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General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Preferences regarding "save to resist" vs. "roll to hit" mechanics?
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<blockquote data-quote="The Crimson Binome" data-source="post: 7551735" data-attributes="member: 6775031"><p>It is weird to have boulders attack, because they're inanimate objects which lack agency. The die roll is supposed to represent how well they succeed at what they're trying to do, and boulders don't want anything; they care equally little, whether they hit a person or the ground. A better mechanic would be for the GM to roll randomly, in order to determine whether the boulder falls on the character in the first place; but that leads to the unfortunate situation where they roll behind a screen and inform you that you have died. A saving throw is a good middle ground there, since you presumably want to avoid getting hit, and the die roll measures how well you do that.</p><p></p><p>When making an attack roll, the enemy wants to hit you, and you want to avoid getting hit. In theory, you should both roll. However, rolling two dice has the unfortunate side-effect of normalizing the distribution, making unlikely events even less-likely than they should be. Whether the attacker or the defender rolls is not important, but consistency is important, so you might as well let the attackers roll. (Or always let the player roll, if the system math is reversible like that.)</p><p></p><p>When casting a fireball, you don't really have control over the individual flames, or how the ball expands. The caster really only has control over forming the spell in the first place, and setting the point of impact. In that case, an enemy dodging the explosion is a lot like someone dodging a boulder, since the fire doesn't have a goal or agency. Moreover, since fireballs often hit multiple targets, it makes sense from a practical standpoint for each player to roll the one die for their own character, rather than having one person roll multiple times for different characters that all have different bonuses. (In cases where a PC is the one casting fireball, the enemies often have the same bonus, and it's easier for the GM to decide which roll goes for which enemy since they don't really care.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="The Crimson Binome, post: 7551735, member: 6775031"] It is weird to have boulders attack, because they're inanimate objects which lack agency. The die roll is supposed to represent how well they succeed at what they're trying to do, and boulders don't want anything; they care equally little, whether they hit a person or the ground. A better mechanic would be for the GM to roll randomly, in order to determine whether the boulder falls on the character in the first place; but that leads to the unfortunate situation where they roll behind a screen and inform you that you have died. A saving throw is a good middle ground there, since you presumably want to avoid getting hit, and the die roll measures how well you do that. When making an attack roll, the enemy wants to hit you, and you want to avoid getting hit. In theory, you should both roll. However, rolling two dice has the unfortunate side-effect of normalizing the distribution, making unlikely events even less-likely than they should be. Whether the attacker or the defender rolls is not important, but consistency is important, so you might as well let the attackers roll. (Or always let the player roll, if the system math is reversible like that.) When casting a fireball, you don't really have control over the individual flames, or how the ball expands. The caster really only has control over forming the spell in the first place, and setting the point of impact. In that case, an enemy dodging the explosion is a lot like someone dodging a boulder, since the fire doesn't have a goal or agency. Moreover, since fireballs often hit multiple targets, it makes sense from a practical standpoint for each player to roll the one die for their own character, rather than having one person roll multiple times for different characters that all have different bonuses. (In cases where a PC is the one casting fireball, the enemies often have the same bonus, and it's easier for the GM to decide which roll goes for which enemy since they don't really care.) [/QUOTE]
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Preferences regarding "save to resist" vs. "roll to hit" mechanics?
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