materials than normal, you missed a critical detail, whatever. Masters and Grandmasters only get a Yes, But if penalties take their roll below a 1.
"Yes, And" indicates some level of critical success. You did what you set out to do, and you got some level of bonus.
So, let's start with an attribute of 11.
At unskilled, I have a 5. If I roll a 1-3, I succeed, but with some complication. 4-5, I succeed. 6+, I fail.
At skilled, I have an 11. If I roll a 1-2, I succeed with complication. 3-10, I succeed. 11, I succeed with a bonus. 12+, I fail.
Skilled is like Basic, but my score is now 13. Success with bonus is now 13.
Expert, my score is 15, I have a complication only on a 1, and I succeed with a bonus on a 14 or 15.
Master, My score is now a 17. I only have a complication if my roll is a 1, followed by a 1 on a d4, and I get a bonus on a 15-17.
Grand Master, my score is 19. I only have a complication if my roll a 1, followed by a 1 on a d6, and I get a bonus on a 16-19.
Someone who is unskilled will have a complication 15% of the time; if their attribute is 7 or less, they can ONLY succeed with complications. They can't achieve a great success.
Someone who has Basic level has a 10% chance of a complication, and a 5% chance of a bonus.
At Skilled level, there is a 10% chance of complication, and a 5% chance of bonus... like basic, but a 10% better chance of success.
An Expert has a 5% chance of complication, and a 10% chance of a bonus.
A Master has a 1.25% chance of complication (1 on a d20 is 5%, then 25% of that), and a 15% chance of a bonus.
A Grand master has a ~0.8% chance of a complication, and a 20% chance of a bonus.