Drew Spencer
United States
Tucson
Arizona
-
With the release of Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition, the rules presented for using skills as special abilities when playing Three-Dragon Ante in character are now out of date. I present the following modifications:
Withhold Funds
"One, two... hey, barkeep, more drinks over here... four, five."
Bluff vs. Passive Insight
When paying 2 or more gold to another player, pay 1 fewer gold.
Under Pressure
"When things get tense, I'm at my best."
Streetwise vs. DC 15
Whenever you ante, unless another player's hoard has less gold than yours, pay 1 fewer gold to the stakes.
Grant Favor
"This could work out for everyone."
Diplomacy vs. Will Defense
Before your turn this round, if you are the leader, you may choose another player to be the leader this round instead.
Intimidate
"Don't even think about it."
Intimidate vs. Will Defense
As long as you and any other player tie for the strongest flight, you can't be chosen as the opponent with the strongest flight.
Sleight of Hand
"I'm just lucky sometimes."
Stealth vs. Passive Perception*
After you discard the top card of the deck while buying cards, you may discard a second card from the top of the deck. If you do, pay the second card's strength in gold to the stakes instead of the first card's strength, even if it's higher.
Read Face
"You can hide your cards but not your face"
Perception vs. Reflex Defense
When an opponent plays his or her second card, if both cards are the same color dragon, you may look at his or her hand before any powers trigger.
Snatch Gold
"If no one sees it, it's not cheating
Thievery vs. Passive Perception*
After you steal gold from the stakes with a card's power or a strength flight, if the stakes have 2 or more gold, you may steal 1 more gold from the stakes.
Wild Card
"Trust me, I know exactly what I'm talking about."
This special ability does not use a skill check. You may use it only if you are a dragonborn, half-dragon, or full dragon.
Once each game, if you played a mortal this turn, you may count the mortal as the third dragon of any color only to complete a color flight.
These are all just modifications of the abilities mentioned in the Three-Dragon Ante rulebook, only which skills are used and what they roll against are modified.
* Roll vs. the highest passive skill of all opponents, excluding any opponents who would not obstruct whatever shenanigans you're trying.
PS. A slide-show/video exploration of this game will arrive soon.
-
Dan Anderson
United States
Smyrna
Tennessee
-
The problem with this is it is going to require the players to be constantly making checks in the middle of the game. The abilities for 3.5 in 3DA are far more elegant because either you have them or you don't.
This is what I recommend:
Except for Concentration and Profession (Gambler) all the skills in 3DA have pretty obvious equivalents in 4th ed.
Bluff = Bluff
Concentration = n/a
Diplomacy = Diplomacy
Intimidate = Intimidate
Profession (Gambler) = n/a
Sense Motive = Insight
Sleight of Hand = Thievery
Wild Card = Dragonborn and any monster with the "dragon" keyword
So if they are trained in the skill they get the ability.
If you have just got to have the abilities for the two skills with no equivalent, I'd recommend having the player make a Moderate Intelligence check (as the "Get a Clue" check, DMG pg. 81) for each of the two at the beginning of the game. If they pass then they get the ability.
-
|
|
Posted Sun Jul 6, 2008 9:20 pm
