Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Average damage or rolled damage?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 6754293" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>Might not have been the best example of something "outlandish" for a character to know. I also don't think it's really such a huge thing to have static damage--you still never know if a blow is going to land, and before the first blow you don't know how much damage it will deal. Also, "fog of war" might not have been the best choice either--that's supposed to reflect the "you don't know specifically what's happening at every point on the battlefield"...which, in most games I've played, you <em>do</em> know what's going on at every point on the battle map if you're using one. Only Roll20's computerized line-of-sight stuff has actually tackled that...and the DM found it such an enormous headache (because *he* can't see what ranges *we're* able to see, natch) that he basically handwaved it because it made his life too complicated.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Others have given some...weird and outlandish sets, but a simple 5d12+8 will do the trick. Just played around for a minute or two in AnyDice.</p><p></p><p>Though that actually demonstrates an important reason why "random" damage really isn't as meaningfully swingy as you'd like. You have less than a 10% chance (~9.3%) to roll any number outside 28-53 (a 26-point range), and you'll get a number between 33 and 48 about twice as often as anything outside that range (a 16-point range). Or, now that I've read more of the thread, if we use the stated damage value (11d6+2), we get an even <em>more</em> centralized bell. The 95% confidence interval is approximately 31-50 (a 20-point range), and the 66% CI is approximately 35-46 (12-point range). When you then factor in the effect of rolling that damage more than once, the results will regress toward the mean (40.5 damage) per hit.</p><p></p><p>Ironically, it is for the creatures with the smallest damage attacks (single dice) that rolled damage leads to the greatest player uncertainty. For big bosses, rolled damage actually results in nearly as good of information as static does--there's always the small chance you're wrong, but again, regression toward the mean says that such outlier results should, well, <em>actually be</em> outliers. Edit: And this is even more true if you roll your monster damage dice openly. Pretty much anybody with a head for figures who pays attention to (1) how many dice, of what size, you rolled and (2) the amount of damage you called out, can get a good estimate of the average damage and damage range of that monster. And while I don't do much OSR-style stuff...I can't imagine that most groups would be super okay with the DM always rolling damage dice behind the screen.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 6754293, member: 6790260"] Might not have been the best example of something "outlandish" for a character to know. I also don't think it's really such a huge thing to have static damage--you still never know if a blow is going to land, and before the first blow you don't know how much damage it will deal. Also, "fog of war" might not have been the best choice either--that's supposed to reflect the "you don't know specifically what's happening at every point on the battlefield"...which, in most games I've played, you [I]do[/I] know what's going on at every point on the battle map if you're using one. Only Roll20's computerized line-of-sight stuff has actually tackled that...and the DM found it such an enormous headache (because *he* can't see what ranges *we're* able to see, natch) that he basically handwaved it because it made his life too complicated. Others have given some...weird and outlandish sets, but a simple 5d12+8 will do the trick. Just played around for a minute or two in AnyDice. Though that actually demonstrates an important reason why "random" damage really isn't as meaningfully swingy as you'd like. You have less than a 10% chance (~9.3%) to roll any number outside 28-53 (a 26-point range), and you'll get a number between 33 and 48 about twice as often as anything outside that range (a 16-point range). Or, now that I've read more of the thread, if we use the stated damage value (11d6+2), we get an even [I]more[/I] centralized bell. The 95% confidence interval is approximately 31-50 (a 20-point range), and the 66% CI is approximately 35-46 (12-point range). When you then factor in the effect of rolling that damage more than once, the results will regress toward the mean (40.5 damage) per hit. Ironically, it is for the creatures with the smallest damage attacks (single dice) that rolled damage leads to the greatest player uncertainty. For big bosses, rolled damage actually results in nearly as good of information as static does--there's always the small chance you're wrong, but again, regression toward the mean says that such outlier results should, well, [I]actually be[/I] outliers. Edit: And this is even more true if you roll your monster damage dice openly. Pretty much anybody with a head for figures who pays attention to (1) how many dice, of what size, you rolled and (2) the amount of damage you called out, can get a good estimate of the average damage and damage range of that monster. And while I don't do much OSR-style stuff...I can't imagine that most groups would be super okay with the DM always rolling damage dice behind the screen. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Average damage or rolled damage?
Top