A Dilemma of Checks.

[John Cribati]

There was a One-off joke in Goblins about what check you make to cross a river, and it was never really resolved. So I ask you, what sheck would you have the party make? or would you just double the DC and add the result of both checks?

[Waker]

I would run it as a Strength check. Probably something like a DC 10 or 15 depending on how fast I wanted the river to be.

[LansXero]

Id say it depends on the river and the character.

fast running, even bottom river: strength check.
slow running, uneven bottom (jagged, lots of pebbles, thick plantlife) river: balance check.
both, if it applies.

[Chuckthedwarf]

Swim.

And since nobody bothered to take any ranks in it and some joker is still wearing that set of heavy armor, TPK. If some survive, let goblins pick 'em of on shore.

I don't know, considering how hardcore the crossing is... I'd maybe make it take a specific amount of time for safe crossing considering how many people and animals and items you've got in your party; with obviously longer time required to cross wilder rivers, and an ability to make some checks and non-rolled decisions to make it faster.

Balance and Strength checks seem reasonable.

[sonofzeal]

I often allow my players to choose their checks, akin to how Entangle works (Escape Artist or Strength, your choice), although the DCs might be different. If two skills are obviously both applicable, the DCs will be pretty close. If one's a bit more counterintuitive but the player makes a decent argument, they get it at DC+5. If the player's argument is a real stretch, DC+10. But as long as someone can explain it somehow in a way that makes at least some vague sense (fellow players can get a vote here), I at least let them roll.

One story I often tell involves a player attempting to run up a rope. One end of the rope was anchored at the top of a 20' ledge. The other end was currently anchored at the bottom of the cliff, in his spleen.

I made him roll on three different consecutive checks for that. He aced two of them.




In this case - Balance and Strength would apply. Swim is awkward because it's not really deep enough for that and the river's too fast to actually swim in, but at DC+5 it'll help you get across. Any other skill is likely looking at a DC+10,

[Toliudar]

Yup, I'd give them their choice of strength (sliding all over the rocks, but pushing through to the other side) or balance (finding solid purchase on the slippery rocks so as not to be swept away).

[ericgrau]

I remember a white wolf game where a random unimportant river that didn't look too bad almost killed half the party because only half the people put many dots (ranks) in physical abilities. I think checks for everything gets pretty retarded. Unless it's raging rapids in which case the danger should be made obvious to the PCs beforehand. Otherwise you cut the PC's speed in half and call it a day. Or if it's small but still dangerous try DCs of 5 and 10. Yes that's still quite something for the untrained. Heck 25-50% might fail. Don't TPK in your efforts to make life a pain for the skillmonkey; heaven forbid he blow half his class features on auto passing a minor challenge.

[Totally Guy]

Not from D&D but Burning Wheel, but I'd struggle these days to get by without it.

Intent and Task.

Players states intent: I want to cross the river.
Player states task: I paddle a log to the other side.
GM deems whether the task matches the intent or not.
GM determines skill or ability to be utilised: Test your rowing, difficulty is X.

Success means the player's intent is fulfilled.
Failure means the intent is instead complicated somehow.