Snapdragyn
Explorer
Three reasons I hope they do NOT go through with flipping saves to being rolled by the attacker:
1) Averaging of damage to foes. If the wizard in the party lobs a fireball into a room of orcs, there's a good chance some will fail their save & go down, reducing the damage the party takes in the next round. If the wizard in the party lobs the same fireball but has to make an 'arcane attack' roll -- & fails it -- the party could still be facing a room full of orcs in the next round. That's going to hurt.
2) Averaging of party damage. If the party takes a fireball, one roll counts against each of our individual 'resist DCs'. If the DM rolls high, we're probably all screwed (at least in mid-levels). Previously we had the chance that at least someone would roll high and make the save (though granted, there was always the chance of rolling a 1 & failing something 'easy', too).
3) Believability. A reflex save vs. a fireball (or lightning, or similar spell) can easily be viewed as representing the character ducking, dodging, or just falling to the ground so that only their back gets burned -- thus, HALF damage. A reflex-based 'arcane attack' roll just doesn't fit as well conceptually IMO. Does this mean the wizard flubbed his fireball targeting so badly that it half-missed all of us? Or targeted so well that even the most nimble of us still got hit full-on? Blegh. >p
1) Averaging of damage to foes. If the wizard in the party lobs a fireball into a room of orcs, there's a good chance some will fail their save & go down, reducing the damage the party takes in the next round. If the wizard in the party lobs the same fireball but has to make an 'arcane attack' roll -- & fails it -- the party could still be facing a room full of orcs in the next round. That's going to hurt.
2) Averaging of party damage. If the party takes a fireball, one roll counts against each of our individual 'resist DCs'. If the DM rolls high, we're probably all screwed (at least in mid-levels). Previously we had the chance that at least someone would roll high and make the save (though granted, there was always the chance of rolling a 1 & failing something 'easy', too).
3) Believability. A reflex save vs. a fireball (or lightning, or similar spell) can easily be viewed as representing the character ducking, dodging, or just falling to the ground so that only their back gets burned -- thus, HALF damage. A reflex-based 'arcane attack' roll just doesn't fit as well conceptually IMO. Does this mean the wizard flubbed his fireball targeting so badly that it half-missed all of us? Or targeted so well that even the most nimble of us still got hit full-on? Blegh. >p