| neroden |
So I only found out about this recently. But apparently they're only going to be listening to comments about one chapter at a time, and I don't know if I'll make it back at exactly the right time (ick). I'm guessing a fair number of people agree with me on this, and I hope my thoughts can get thrown in when the time comes (Skills and Equipment are both relevant)
So I don't mind that Use Rope, as a particular skill, is gone. What I DO mind is that it's now wildly unclear what skill checks to ask for for various rope tricks.
Therefore, I suggest that each of the standard rope options listed in the PHB be included as a possible action with a DC and an skill. Perhaps list them under the Rope listing in equipment!
I don't even care very much exactly which skill is used for, but it's GOT to be crystal clear what you roll to:
(1) Tie a firm knot
(2) Tie someone up securely (yes, some people should be better at this than others. The current rule is not OK; this needs to be an opposed check against Escape Artist).
(3) Tie someone up while they're struggling
(3) Tie a special knot (slip knot, noose, lariat etc.)
(4) Tie knots one-handed
(5) Splice ropes
(6) Swing a lariat
(7) Secure a loose grappling hook (not the same as throwing it)
It feels to me like the knot-tying should be Sleight of Hand, with a firm knot being 10 (doable untrained) and a special knot being 15 (not doable untrained), and one-handed being +5 or even +10 DC (tying knots one-handed is a b$***); and Escape Artist should be versus your knot tying result +10, mostly as in the SRD. Sleight of Hand is DEX-based, it's an underused skill (used FAR FAR less than Use Rope -- in the campaigns I've been in, Use Rope is very popular and used constantly, and we've never had a single Sleight of Hand check), tying ropes is harder to do in armor so the armor check penalty is appropriate, and Sleight of Hand is specifically about doing things with your hands and fingers, unlike all the other Dex-based skills. (And if you can tie knots with your mouth and toes, my hat is off to you.) As for the splicing, that should probably be a craft skill. And the lariat should probably simply be listed as an exotic weapon (so attack rolls would be used); and the grappling hook could be either Sleight of Hand or an attack roll.
But it would be tolerable for any of it to be pretty much any of the skills. The key, crucial thing is that we need to be able to take ranks in *something* which improves our ability to do whichever of the above rope tricks we're particularly interested in! They should *not* be guaranteed successes or straight ability checks, because that's just stupid (if you've ever actually tried any of these in RL, you'll know that they really do require practice and training).