Quote Originally Posted by JellyPooga View Post
[...] I do suspect that a lot of players (including GMs) overlook using skills in a way that actually enhances the game, but I don't think it's because of a lack of DC's provided or because of bounded accuracy. I think it comes down to a lack of engagement with the rest of the system. [...]
Yeah, arguably one of the biggest flaws with how 5e handles skills is that there isn't even really advice on how to have them interact with the parts of the system that deal with very specific hard numbers (HP, movement speed, ranges, weight, etc). If I cast the Jump spell I know that I triple my jumping distance for the duration. If I roll a Strength (Athletics) check I... well, the only thing the system says to the DM is that it should let me jump further, so there's not much there to work with. Or you have stuff like the Medicine skill, which has nothing to do with your character having useful first aid skills unless your DM is willing to do a bunch of homebrewing more-or-less from scratch.

...

Another flaw? People hate ability checks because they're hilariously unreliable thanks to the d20 being so dang swingy. If your DM asks for a bunch of Medium checks ("because that doesn't sound that bad, right?"), you need a +6 bonus to the relevant skill (or a stack of buffs) for your chances of success to be better than a coinflip. If you want to be as reliable at hitting Medium checks as you are with attack rolls, you're looking at skill bonuses that are locked behind a ton of character building prereqs. And that's Medium checks.

And, yes, the players do get tools to manipulate probability in their favor... but if my max-skill-bonus-in-Tier-1 (+9, from having a +5 stat and Expertise) character who is getting Help *and* divine Guidance still has a ~15% chance of failing a Hard check, maybe the DC table's a little broken...