D&D General Dmg previews up

[EzekielRaiden]

Does it? How did you arrive at that? Is this exploding once or every time you roll the max value, because the latter does feel off at a minimum.

Assume E is the expected value of a rolled exploding dN die, which explodes infinitely often when you roll N.

This means E = 1/N(1)+1/N(2)+...+1/N(N+E). You might think this becomes insoluble, but it's actually quite soluble.

E=(1/N)(1+2+...+N)+(1/N)E

Note: sum of first N integers is (N)(N+1)/2. So, simplify that sum, and subtract (1/N)E from both sides.

E-(1/N)E = (1/N)(N)(N+1)/2

The division by N cancels out on the right, and we can combine the E terms on the left.

E(N-1)/N = (N+1)/2

E = N(N+1)/(2N-2)

So, for an infinitely exploding d4, the expected value is (4)(5)/(8-2) = 10/3 = 3.333....

 

[Hussar]

Yep. It makes them actual crits. Nothing is worse, at least for me, than rolling 2d6 for a crit and coming up with a 3. Fully half of my normal hits will exceed that "crit." My way a crit always exceeds a normal hit, even if you roll a 1 on the die.

I gotta admit I like this idea but by the same token, this will make monsters much more dangerous. Anything that makes crust more powerful benefits the baddies more than the pcs.

 

[Maxperson]

I gotta admit I like this idea but by the same token, this will make monsters much more dangerous. Anything that makes crust more powerful benefits the baddies more than the pcs.

Exploding pizza?

But seriously, I've found that it does make things more dangerous, but 5e is easy enough after 3rd level that it doesn't make things too bad. Especially since everything is a big bag of hit points. If you need to, though, you can adjust the CR of monsters in your encounters. Also, I have no idea if 5.5e is going to change combat in a way that would make this rule more or less powerful, or leave it the same.

 

[Guest 7037866]

Does it? How did you arrive at that? Is this exploding once or every time you roll the max value, because the latter does feel off at a minimum.

Yes, for infinite exploding dice.

Assume E is the expected value of a rolled exploding dN die, which explodes infinitely often when you roll N.

This means E = 1/N(1)+1/N(2)+...+1/N(N+E). You might think this becomes insoluble, but it's actually quite soluble.

E=(1/N)(1+2+...+N)+(1/N)E

Note: sum of first N integers is (N)(N+1)/2. So, simplify that sum, and subtract (1/N)E from both sides.

E-(1/N)E = (1/N)(N)(N+1)/2

The division by N cancels out on the right, and we can combine the E terms on the left.

E(N-1)/N = (N+1)/2

E = N(N+1)/(2N-2)

So, for an infinitely exploding d4, the expected value is (4)(5)/(8-2) = 10/3 = 3.333....

Yep.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Yes, for infinite exploding dice.


Yep.

As a minor follow-up, in the limit of infinitely-sided dice, exploding is only worth +0.5 expected value. For most polyhedral dice anyone would actually use, the typical benefit is between +0.85 and +0.6. Nice, of course, but not crazy.

Things can get crazy if you allow explosions on more values of N.

 

[MichaelSomething]

I gotta admit I like this idea but by the same token, this will make monsters much more dangerous. Anything that makes crust more powerful benefits the baddies more than the pcs.

So it's a must for the DM looking to challenge their PCs! The perfect antidote to overpowered PC!

 

[pemerton]

That just makes it less likely experienced players are going to give WotC money for it. All those things are of less value to them in general. Is that what WotC wants?

I think, when it comes to experienced players, that WotC is probably hoping for loyalty/habit-type sales.

 

[pemerton]

Why would overviews about monsters not be in the book about monsters?

Seriously, why?

Maybe the MM is seen as a collection of stat-blocks and associated descriptions, rather than extensive setting material?

 

[Guest 7037866]

As a minor follow-up, in the limit of infinitely-sided dice, exploding is only worth +0.5 expected value. For most polyhedral dice anyone would actually use, the typical benefit is between +0.85 and +0.6. Nice, of course, but not crazy.

Yep. For a while we were going with explode on N, but exploding dice are all N-1, explode again on N-1.

Funny thing is, with this, the expected value is exactly 0.5 above the non-exploding N, regardless on N.

For example, roll a d6, explode on 6. Then roll d6-1, explode on 5. Continue to roll d6-1, exploding on 5, to infinity.

Things can get crazy if you allow explosions on more values of N.

Yes, and quickly.

For features like Improved Critical, it makes it very powerful indeed if you can explode not only on N, but N-1, and even N-2! So, we decided for that, the lower N values you explode on is just the initial roll, further rolls only explode on N. That keeps it fairly reasonable IME.

It also makes having advantage on damage very nice.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Maybe the MM is seen as a collection of stat-blocks and associated descriptions, rather than extensive setting material?

Since when? This is the sort of thing I'm talking about when I dispute the "same edition" claim. It may use the same core math, but a lot of the game beyond the setting has been changed re-arranged, such that it simply doesn't feel like the same edition.