3d6 instead of d20

[Slife]

I don't think there's any chance at all.

Within six seconds?

 

[HoboGod]

If someone randomly walks up to a mathematician on the street and shouts in their face "What's six times nine?!", there's a chance that they won't be able to immediately recall it.

Let's assume for 10 seconds that I agree with you, what's the rationality for the opposite? Walk up to a 3rd grader and ask them what's 12x34? They'd certainly be stumped if given a few seconds to think it over (take 10), and solve the problem easily if given a few minutes to look over their notes on multiplication (take 20). But if rushed to answer the question, intuition is seriously going to give them a 5% chance of knowing the answer as if they studied their notes, a 10% chance of knowing slightly less than or as much as if they studied their notes, and so on, so on? Ridiculous!

I'm not saying we should throw out the 1d20 system of skill checks in favor of 3d6 and crucify anyone who wishes to use a 20-sided dice for a skill check. I'm just saying that a bell curve makes things less silly.

 

[dairian]

If the goal is to make the game less random, and less rediculous that characters fail at seeminglyeasy tasks, then why not just roll a single d10 and add 10 to the result? unless the roll is a 1, in which case, its still a 1.

or for that matter roll a d12 and add 8!

or how bout roll a d8 and a d12, then add the results!

wow , that actually makes a very pretty curve, with several results in the middle sharing probability. doesn't with the odds nearly as much as 2d10 or 3d6.