Chainmail Difficulty

I have continued to let my thoughts on ability check / saving throw difficulty simmer since my previous post. I've thought all of my thoughts on the subject, for now at least. Here is my take:

• Unify saves and checks around the 6 ability scores.
• Use standard target numbers. I don't mean they never change, but a default value always exists.
• Use the to hit value of chain mail armor as your default target number. For me, that's 15. Why 15?
• The cool answer: because original D&D descended from the game Chainmail, so it felt fated to be.
• The real answer: because that is the first number at which you receive favorable results in my d20 reaction roll table.
• Add a standard bonus equal to level/2 to proficient checks and attacks as well as all saves.
• Treat checks more as reaction rolls than pass / fail. 15+ gets you an unequivocal success, but 7-14 might get you varying degrees of partial success or complication.
• Saves are more black and white, pass / fail. Something bad is about to happen to you, either you avoid it or you don't.
• Always add the standard bonus to saves. Their ability bonuses will differentiate different PCs, but treat them all as proficient at reacting to danger.

A die showing a number you'll never see when you need it

And, that's that. This system results in about the same chances of success as old school saving throws without requiring a reference table, differentiates PCs slightly based on their starting ability bonuses, and stays fairly familiar to the modern gamer.

Unifying Level-Based Bonuses

I've put a lot more thought into the topic of my previous post on setting difficulty. I'm not so sure that the best answer for my table is to lower the starting difficulty.

Instead, I should keep the difficulty higher, but make it increasingly easier to accomplish tasks and feats in which you're trained. The great game Knave accomplishes this by allowing three ability score increases every level, but this approach rubs me the wrong way:

• You roll to increase your scores. This randomness makes the score increases feel detached from the fictional experience that drove the increase.

• You increase your attributes. You can go from the least nimble human adventurer to the most nimble just by gaining experience. Again, it creates a disconnect when I try to envision the fictional character. How did my innate attributes change so much?

• You tend to pick which ability scores to roll based on mechanical benefits. For instance, increasing your Constitution is a priority because it increases how much you can carry (very important in a classless, inventory-driven system!).

Here, 5th Edition might offer a possible solution: a proficiency bonus. Keep your initial attribute scores the same, but grant an increasing bonus for any action in which you're proficient: swinging a sword for a fighter, casting a spell for a mage, picking a pocket for a thief.

An adventurer with proficient feet (art from AD&D rulebook)

Set your proficiency bonus at half of your character level, rounded up. This keeps you roughly in line with old school attack bonuses and saving throws.

At least until 9th Level. After that I stopped mathing because I don't need to waste effort on something that'll never get used!