Would you use or allow average damage to speed up gameplay?

[Aust Diamondew]

I'd consider doing it in our group is combat started to get really bogged down by damage rolls (I did do this once in an epic game) and have considered it before for lower level games.

 

[Victim]

I'd probably rather use a program to generate and apply random numbers than switch to averages.

 

[BlueBlackRed]

Ocasionally I have used average damage, mostly to save time or to keep the flow going.

But I would never average 2d6 as 10. 2d6=7

 

[the Jester]

If I want diceless, I will play Amber.

Which rules, mind you.

But dnd? Dice all the way.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

I did not vote as the general question seems based on the false premise that it is the rolling and adding of many dice that is a notable cause of slow gameplay at higher levels.

 

[takasi]

I did not vote as the general question seems based on the false premise that it is the rolling and adding of many dice that is a notable cause of slow gameplay at higher levels.

I disagree with this. I don't see how the poll is biased.

That being said, I'm glad to hear that there are a few others out there who find dice rolling for damage to be more time consuming than it's worth at high levels. When you're the DM and have to run 8 monsters with 5 attacks each with 6 or more dice per attack it's the difference between:

1.) Roll 40 d20s (8 sets of red, orange, yellow, green blue)
2.) Compare values based on AC
3.) Multiply results by a set number

vs.

1.) Roll 40 d20s (8 sets of red, orange, yellow, green blue)
2.) Compare values based on AC
3.) Roll as many as 240 dice
4.) Add values of previous result

In my experience this can mean the difference of 30 seconds vs 1-2 minutes. With 8 players and 5 rounds of combat you're looking at saving at least half an hour in time.

Removing dice also makes DR much easier to handle. Rather than recording each individual damage result to see if it bypasses DR you have a defined amount for comparison.

Spells are also much easier. Fireball, 35 points of damage, next! I can spend the time I would have spent rolling (to get 32 damage or 41 damage or whatever) to add more enthusiasm to the description of the blast. (Or eat cheetos.)

Again just my opinion. I'm glad to see some people out there have tried it and like it. I've never forced anyone to use it at my table (though for some of the 'slower' rollers I heavily encourage it).

I do disagree with some people about decision making slowing down higher level play. In my experience players usually know what they're going to do by the time it's their turn. If they don't then their characters delay and I move on to the next person.

 

[Abraxas]

I would never do it for the simple reason that if the PC is down to 12 hp and the critters 4d6 attack averages 14 pts of damage the player knows the next hit drops him. If the dice are rolled, however, they could come up 4 ones and he could still be standing (this exact situation happened in a game I was playing in)

 

[takasi]

I would never do it for the simple reason that if the PC is down to 12 hp and the critters 4d6 attack averages 14 pts of damage the player knows the next hit drops him. If the dice are rolled, however, they could come up 4 ones and he could still be standing (this exact situation happened in a game I was playing in)

When the PC is at 10% of his hp, does it really make much of a difference at that point? He's already gotten himself into hot water by that point.

The dice work both ways. If the player had 20 hp and the creature attacks for 4d6 there's a chance he could drop if you rolled the dice. In the long run whatever adds more randomness to the game is going to end up screwing the PCs, because they're the ones who have to survive. Even then, at this level of the game there's going to be more than 4d6 between the player and the enemy, and IME the minor flucuations in damage results just aren't worth the amount of time as demonstrated above.

 

[Mark Oliva]

I'm running an epic level campaign with 5 PCs ranging in level from 19 to 25. There hasn't been much of the described problem in the campaign. In most cases, so much damage is dealt by a single hit that the pace hasn't been much slower than it would be at lower levels.

 

[Jin_Kataki]

A game I play in does this..

Instead of multiple attacks at higher levels when you gain extra BAB you get an extra d6 to damage for every 2 points of BAB you have above 5 I believe.

So basically you get one attack (two if you have the appropriate feats) but you get a bonus to your damage to make it even out.