OD&D Skill Checks
Blathering on
For the most part, if I'm running Dungeons and Dragon, I'm likely going to be grabbing one of the clones of the original rules. They're just simple and have the feel of D&D with less baggage than other rules. But it's also missing pieces, one of those missing things is how to handle situations outside of combat when you're not sure if the PCs will be successful or not. I ran into this once while running a game, I hadn't really thought about it by that point and needed to make a judgement call. I'm guessing I've probably read this somewhere, but I don't remember where so I'll write down my simple method here.
The mechanics
In short, roll 1d6, on a 5+ the character succeeds. If you want the shortest form with the least amount of fiddly bits, there you go. However if you want to beef it up you can use this table.
| Difficulty | Success Criteria |
|---|---|
| Simple | No roll it just happens |
| Easy | Still no roll, just let it happen |
| Possible but not trivial | 4+ |
| Difficult but plausible | 5+ |
| One in a million | 6+ |
| Impossible | The PC fails |
Now, not everyone likes to use attributes, but given how little modifiers are in OD&D I like to use them. If the PC has a modifier apply it to the die rolled (that's why I have 6+ on the chart).
Similarly, if the PC has a piece of gear or an item that would make a task easier, bump it down a level or two (use your judgement) on the difficulty scale, if that means no roll then don't make them roll anyway.
I think even with those two additional bits this is pretty easy to internalize so I've never written it down before.
Leveling
One part of these mechanics that don't bother me, but I could understand bothering others, is that there is no difference in the probability of a level 1 veteran doing a task vs a level 10 Lord. I've not tried this out before, but I have two ideas for how to handle this
Wing it
Set up a scale before hand, let your players know, and adjust the difficulty above based on what you think different levels are capable of.
Another table
it to just steal Thievery from White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game. Instead of basic the difficulty on the task, base it on the level of the PC.
| Level | Success Criteria |
|---|---|
| 1-3 | 5+ |
| 4-6 | 4+ |
| 7-9 | 3+ |
| 10+ | 2+ |
An twist to the thievery table
Credit for this idea goes to If Our Lives Be Short, Let Our Game Be Great. If you want to add more class protection into the thievery alternative you could use the PC level on the table above if what they are doing is something that fits with that class
Examples:
- Deciphering old runes for a wizard
- Lifting the portcullis for the fighting person
- Trying to improve morale of a bishop for a cleric
Another class protection
I got this idea directly from Roll to Doubt, but quickly another idea that can be used with either the thievery route, the difficulty table, or even the simple 5+ is to roll with advantage (2d6 take the better) when it is something that fits with your class.
Scaling
Going back to the idea of scaling by level above, you can also scale by the level of power in your campaign. Think about how heroic you want it to be versus how mundane. There is no reason that, in your world, heroes couldn't start larger than life and maybe throwing a big rock overhead could be 4+ or even an easy task requiring no roll. Similarly if you want your heroes to be malnourished vagabonds that same rock throw could be a 6+ or impossible. Just make sure to use session 0 and communicate with players what kind of power scaling you are doing.