Homebrew 2d10 vs 1d20

[DEFCON 1]

I also did 2d10 for ability checks in my two CoS games in order to get the bell curve and make the modifiers have a little more impact on results. (Kept the d20 for combat just due to ease of use and for the criticals on Nat 20s).

After going with the 2d10 for a long time, we came to the conclusion that in practice it didn't really make any appreciable difference. For ability checks the characters succeeded on them sometimes and failed them sometimes. And the checks occurred with such frequency that no one could really notice if the percentages changed on how often they succeeded via 2d10 vs 1d20. After a while it all just came out in the wash.

So now I just use 1d20 again for all checks.

 

[TwoSix]

I was unable to choose between them, so I compromised with a 1d15+1d5.

 

[Nutation]

If I implemented this, I would look hard at the various ways PCs can achieve extreme AC values (greater than 22). I would consider +n shields, armor + shield spell, heavy armor + cloak of displacement. Otherwise, chance to hit them drops from 5-10% to 1-3%.

This also ties in to the decisions of, what is an automatic hit? What is an automatic miss?

 

[Rainbow Scissors]

I also did 2d10 for ability checks in my two CoS games in order to get the bell curve and make the modifiers have a little more impact on results. (Kept the d20 for combat just due to ease of use and for the criticals on Nat 20s).

After going with the 2d10 for a long time, we came to the conclusion that in practice it didn't really make any appreciable difference. For ability checks the characters succeeded on them sometimes and failed them sometimes. And the checks occurred with such frequency that no one could really notice if the percentages changed on how often they succeeded via 2d10 vs 1d20. After a while it all just came out in the wash.

So now I just use 1d20 again for all checks.

In one of the games that my group ran, we did 2d10 for skill checks while also using the alternate proficiency dice rule (instead of a fixed proficiency bonus). A lot of the players enjoyed rolling more dice and feeling as though there was more variability to the outcome. I honestly can't say whether or not it made much difference, but it seemed more fun.

We had talked about possibly upgrading or decreasing dice size as a way to have more granularity with advantage and disadvantage (similar to Genesys,) but we never got around to trying it.

 

[Xeviat]

How big of a difference from advantage/disadvantage on a d20 compared to having 2d10, but only using one of the d10s for the A/D? Say there was an attack and rolling d10s I used 1 blue as normal and 2 red taking the best for advantage of those two.

I was thinking of testing what 3d10 keep highest/lowest 2 for would do for advantage.

If I were to go through all the work to create my own system, I'm leaning towards ability bonuses using dice, like the proficiency dice system in the playtest and the DMG5.0 variant rules, except you'd buy ranks in skills instead of binary proficient/not.

 

[Xeviat]

If I implemented this, I would look hard at the various ways PCs can achieve extreme AC values (greater than 22). I would consider +n shields, armor + shield spell, heavy armor + cloak of displacement. Otherwise, chance to hit them drops from 5-10% to 1-3%.

This also ties in to the decisions of, what is an automatic hit? What is an automatic miss?

That's a really good point!

 

[kigmatzomat]

Earthdawn turns this up to 11. A person's ability rating is the average roll for their dice, accounting for dice explosions. I.e. a step 13 is d12+d10, a step 20 is d20+d8+d6 (specific dice vary by edition, but statistics are statistics). Either way, the step becomes a reasonable expectation.

The game has a lot of modifiers so those step numbers go up and down constantly.

It is also, in many ways, 1e d&d. fighters are meat walls protecting fragile casters, who slowwwlly cast horrifyingly effective spells, assuming no one interrupts them.

 

[Tonguez]

While bell curves are more consistent and PCs come across as more competent in their skills and abilities (because bonuses matter), what you loose is the heroic thrill of rolling a 20 or the fatal fumble of a 1. You solution of rolling a 10 might help, but it isnt as satisfying
Maybe rolling doubles for criticals? which works out at 10% and has the cool factor too. Do critical ranges of double 1-3 or double 8-0. You can even apply more special effects based on which double - double 10 is a Super critical, whereas double 7 might get you a wild magic bonus, and double 5 puts you and you opponent into a weapon clash (use an action to break) etc.