D&D contains a lot of math, and one of the mathematical elements is skill check calculation. Whenever you design a non-combat encounter, there is a fair chance you’ll employ skill checks. It could be a murder investigation with clues that players have to find. Or perhaps a string of survival and nature checks when traveling. Whatever the case, it’s important that you can decide how easy or difficult you want to make a check. Now you can do that with ease, thanks to this skill check calculator.
How does the skill check calculator work?
There are two kinds of calculators. One is a standard skill check calculation, where the DM sets the DC and the players have to roll that DC or higher, using their skills. Players can add bonuses, like using ‘guidance‘. And sometimes they gain advantage if one player helps the other. But the main concept remains the same: players must roll and reach a certain static threshold.
The other is a competing skill check, a more dynamic version. In this case there are two opposing rolls that compete with one another. The players want to do one thing, but their opponents want the opposite. For example: sneak versus perception, or deception versus insight. To me, this is simply a skill check with a moving target instead of a static DC. You can always set a DC if you want. But if you want to create tension in a way that has ludonarrative consistency, consider competing skill check rolls.
Why make this skill check calculator?
There are several tools online that partially or indirectly help with this problem. Some tools provide all the odds per roll, including extra dice. But I found not one tool that did everything I wanted. And when I wanted to calculate competing skill check rolls, I found nothing to help me. Other than ChatGPT and Python. I tried to create a simple calculator in Google Sheets, but I never found the correct formula. Knowing that this would definitely be possible in Python, I booted up my VS Code and here we are.
I’ve translated my Python work into Javascript (Vue, to be exact), so the skill check calculator will run on the website without external interference. And after a Saturday of hard work, most of it was done. Hopefully, the result of my labor will help you in some way.
Is this the final version?
No, absolutely not. At the moment of writing, I already have some features that I still want to add. And there are some ways in which this tool can be improved. But I wanted to at least get this calculator to a decent enough state, in order to ‘launch’ it. So try it out and let me know what you think of it. Suggestions and feedback are always welcome. And look for other tools in my D&D tools section.