Players rolling all the dice variant from UA - Anyone used it?

[reveal]

There's a variant in Unearthed Arcana that allows the players to roll all the dice during combat. Has anyone tried it? We're going to this weekend and I wanted to see if anyone else had experience with it.

For those of you who haven't, the players basically roll all the dice. For example, they roll the enemy's attack. Let's say an ogre attacks with a greatclub. The ogre's attack mod is +8. So the ogre's Attack Score is 11 + 8 for a 19 total.

The player rolls a d20 and adds their AC modifiers (or, if it's easier, just add your AC and subtract 10). If the roll (d20 + AC - 10) meets or beats the Attack Score, the enemy misses. Supposedly, it keeps the players interested in combat since they are "masters of their own destinies" so to speak.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

That's no fun for a GM like me.

 

[reveal]

That's no fun for a GM like me.

One of my players has wished for more to do during combats, especially since they're higher level and a turn can take a while. Another player suggested it and everyone agreed to give it a shot.

 

[Garnfellow]

Use it, love it. I have a very large group (10+ players) and it makes combat go much faster.

We also use action points, so [having my players roll defense checks and magic checks] gives them even more in-game opportunities to spend their action points.

 

[shilsen]

I haven't used that specific set of rules, but I have had a few sessions where I never touched a die and had my players do all the rolling. It occurred because a coupel of my players (who have dice superstitions) complained that I was rolling for too many things and was taking away 'control' from them. I have no dice superstitions at all, so I was highly amused at the statement and had a couple of sessions where they did all the rolling. After the group came really close to a TPK, they asked me to please start rolling again

The main reason I don't use that rule all the time is that me rolling saves time, esp. since I will often roll up a lot of things (NPC attack rolls, damage rolls, etc.) before the game.

 

[ssampier]

An interesting idea. I like chuckling behind a DM screen, rolling dice (most of the time not paying attention to the #'s) too much to give it up.

 

[Mark CMG]

There's a variant in Unearthed Arcana that allows the players to roll all the dice during combat.

That seemed like that would allow players to know quite a bit more than they normally would about opponents, at face value.

We also use action points, so it gives players another opportunity to spend points.

Action Points I like, however, along with the rules for contacts, honor, and reputation from UA.

 

[William Ronald]

I think action points are a way to give players a chance to influence the die rolls, and show in game how committed their characters might be to a given action. The honors, contacts, and reputation rules from UA are interesting to me, as they help show a character's interaction with society at large. (In most games, a group of PCs will gain a reputation -- of one sort or another.)

I tend to like not knowing everything as a player, so I can see some problems with the players rolling dice. On a few occassions, I have had players whose PCs were incapacitated roll some of the dice. (It gives the player something to do.)

 

[The Grackle]

I do this for Mutants and Masterminds and it's sweet. It makes handling lots of NPCs much easier for me. I don't even use saving throws, I make the players make effect rolls vs a static DC.

 

[Hussar]

In my games, I roll everything in the open that I can. About the only roll that isn't in the open is search checks to find traps. I could see this option working pretty well. Hrm, I would like to hear more after you give it a shot. ANYTHING that speeds up combat is a good thing IMO.