How do slippers of spider climbing work? - Rules & Game Mechanics - Dungeons & Dragons Discussion - D&D Beyond Forums (2024)

Quote from TexasDevin >>

Exactly. By the mechanics of the game, climbing a smooth wall and then grabbing(?) onto a ceiling with apparently nothing to grab onto should have a DC. It should just be a DC high enough that it is not reasonably possible without an implement to bring it back down into the realm of possibility.

The slippers would make such a thing trivial.

Such a DC should be radically reduced if you have climbing gear in hand, and are willing to damage the walls (spiking into the wall face with equipment)

Quote from TexasDevin >>

Exactly. By the mechanics of the game, climbing a smooth wall and then grabbing(?) onto a ceiling with apparently nothing to grab onto should have a DC. It should just be a DC high enough that it is not reasonably possible without an implement to bring it back down into the realm of possibility.

Impossible tasks are better off not having a DC at all. It's not hard to get +20 on a roll with Expertise and a bit of help from easily accessible features like Guidance and Bardic Inspiration, and then oops, they rolled a nat 20 and hit DC 40 or higher.

Quote from InquisitiveCoder >>

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Impossible tasks are better off not having a DC at all. It's not hard to get +20 on a roll with Expertise and a bit of help from easily accessible features like Guidance and Bardic Inspiration, and then oops, they rolled a nat 20 and hit DC 40 or higher.

I'm not sure what to make of this comment in the context of a discussion of game mechanics. In my opinion, situations like "I want to climb that thing over there" are exactly why the skill check DC system exists.And yes, if something is impossible, it's fair to tell the player "The DC of what you are trying to do would simply be too high for your roll to succeed."

Quote from TexasDevin >>

And yes, if something is impossible, it's fair to tell the player "The DC of what you are trying to do would simply be too high for your roll to succeed."

That's fair if that's actually the situation.That's not the same as a situation where the task is impossible though. ADC implies the task could be done, and it's an invitation to the players to buff up their roll and try.Any DC high enough that the players will definitely never be able to hit it would be so high that it'smeaningless. If the task really is impossible it'sclearer and better to just say what you mean and tell the players that it can't be done, period.

Quote from Chicken_Champ >>

I believe that there’s an excerpt somewhere that tells you not to even set DCs for things that are impossible, Coder is right in that respect.

DMG chapter 8 ("Running the Game"), under Using Ability Scores:

When a player wants to do something, it’s often appropriate to let the attempt succeed without a roll or a reference to the character’s ability scores..****y call for a roll if there is a meaningful consequence for failure.

When deciding whether to use a roll, ask yourself twoquestions:

• Is a task so easy and so free of conflict and stress that there should be no chance of failure?
• Is a task so inappropriate or impossible — such as hitting the moon with an arrow — that it can’t work?

If the answer to both of these questions is no, some kind of roll is appropriate.

The social interaction and tracking rules later in the same chapter also have hard limits on what can be accomplished, regardless of what the player rolls.

Can they be deactivated?