I dreamt of a d30 (more skills...)

More writing about D&D and skills? In this blog? I bet you didn't see that coming, did ya?

Anyway, I really woke up thinking about the d30 for some reason. It dawned on me that it might be a perfect replacement for thieves' skills tables. If you like the d30, that is. Granularity, ease of use, weirdness, OSR cred, and B/X compatibility, all rolled into one! Quite literally, too...

Here is how you do it: roll a d30 under ability plus level. A level 8 thief with DEX 14 must roll 22 or less in the d30 to succeed in most skills. Hear noise uses Wisdom (IMHO).

Check this out (assuming a thief with Wisdom 10, Dexterity 13 - sounds reasonable?):

	Thief Level	BX Hear Noise	d30 roll under (10+L)	BX Open Locks	d30 roll under (13+L)
	1	33.33%	36.66%	15.00%	46.66%
	2	33.33%	39.99%	20.00%	49.99%
	3	50.00%	43.33%	25.00%	53.33%
	4	50.00%	46.66%	30.00%	56.66%
	5	50.00%	50.00%	35.00%	59.99%
	6	50.00%	53.33%	45.00%	63.33%
	7	66.66%	56.66%	55.00%	66.66%
	8	66.66%	60.00%	65.00%	69.99%
	9	66.66%	63.33%	75.00%	73.33%
	10	66.66%	66.66%	85.00%	76.66%
	11	83.33%	70.00%	95.00%	79.99%
	12	83.33%	73.33%	96.00%	83.33%
	13	83.33%	76.66%	97.00%	86.66%
	14	83.33%	80.00%	99.00%	89.99%

This assumes you're using 3d6 in order to generate abilities. If you're using a 4d6 drop lowest, for example, a thief would probably have higher stats for Dexterity and Wisdom, making things even better. Otherwise, chances at high levels aren't that great... unless you give away more ability points as PCs level up, as I do.

Not that you need another skill system, but what can I say? I just love this stuff.