DMFTodd said:
I keep seeing people talk about these and I just don't get it. Other players must Jump a lot more than my players do.
Stopping to manually calculate a jump correctly is a bit of a pain, and causes unnecessary slow down, though a program that does only this one thing does seem over the top.
Quite a few DMs (me included), do get players to make frequent skill checks for seemingly mundane (untrained?) skills. If you can do it quickly enough without disrupting game flow, it adds a lot to the game, and gives more meaning to the points spent in "fighter type" (mundane) skills. In the hands of a fast monk, jump itself can be an unexpectedly useful resource.
Here's how I find it works really well in RPM:
- You get quick selection of a skill from a list that incorporates all your skills, plus any untrained ones that you have access to.
- RPM does a die roll and instantly builds a list of all the modifiers giving you a final dice result (eg. if you "Hide" whilst wearing a cloak of elevenkind it automatically gives you a +10).
- You change the dice roll if you want, and the results are recalculated.
- An optional list (typically telling you the DC for a particular variation) is there as a combo box, so you can choose the appropriate one ( eg. the different uses for Alchemy, which have different DCs).
- If the skill is opposed, RPM already knows this, and automatically builds the opposing list for each target (eg Hide vs several Spot attempts, or Disguise vs Spot, or Move Silently vs several Listens).
Concerning the "Calculators"
There are several "mini" calculators within the core skills alone, of which jump is the most intensive. Examples where RPM will automatically spit out the answers are:
- A Bluff can fail badly enough to be seen through.
- A failed Climb can indicate no progress, or even a fall.
- A Craft check can fail badly enough to lose 1/2 the material cost.
- Disable Device can succeed well enough to bypass without disabling.
- A Heal can automatically set the status of a Dying creature to Stable.
- An Innuendo that fails badly enough can actually convey false information, as similarly a failed Intuit Direction can actually indicate a false sense of intuition.
- A failed Swim can indicate drowning rather than lack of progress. If you're wearing Armor with a bad enough check, and/or carrying too much weight, RPM will automatically apply the horrifying penalties that quickly lead to drowning.
- A Performance check will tell you how much you could have earned if you were in a busking situation.
Jump is a good one in particular, because not only is there a calculation involved, but there are different types of jump, all with their own algorithmic variation.
Having these calculated results instantly returned to you is a very significant benefit, articularly as any in-game changes are automatically factored in (eg dex loss from poison affects dex-based skills).
Of course to get the full in-game benefits of all this using a couple of mouse clicks takes a comprehensive and tightly integrated RPG utility suite - which RPM is!
Regards,
