Recent content by Maxperson

Feats. While you are gaining that 1 extra success every 20 rolls, I'll be taking feats like Sentinel, Great Weapon Master, and other good combat/non-combat feats that will have a far greater impact on the game than your bonus ever will.

Again, you don't need that baseline for any sort of analysis, because such analysis is useless. Most ACs are not 16, so trying to figure out how it would work if every attack was against AC 16 doesn't really tell you anything. All you need to know is that across ALL armor classes, the +1 = 1...

While combat is a significant part of the game, it's the part that typically has the least direct impact on the world at large. Combat will win you some fights, get you some treasure, and some XP, but social/informational skills can put kings on thrones, take kings off of thrones, shift armies...

I'm looking at the game as a whole. In my experience, as many or more rolls happen out of combat as in combat. Out of combat rolls, though, are for many, many, many different things with many different DCs. When you have 4 people rolling to see if they know what a statuette in an alcove might...

Okay. Ask us how many of us used the 1e initiative, grappling, weapon vs. armor tables, etc. rules as written back during 1e? If the majority of tables aren't using the rule as written, what is written really doesn't matter. That's the huge problem with encounters in 5e. The rules as written...

That's your fatal flaw. Monsters don't all have an AC of 16, which is why these sorts of simulations fail. The AC is irrelevant. What is relevant is that a 16 is +1 more likely to hit across ALL armor classes than a 14 is. That's one extra hit every 20 attacks on average, which isn't really...

And yet Star Fleet Battles has a following. :P What you dislike, others like. And vice versa. There's room for all types of games out there.

Your example is effectively white room theory crafting, though. Folks just generally don't require people to play stats as bad as you posted. Point buy and arrays also have inherent issues. A lot of people dislike cookie cutter character stats. Both methods have issues, and both methods have...

Why does it have to be nostalgia and dislike of change? Why can't it just be enjoyment of those mechanics? When I walk into game stores, I don't just see D&D on the shelves. I see D&D and several other RPGs from various companies on the shelves. Yes D&D dominates the market, but D&D has...

In my opinion a dump score has to have a stat penalty. If the score is average or better, the number isn't dumped there. Dump implies trash in this context.

When I say not noticeable unless the DM tell them, it's literally not noticeable unless the DM tells them. If the players don't know the DC numbers, they can't know when in the many, many rolls they hit that one single number out of 20 where the +1 actually makes a difference. It's only when...

First, as I've said many times in many threads, bonuses in 5e don't mean a whole heck of a lot, so the skewing fear is overrated. Second, it doesn't really skew things much in practice. I've been doing this for years and over many campaigns and characters I've noticed that most of the PCs end...

I'm going to post a hot take. There's no such thing as modern RPG mechanics. Butter used to be made entirely by hand. Now it's overwhelmingly automated. Automation is the modern method. By hand is antiquated. Same with building cars. And so on. With RPGs we still see rules and mechanics...

It really doesn't come into play much until you are at 3 or 4 attacks.

In prior editions, sure. In 5e the difference between 16 and 20 is minor. The difference between 16 and 18 is not really noticeable. 1 more success in 20 rolls on average, when combined with random d20 rolling, means that unless the DM calls it to your attention, you will never know if/when...