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I noticed some thing in the Themes section. The format of abilities goes something like;
Reduce any penalties to (skill) checks you make when (relevant event happens) by 1.
Is there any mechanical reason to reduce the DC over giving an equal bonu to the skill check?
I've been noticing similar wording in some published adventures, i.e. Reducing DC over adding to the roll. It just seems to me to be easier to add a bunch of bonuses to the roll than to add bonuses to the roll and alter the targe number.
Is there any mechanical reason to reduce the DC over giving an equal bonus to the skill check?
I don't have access to the CRB yet, but I can try to spitball this one. In some cases, reducing the DC is better than a bonus. Multiple bonuses don't always stack, but I'm assuming DC reductions stack with other reductions and with all bonuses.
Is there any mechanical reason to reduce the DC over giving an equal bonus to the skill check?I don't have access to the CRB yet, but I can try to spitball this one. In some cases, reducing the DC is better than a bonus. Multiple bonuses don't always stack, but I'm assuming DC reductions stack with other reductions and with all bonuses.
Untyped bonuses are a thing.
There is no reason to reduce DC instead of giving untyped bonuses that I can see - it just makes keeping track of stuff harder. To boot, ironically enough, Icon INCREASES DC instead of reducing DC.
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I noticed some thing in the Themes section. The format of abilities goes something like;
Reduce any penalties to (skill) checks you make when (relevant event happens) by 1.
Is there any mechanical reason to reduce the DC over giving an equal bonu to the skill check?
Yes. Quite a few- the biggest is the more bonuses you throw on, the less the die roll matters. The d20 systems that came out of 3rd edition D&D (and 3rd itself) have a huge, consistent problem with making die rolls irrelevant, and worse they largely did it unintentionally.
Reducing penalties (and taking 10 on mundane tasks, but still needing to roll for 'adventuring' tasks) are lateral improvements that don't kick the resolution mechanic in the head.
Just adding more bigger numbers always makes a joke out of the task resolution system. And d20 skills are wobbly enough anyway (often surpassed or rendered obsolete by spells, or exist, but don't really justify their own existence with useful effects)
(But Amith is correct- as you wrote it, reducing penalties is not the same thing as reducing the DC).
I noticed some thing in the Themes section. The format of abilities goes something like;
Reduce any penalties to (skill) checks you make when (relevant event happens) by 1.
Is there any mechanical reason to reduce the DC over giving an equal bonu to the skill check?
Yes. Quite a few- the biggest is the more bonuses you throw on, the less the die roll matters. The d20 systems that came out of 3rd edition D&D (and 3rd itself) have a huge, consistent problem with making die rolls irrelevant, and worse they largely did it unintentionally.
Reducing penalties (and taking 10 on mundane tasks, but still needing to roll for 'adventuring' tasks) are lateral improvements that don't kick the resolution mechanic in the head.
Just adding more bigger numbers always makes a joke out of the task resolution system. And d20 skills are wobbly enough anyway (often surpassed or rendered obsolete by spells, or exist, but don't really justify their own existence with useful effects)
(But Amith is correct- as you wrote it, reducing penalties is not the same thing as reducing the DC).
The OP was simply incorrect. Themes typically say things like "reduce the DC to recall information about relevant subject by 5", nothing about reducing penalties.
Keeping track of different DCs is going to be a pain. I would prefer untyped bonuses.
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The OP was simply incorrect. Themes typically say things like "reduce the DC to recall information about relevant subject by 5", nothing about reducing penalties.I noticed some thing in the Themes section. The format of abilities goes something like;
Reduce any penalties to (skill) checks you make when (relevant event happens) by 1.
Is there any mechanical reason to reduce the DC over giving an equal bonu to the skill check?
Yes. Quite a few- the biggest is the more bonuses you throw on, the less the die roll matters. The d20 systems that came out of 3rd edition D&D (and 3rd itself) have a huge, consistent problem with making die rolls irrelevant, and worse they largely did it unintentionally.
Reducing penalties (and taking 10 on mundane tasks, but still needing to roll for 'adventuring' tasks) are lateral improvements that don't kick the resolution mechanic in the head.
Just adding more bigger numbers always makes a joke out of the task resolution system. And d20 skills are wobbly enough anyway (often surpassed or rendered obsolete by spells, or exist, but don't really justify their own existence with useful effects)
(But Amith is correct- as you wrote it, reducing penalties is not the same thing as reducing the DC).
Yup.. it was late and I was thinking about a related question I had about Pathfinder. I did mean DC instead of penalties.
I'm cool with it. Mechanically it's the same, but it feels very different. Setting it up like this means future writers won't look at it and think that a +5 is something to be handed out trivially, and having the section follow a specific and rather unique format will help avoid a theme giving an overly broad bonus.
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I got access to my copy of the CRB, and I've figured this one out. There IS a difference between a +5 bonus and reducing the DC by 5.
Remember Pathfinder's Knowledge skills? You can attempt an untrained Knowledge check as long as the DC is 10 or less. Starfinder has the same mechanic for identifying creatures and recalling information through skill checks - you can attempt a check untrained if the DC is 10 or less.
Starfinder's themes effectively allow you, then, to make untrained skills checks related to your background as long as the DC is 15 or less (with a +5 bonus). That's where the difference in wording comes from. It's easier to say "reduce the DC by 5" than "you may make untrained checks if the DC is 15 or less and you also take a +5 bonus to your check".