Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback A way to deal with the frustrating RNG - passive checks, or 10+Modifier

1. The Problem

A lot of players are frustrated by failing rolls that should be within their character's capabilities, as well as characters that should be bad at something ending up managing DCs that the character who specialises in that something fails.

2. The solution

In earlier versions of DnD you were able to take 10 + skill modifier ( your score in Athletics + STR ) to do the DC instead of rolling a d20.


What I propose is that there is an option/mode that allows you to take the 10+Modifier by default. If the character's 10+modifier fails the DC, then they can roll the dice for it. This way, there's fewer checks, less RNG, less frustration for the players and less savescumming.

They have already done that with Loaded Dice.

I'm fairly sure that if you do 10000 rolls with Loaded Dice on or off you will get the same success rate. Loaded Dice only makes your RNG better after a failed roll, no?

What I'm proposing isn't that.

No, basically you are eliminating the need to roll for probably over 50% of the ability checks. Even with the +10, you still had to roll back in the day, it just made it more likely to succeed. But there was always the chance that you could just roll unlucky. Say a saving throw was 15, you had a +10 modifier, and you rolled a 1, you still lost the check.

Well, Larian has rebalanced DC checks each patch. They're using Early Access to get data on savescumming hot spots to identify DCs that are too challenging.

We'll probably get a passive variant for checks down the line. At least passive perception hopefully, I had one unlucky playthrough where none of the traps in the Dank Crypt were spotted.

Right now Larian has been using inspiration for dialogue checks. So if your druid chooses druid options in dialogue etc., you'll get some inspiration dice (which is a re-roll for a dialogue check in Baldur's Gate 3).

Yeah there is this particular perception I have not won through all my play throughs in the wetlands when heading to the teahouse. I can get pretty frustrating. I have seen more ability checks successes in patch 4 though, so at least like you said, they are working on it.

Take 10 was you could treat the dice result as if it were a 10 in situations where your character wasn't under pressure. It was a way of making sure a grandmaster with decades of experience wasn't messing up simple tasks absolutely constantly. If you had a modifier of +5 or above you would always succeed an easy check with a DC of 15. It stopped those ridiculous "How do you miss a volcano" situations.

If it's a simple (or very easy) task, the DC should be 5 - or there shouldn't be a skill check at all. You don't need to roll a skill check to walk on even ground or to open an unlocked door. You only need to roll skill checks in situations where there is a reasonable chance of failure. There is no easy check with a DC of 15 - that's a moderately difficult task.

Personally I have no interest in "take 10". I like swingy dice and don't feel frustrated by the current system.

Eliminate the swings in the dice and you suck the joy out of the dice roll. I like seeing the dice roll and thinking "will I make this check"?

Loaded dice and inspiration points are good enough. And of course F8 if you felt a check was unfair.

Ye let's steel more features from rogues.
In all seriousness, proficiency and expertise already does what you want. Don't forget, at current level your character is a rookie. They aren't supposed to be awesome at anything. And tasks that we are facing right now shouldn't be particularly hard.

Agree that although it sucks when dice aren't going your way A LOT, what is the point of rolling at all if you will always succeed?

Keep in mind that even in real life people who are super skilled still have bad days and fail. Also keep in mind that you are supposed to be starting as fresh adventurers, level 1. A 15 or higher is supposed to be tough. A 10 or higher is a 50/50 chance of success. Your skill indicates your level of proficiency only increasing your chances of success. I think too many people want their characters to be super awesome at what they do right away.

But you are supposed to fail more often at easier tasks when you are a baby adventurer. That's the way D&D was always meant to be.

Advantage and inspiration help to offset bad rolling too.

And, you know, just because a character isn't a cleric, doesn't mean they don't know religious stuff or anything about persuading or whatever the skill. Again, just like in life, sometimes people surprise you with what they can do, and even humble you when they beat you at something you're good at.

I like that anyone can attempt any skill roll, like lock picking. Give them the right tools and you never know, they might just succeed where a rogue continues to just have bad luck. That's Lady Luck for ya.

The numbers will need to shift around with the removal of take 10 but the removal does pull results dramatically towards the results on the D20. The results of a D20 so drastically overshadow grandmaster ability that if you were to pit a dozen randos against an olympic 100 meter sprint champion odds are one of them would win.

Keep in mind, our level 1-4 character is one of the randos, not the champion.

Loaded dice is enough tbh. Failing rolls SHOULD happen even if your character is good at it. Because on the flip side you will also SUCCEED at things you are NOT good at. Just like in tabletop D&D