Shards of Memory: OOC

Bront · May 8, 2007

Rystil Arden said:
I like rolling separately for each enemy. It helps prevent an all-or-nothing effect "Oops, that Fireball got 9 on 6d6...And half of them saved and took 4" or "Huzzah! That's 30 on 6d6!"

I've been rolling it this way for the entirity of all my PbPs and you haven't commented until now

Actualy, it's the first time I've noticed as well.

unleashed · May 9, 2007

Rystil Arden said:
I like rolling separately for each enemy. It helps prevent an all-or-nothing effect "Oops, that Fireball got 9 on 6d6...And half of them saved and took 4" or "Huzzah! That's 30 on 6d6!"

I've been rolling it this way for the entirity of all my PbPs and you haven't commented until now

Actually I have commented on it before, once (see posts 425 & 426 on this page), but only to state that IC still hated me, as from 6 rolls every result was below average (average for 7d6 being 24.5). Actually, considering the range of damage, which was 19-23 from six rolls, it hardly seems like your system of rolling for each enemy separately is worthwhile (in that case at least). :lol:

That's been the extent of my experience with your roll damage for every enemy approach until now, as even though I have a lot of characters in your games I've cast very few mass damage spells thus far. I know for a fact this is Zaeryn's first casting of such a spell, and most of my other characters don't have access to spells of that ilk yet except Trayah, and as far as I can see Trayah has cast flame strike twice thus far. The first one is the one mentioned above and the second missed due to the incorporeal nature of the targets (cast on the two ice spirits chasing Obscurity when she was scouting and apparently missed both of them).

As for similar spells or effects used by other PC's or foes, I pay little attention to them apart from what they do to my character.

Rystil Arden · May 9, 2007

What about Mass Cure Light Wounds? Surely you guys saw that it wasn't healing everyone equally?

unleashed · May 10, 2007

Rystil Arden said:
What about Mass Cure Light Wounds? Surely you guys saw that it wasn't healing everyone equally?

Yes, but then I didn't really worry about it. After all, the 1d8 is only a minor component of the healing done by mass cure light wounds in Trayah's case.

You realise I don't really care if you roll for every creature or not, right... I just thought it was worth mentioning, as it's an unusual way to do it in my experience. Though now you've got me wondering whether you roll dice for every creature when you play in person.

Rystil Arden said:
I like rolling separately for each enemy. It helps prevent an all-or-nothing effect "Oops, that Fireball got 9 on 6d6...And half of them saved and took 4" or "Huzzah! That's 30 on 6d6!"

Then someone using a weapon only has the option of an all-or-nothing effect with each individual attack. So I don't see why spellcasters should use a different system, just because their spell damages multiple opponents at one time.

Rystil Arden · May 10, 2007

unleashed said:
Yes, but then I didn't really worry about it. After all, the 1d8 is only a minor component of the healing done by mass cure light wounds in Trayah's case.

You realise I don't really care if you roll for every creature or not, right... I just thought it was worth mentioning, as it's an unusual way to do it in my experience. Though now you've got me wondering whether you roll dice for every creature when you play in person.

Then someone using a weapon only has the option of an all-or-nothing effect with each individual attack. So I don't see why spellcasters should use a different system, just because their spell damages multiple opponents at one time.

Because it makes for a worse game when there are multiple enemies. It is more likely to be unfun.

Example--

Enemies with 18 HP versus 5d6 AoE attack. Roll once and get 20? You've ended the fight immediately and nobody else gets to do anything. Roll once and get 13? You didn't kill anything, and the party Barbarian could have probably one-shotted these guys anyway. Roll separately? You drop about half and hurt the rest quite a bit. This plays more fun than those others.

unleashed · May 10, 2007

Rystil Arden said:
Because it makes for a worse game when there are multiple enemies. It is more likely to be unfun.

Example--

Enemies with 18 HP versus 5d6 AoE attack. Roll once and get 20? You've ended the fight immediately and nobody else gets to do anything. Roll once and get 13? You didn't kill anything, and the party Barbarian could have probably one-shotted these guys anyway. Roll separately? You drop about half and hurt the rest quite a bit. This plays more fun than those others.

One battle being resolved with a single spell just allows a character to shine brightly for a moment, it doesn't make a game unfun. Though if you think it does, then I'm surprised you haven't changed how turn undead works, as that's no better.

As for the specifics of the example. I don't see a difference between the 5d6 AoE spell taking out the enemies or the barbarian one-shotting them... each character is employing the abilites they've spent time gaining. Anyway, if all the enemies fall to an AoE spell in one battle, then perhaps the next battle will revolve around the barbarian's blade, as the AoE spell is no longer available or can't be used effectively (the enemies getting amongst the party before the AoE spell can be cast, for example).

unleashed · May 11, 2007

Hmm, I hope I haven't given you any ideas Rystil, talking about changing turn undead. :uhoh:

Anyway, in the end it all comes down to the luck of the dice, with high rolls usually being more fun than lower rolls, at least from a success perspective... though low rolls can from time to time make things interesting. In the end though you don't want to spend an entire adventure not contributing. I've certainly done that before, failing to hit anything or contribute much past being a body for the enemies to attack for several sessions... now that's definitely unfun.

It has been fun discussing the approach you take and why you take it though.