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Skill checks are the pillar that hold up the majority ofDungeons & Dragons' gameplay when you aren’t in the process of stabbing and blasting goblins. For combat grapplers, it’s pretty much always relevant. It’s easy for situations to pop up where your players feel obligated to sit around re-rolling the same skill check until they succeed.
This can create some rather unfun gameplay situations. You as the DM don’t want the players to be taking a brute-force approach to your lovingly designed encounters and players don’t want to lose the spotlight because everyone decided to imitate a skill check they suggested.
What Is Skill Dogpiling
It’s a pretty common scenario for a lot of skill checks, thatas soon as one person suggests it, everyone realises they should be doing the same thing. The most common examples are perception, insight, and investigation.
One player realises they should probably look for hidden doors. The person next to them realises they have thehigher intelligence modifier and asks if they can roll as well. The rest of the group figure they should probably be doing the same to get the best possible chance of success.
Alternatively, the group are trying to kick down a barricade.The barbarian with +5 strength fails the roll from poor luck, and the -1 strength wizard, cleric, and sorcerer ask if they can try.One of them rolls a crit success.
These create some pretty frustrating gameplay loops. The players who first suggested making the checks are now sidelined. The characters specialised in making these rolls are liable to not get the highest result because so many people are rolling at the same time and one is likely to do better.
It can also remove the ability for the group to fail any skill check, since another player can always jump in and ask if they can make a second attempt.This leads the DM to raise the DCs of these checks, since one of the people is liable to roll high. To create a challenge, they need to make it unlikely for any specific player to succeed and count on somebody in the group rolling well.
How To Stop Your Players From Dogpiling Skill Checks
An important angle to approach this from is how your table handles players rolling skill checks. Here are a few different solutions you can either enforce as rules or propose as table etiquette.
Example
Only one person can attempt a skill check
The party elects a person with the best odds of passing a skill check. You might alsoassign a player to make the check if they’re leading the scene.
Ahistory check might be given to the character with the most relevant knowledge, typically a bard or wizard.
A perceptioncheck to spot a trap could go to the player at the front of the group’s formation. This also encourages the players to change their marching order depending on what exploration skills they’re using.
Players Need To Justify Repeat Attempts
Multiple players can attempt the same check, but each successive try needs a strongerexplanation for what that character is doing differently and how they can contribute.
If player one fails a diplomacy check, player two might be able tobail them out if they had a noble background that gives them some social capital to spend.
In scenario where multiple players are looking for a hidden object, a second player might use adetect magic spell or rely on blindsight to spot details the first player’s visual examination didn’t reveal.
Failed Rolls Have Consequences
Having failed rolls impose a consequence is a good way of incentivising characters tonot jump in on skillchecks they’re unlike to pass.
If a character fails to kick open a locked door, they’ll hurt their foot. Failing tolockpick it might set off a trap.
A poor attempt at persuading an NPC might dolasting damage to the party’s reputation.
Rolls Only Count When You Ask For Them
Telling one player to make a skill check is not the same as letting every player make the same attempt.
You ask for a player leading negotiations to make a persuasion check. The players to either side might have higher modifiers andmight try to roll at the same time, but their rolls don’t count.
Only counting rolls you asked for is also a good general-purpose rule. Itstops players from interrupting the flow of play by making uncalled for rolls,and prevents some forms of cheating where players will roll repeatedly as a form of fidgeting and then retroactively claim the good rolls were skill checks.
Other Ways To Handle Group Checks
Some situations do make sense for the players to all participate, or for one player to assist another. You don’t want to discourage players from working as a team, so there are a few ways to encourage this outside everyone making separate checks.
Grouped Checks
All players attempt the same skill check.If half succeed, the group overall is successful.
The party are attempting to climb a steep cliff.One character is bad at athletics checks, but the group overall succeeds and are tied together with rope.
Follow The Leader
A character being helped makes a skill check using the higher modifier of them and the person helping them.
The fighter leads the group through a dimly lit section of wilderness.The ranger is giving them advice on where ambushes might be, but the fighter is still the one who rolls to spot them.
Retroactive Help Actions
Similar to the help action giving advantage when taken before a check,allow a helping player to give the original skill check a reroll instead of a second attempt.
Thiskeeps the spotlight on the original player who attempts a check, while still letting others help. It also limits the number of attempts on a check to two.
A paladin is attempting to deceive a guard, but rolls low on deception.The bard steps in, giving a plausible excuse that the paladin elaborates on via a second attempt at the deception check.
