D&D 4E How do you run attack rolls in 4e?

[Niehaus]

I just started playing dnd with the release of 4th edition before our first game I had a chance to listen to some of the penny arcade podcasts. The wotc dm was calling out numbers and asking if they hit a specific defense from that point on it never occurred to me there was a different way to do it.

 

[mattdm]

I ask my players as an an encounter starts, and then write it down so I don't have to keep asking.

 

[Ander00]

My campaign has yet to get started. Initially, I was going to go with the written down defense values, but after having played 4E a bit, I think I'll mostly just announce the results of the attack rolls. It's just smoother this way when you have warlocks constantly getting concealment, wizards with staff of defense and shield, etc.


cheers

 

[Fedifensor]

Wow. I thought the results might be skewed by having two choices that both basically say "I don't reveal what number I have to hit", but openness still wins out even if you add both of the other choices together.

 

[Bison]

I haven't DM'd in 4E yet, but as a player I prefer if the DM asks me my defence score. It's not that I don't trust the DM, I just worry that when I use my second wind, or the warlord does something to boost my AC temporarily, that the DM doesn't keep up with those changes the way a player would.

(since the player is keeping track of only one person, and the DM could be concerned with a dozen or more between players, monsters, and NPC's)

 

[Nail]

As a DM, all rolls that I make are in the open and has been like that for at least 10 years. So I just state what it hits (if it is in the neighborhood of something they have) and ask if it hits.

Me too.

Rolling behind the DM screen is reserved for "secrets" (like the NPC rogue using Stealth to shadow the party without them knowing). Rolling to hit is NOT a secret!

So:

DM: <rolls d20 and damage dice all at once, all out in the open, adds mentally> "I've got a 28 vs. your AC, wizard! Do I hit?"

PC (wizard): <glaces at sheet, sighs> "Yep."

DM: <gleeful> "Well then, take 16 necrotic damage."

etc.