D&D 5E Proficiency "Dice": Do you (or have you) use them?

[DND_Reborn]

I've been thinking some about the idea of switching to the proficiency die instead of a flat bonus and was curious if anyone actually used them? (or if you've tried them but don't use them currently?)

Thanks for any feedback on this.

 

[Bawylie]

Tried it. It didn’t catch with the players. I even put the die on the character sheet where the proficiency bonus goes. I was still constantly reminding them.

Too much effort for too little payoff.

 

[Charlaquin]

I used it during the playtest. I liked them a lot, but the players didn’t care for the swinginess. Players tend to want to perform reliably better in the areas they chose to specialize in. And human biases make the moments where you rolled a one on your proficiency die and just failed more memorable than the moments where you rolled the maximum number and succeeded by a lot.

You know what is fun though? Call them “expertise dice” and have rogues roll them in addition to their proficiency bonus for their expertise skills instead of doubling proficiency bonus on them.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Too much effort for too little payoff.

Sadly, I am more concerned about them having to add the die roll to the d20 all the time.

Was that also an issue for you?

 

[ART!]

We've never tried it, but I feel like my group would actually enjoy the extra dose of swinginess.

 

[Stalker0]

Sadly, I am more concerned about them having to add the die roll to the d20 all the time.

Was that also an issue for you?

So while I never tried this per say, I did have several fights were bless was involved (which is a +1d4 to attacks and saves, so a very close proximity).

I found in general, way too much effort for its benefit. Some players would forget, some would roll the d20 first, then roll the d4 (which slows things down over time when you do that a lot). And then there is the extra math, yes its not a lot, but when its occuring on every roll it is something....versus a roll already on their sheet with all numbers added that they just use.

I respect 5e's desire not to include a lot of bonuses, but I do think in general, I will take a bonus over a small die roll any day.

PS: I should note that because of my experiences, I actually houseruled bless to a straight +2 bonus, precisely to remove the little headaches I saw it cause).

 

[DND_Reborn]

PS: I should note that because of my experiences, I actually houseruled bless to a straight +2 bonus, precisely to remove the little headaches I saw it cause).

Yep. We do the same thing to avoid the dice rolling.

I like the concept of proficiency dice, but I am afraid the application will be to cumbersome.

 

[Charlaquin]

Yep. We do the same thing to avoid the dice rolling.

I like the concept of proficiency dice, but I am afraid the application will be to cumbersome.

Honestly I think the main benefit of proficiency dice - decoupling proficiencies from abilities - can easily be done with proficiency bonuses anyway.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

decoupling proficiencies from abilities

How does proficiency die do that? As I understand it, you still use your ability modifier, you just roll a die instead of adding a flat proficiency bonus.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

It's one of those things that really appeals to me but that I can't really particularly justify the additional step of beyond "I like rolling dice". I've never convinced a group to take much interest, though maybe if I really emphasized that they would be statistically a half point better at most their rolls they would feel differently. I'm also not really that keen as DM because it would throw a level of on-the-fly complexity on reading monster statblocks and I am already devoting that mental energy to adjusting them for more important balance concerns or to have different enemies in a group use different equipment, or whatever.