Walls make saving throws to avoid being climbed

[chronoplasm]

I like skill systems. I confess.
A lot of other people seem to like them too, and I see a lot of experimentation with it.

Usually the way people seem to do it for OD&D is that the players attempt to roll under a certain score to determine success or failure. So if you want to kick down a door, you may have to roll under 3 on a six-sided die.

Here's another way to do it:
When you attempt to kick down a door, the door makes a saving throw against your kicking.
The DM rolls a twenty sided die.
If it rolls under the kicker's Strength score, the door breaks down.
If it rolls over the kicker's Strength score, the door stands strong.
Some doors may get bonuses or penalties to their roll depending on the material they are constructed from, and magical doors get a do-over roll.
Using a battering ram adds a bonus to the kicker's strength score, making it harder for the door to save.

Likewise, locks make saving throws to avoid being picked, traps make saving throws to avoid being disarmed, pits make saving throws to avoid being jumped over, etc.

[irdaranger]

That's how it works when the PC's stuff is attacked ("Roll a save v. breaking for your potion bottles"), but normally in D&D when the player does stuff the player rolls. Having the door "save vs. kicking" takes the roll away from the PC, like having monsters "save vs. disemboweling" instead of having the PC roll attacks.

Plus, Saves rarely have modifiers, but players like using circumstance to improve the odds (or would the Wall get a penalty to its save if the PC had a grappling hook?).

[aldarron]

Sept 30, 2009 14:59:53 GMT -6 irdaranger said:

Having the door "save vs. kicking" takes the roll away from the PC, like having monsters "save vs. disemboweling" instead of having the PC roll attacks.

Depends on how its handled I think. The player could make the roll for the door, or the player could make the strength check possibly modified by the strength of the door more or less as chronoplasm suggests. In any case there's no need to take the roll out of the players hands.

This is just the sort of thing Holmes called for in the rules in his Fantasy Role Playing Game book. You can check out the section on Saving Throws here odd74.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=holmes&action=display&thread=2489 The download link of the rules is in Greyharps post.

[gkaralunas]

Dang It!

I have 'In the Lyabrith" manual but just can't find at the moment <Grin>. So I will withhold comment of your idea/thoughts until IT 'Missing Book Appears' (Magic Spell). takes affect.