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Sometimes
instances arise during play when opposed rolls
would show a more accurate reflection of the
situation than a static DC set by the Dungeon
Master or mandated by a core rulebook. Here
are two example variants using opposed rolls.
(I use both in my personal campaign.) Both take
situations that are normally so easy a highly
skilled character can virtually ignore them
by 5th level ane make them at least a little
risky, if not challenging. The downside is that
they both require an additional die roll, which
can slow things down slightly.
Tumble
Normally,
when you are attempting to Tumble past someone,
the DC is 15. When you want toTumble through
them, the DC is 25. You can make this skill
check into an opposed check by having the character
you are tumbling past make an attack roll to
oppose the Tumble check.
Thus,
if you are attempting to get up to an ogre to
attack without drawing an attack of opportunity
(he has reach, so you're passing through a threatened
area to get to him), you make a Tumble check
and he makes an attack roll (+8 with his greatclub).
If you are trying to Tumble through the area
occupied by a foe, the opponent gets to add
+10 to his attack roll (so the ogre adds +18
to his roll to generate the number you have
to beat with your Tumble check).
This
variant makes it much tougher to tumble past
really tough foes, and easier to get by wimps.
Any monk worth her salt can easily cartwheel
through a band of kobolds, but getting by the
dragon is very, very hard.
It
is not fair to the tumbler, even in the interest
of speeding things along, to use the same attack
roll to determine the Tumble DC and the resulting
opportunity attack if the tumbler doesn't roll
high enough. If you did, the attacks that got
through (because the opponent rolled high) would
also usually hit (because the opponent rolled
high).
Concentration
Casting
defensively using the Concentration skill has
a DC of 15 + spell level. Using this opposed
check variant, the DC effectively becomes the
threatening character's attack roll + the spell
level.
So
a wizard casting invisibility standing
next to an ogre must make a check based on the
ogre's attack roll plus 2 for the 2nd-level
spell (d20 + 8 attack + 2 for spell level).
As with the previous variant, this mechanic
often makes this check harder, except when fighting
very weak opponents.
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