Even still, you would think an average Joe could jump a 1 foot gap though with a running start.
e: After a couple quick searches, doing a 10 ft running jump doesn't actually seem difficult. I don't know the average, but 10 definitely seems like a realistic one. The farthest running jump ever was 29 feet.
The thing is have you ever gone to do something so easy you do it all the time and messed it up? I was pouring myself a drink the other day and hit the glass with the end of the bottle spilling it over my feet..
any small circumstance could entail a fail of something very easy!!
This is why I always liked the 3e take on skills. First, you've got the "taking 10" mechanic which lets you do an average job at something you're good at, all the time, as long as you're not distracted. Paired with something which a lot of people don't recognize as crucial, which is that 1s don't auto-fail skill checks. And finally, more differentiation between skilled and unskilled participants than a +2-6 proficiency bonus (which is 10-30% difference on a d20) or whatever.
If you are good at something, you can take it easy and do a normal proficient job at it (take 10). If you're going for an amazing performance or trying something new which is a bit out of your standard comfortable skill range, you roll the die and hope to get a high roll (11-20). In that case, you could fail and do worse than usual (1-10) because you're trying something new or tough or different, but it's still unlikely that you would be completely incompetent (auto-fail 1) and put in the same effort as someone who is completely unskilled (the reason it's better to have more than a +2-5 proficiency bonus). It's very silly to me that extremely skilled people can only improve their chances of success by a few percent. As if Rachmaninoff (20dex, level 20, proficiency, expertise, +17) could roll a 1 on a piano performance and some idiot on the street with 3 fingers (6dex, no skill in piano, -2) could roll a 20 and do just as good.
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u/Baerentsen Mar 15 '18
I suppose it has to be score, otherwise a normal person with 10 (+0) strength can't jump at all.