Mods: SRD Style Skills and Ability Checks

AI Art by @nightcafestudio

I like the idea of setting target numbers for challenges and actions, and this comes from the proficiency system in ACKS and the combat system of the target number and roll equal or higher.

I also might make a "generic proficiency check" system by setting the target number and letting characters with the proficiency add their level to the roll. A lot of the proficiencies in ACKS have fixed target numbers, such as roll 11+, but I can see turning this into an OGL-style "skill check" system with DC numbers from 1 to 30.

This opens up a lot of skills to interesting uses and aligns the game closer to the 3.5 SRD style of skill checks. Lockpicking in ACKS is a +2 to a proficiency skill check, and you can do this in one round (instead of one turn). Under a more SRD-style system, the referee sets a target number, and the player rolls 1d20 + level + optional ability score modifiers.

Ability Score Checks

You could do a similar thing with ability score checks. Set a target number and add the character's ability score modifier to the roll. If you wanted to do a more heroic route, you could add the character's level to the roll, so high-level characters are jumping pits without trouble where low-level characters would fall right in. This may make characters "too heroic," but this fits the Heroic Fantasy Handbook style of characters.

Then again, you could always make that pit a bit wider and make that a 15 or 20-foot jump and raise that target number accordingly. High-level characters should be doing incredible feats of daring.

You could also tamp the modifiers down by making them a +1 per two levels, which would net a +10 bonus at a score of  18 and a level of 14, which works ((14 / 2) + 3 = 10). That keeps a DC 30 check to level 14 and an 18 score on a natural 20 (sans modifiers).

Adding level is what they do in the ACKS acrobatics skill, which feels right. A DC 30 check at level 14 with an 18 would require you to roll 16 or higher, so a 25% chance (sans modifiers). Also, you need to have the proficiency to make the roll (in most cases).

SRD-Like Skills

If I used a mod like this, I would apply it to every proficiency on the list, such as bribery, animal training, climbing, lockpicking, loremastery, and everything else. One of the places it gets tricky is in opposed checks, but you could say the highest roll wins. In a case like bribery, the referee must come up with a target number based on the situation, request, and target and modify the number by the amount offered.

Target Numbers are Good

Does this system change much? Setting target numbers for checks? Not that much, and you can assume this is how ACKS works anyways just by how consistently the rest of the rules are put together and work. It is not a far jump to say, "Make an N+ roll, and add your ability score modifier!" I am using this as my task resolution method, regardless. This feels how ACKS core works, just like the rules presented in the proficiency system, and just like combat.

This also opens up every skill for dynamic "the referee picks the target number" checks. I like that a lot, and it simplifies my character sheets since most skills can have an assumed use. For skills that modify to-hits or other attributes, they still work as written, though other uses for them may open up with this "skill check" system.

The Heroic Option

Adding the level to the roll with the "heroic" option? That is a more significant change, and it kicks open the DC range to 30. I may not want to use that and just set 1 to 20 target numbers and add an ability score modifier, and not add the "heroic level bonus" to the roll. For a Heroic Fantasy game where you want level 10 mages jumping 20-foot chasms, I say yes, add your character level to the roll. 

For more grounded, ACKS-like OSR-style games, adding levels to proficiency and ability rolls may be overkill, and I would stick closer to ACKS rules. Or at least come up with a balanced compromise.

Semi-Heroic Modifiers

The "semi-heroic" system of adding +1 per 2 levels (round down) may be a better compromise, still giving a level bonus to the roll but keeping the entire system to the 1 to 30 target number range for max-level 14 characters. This way, a level 6 character gets a +3 modifier to all ability and proficiency rolls, reflecting skill and experience but keeping the raw modifier down to a manageable range.

This also reflects that higher-level characters will be better at proficiencies than lower-level characters.

With the semi-heroic option, level 8 characters get a +4 to jump that 11+ pit, but it still is a threat. Level 14 gets a +7, but this is like a King Arthur-level hero we are talking about, so a 4+ to make it across. This seems fair and gives higher-level characters a slight bonus while protecting the 1-20 target number range, even at the highest levels.

I would still make a natural dice roll of one a failure for everyone, regardless of what system or option I use (none, heroic, or semi-heroic).

Of all of them, semi-heroic feels the best to me. I prefer to keep modifiers under control and lower overall. I dislike modifiers so high they force me into a "DC arms race" with the players.

Played Two Ways, Opens up Proficiencies

This system opens up the ACKS proficiency list to be more like SRD skills and a little less like, "if you have the proficiency, you get an 11+ to do this one thing." If you like the SRD skills and how they work, and the entire "set a DC" system, this may be a great way to mod the rules to be a little more to your liking.