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General Tabletop Discussion
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Binary Success vs Multiple Levels of Success
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<blockquote data-quote="rmcoen" data-source="post: 9632050" data-attributes="member: 6692404"><p>More rolling is bad; more dice being rolled is less bad, but requires more "understanding time". I have players at my table that - after literally <u>3 decades</u> of D&D - still are doing the math of "I rolled a 12, plus my strength, plus my skill... 15. No 17. Wait, it's a +1 sword..." And that's before <em>bless</em> or <em>guidance</em> or <em>dragonmarked human</em> or whatever is added. So if I had to - as a matter of course - even have players roll "a d20, plus a good/bad die" just to provide flavor for the binary pass/fail (thus giving a simple 2-d matrix of results), I'm just concerned about the extra seconds on every roll where "good/bad" has to be understood and communicated.</p><p></p><p>And then, of course, <em>I</em> have to be ready with a "good/bad" thing to add. to every roll.</p><p></p><p>Having said that, <em>I</em> personally love complicated results! I pretty much always use "+/- 5" as a threshold for any d20 roll. (In combat, we added special effects based on damage type for "10 better than target". Many zombies were set alight by <em>firebolts</em>!) Imperfect night's sleep, in the cold... roll CON save DC 11. If you make it, you managed to get sleep (most Long Rest recovery benefits); make it by 5, you also removed a level of exhaustion. Fail, you got only a Short Rest of benefits <em>OR</em> you gained a level exhaustion. Fail by 5 or more, no benefits from the horrible night's sleep <em>and</em> gain a level of exhaustion. [Sleep in better conditions slides that scale up one "success category".]</p><p></p><p>I also use Emphasis Rolls that I read about somewhere online. The thing being attempted simply <em>works</em> - like picking the lock with no time constraints - but the die with the largest differential from "10" tells you if there are benefits or complications, and how large they are. (You don't get <em>both</em> benefits and complications.) But say Araylia is picking the lock on the defeated goblin chief's chest. She can't "fail", so she makes an Emphasis Roll, getting a 7 and a 12. 7 is "farther" from 10 than 12, so she "succeeds with a complication"... but 7 isn't <em>very</em> far, so it's a minor complication. If both dice are high or low, you can read into that... or just take the most. On the RARE (1 in 400) occasions that "nat1" and "nat20" are rolled together... well,... 20 is father from 10 than 1 is, so it is still a success, but it's time for me to have fun! [double nat20s has also happened, but somehow in 2 years of using this mechanic, double nat1s has not?] (In actual play, Araylia rolled a 12 and a nat20 when picking that lock. I had her pop open the chest unexpectedly quickly because... the chest was crap, but the high-quality lock came free in her hand - bonus loot!)</p><p></p><p></p><p>So I would love if my players just rolled a "+,+,blank,blank,-,-" die [Fate?] or something similar with their rolls. I'd love narrating things, checking charts, multiple types of results differentiated for every skill, spell, and situation. And all my players would say "go play/write a computer a game, that's too much to actually use at the table".</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="rmcoen, post: 9632050, member: 6692404"] More rolling is bad; more dice being rolled is less bad, but requires more "understanding time". I have players at my table that - after literally [U]3 decades[/U] of D&D - still are doing the math of "I rolled a 12, plus my strength, plus my skill... 15. No 17. Wait, it's a +1 sword..." And that's before [I]bless[/I] or [I]guidance[/I] or [I]dragonmarked human[/I] or whatever is added. So if I had to - as a matter of course - even have players roll "a d20, plus a good/bad die" just to provide flavor for the binary pass/fail (thus giving a simple 2-d matrix of results), I'm just concerned about the extra seconds on every roll where "good/bad" has to be understood and communicated. And then, of course, [I]I[/I] have to be ready with a "good/bad" thing to add. to every roll. Having said that, [I]I[/I] personally love complicated results! I pretty much always use "+/- 5" as a threshold for any d20 roll. (In combat, we added special effects based on damage type for "10 better than target". Many zombies were set alight by [I]firebolts[/I]!) Imperfect night's sleep, in the cold... roll CON save DC 11. If you make it, you managed to get sleep (most Long Rest recovery benefits); make it by 5, you also removed a level of exhaustion. Fail, you got only a Short Rest of benefits [I]OR[/I] you gained a level exhaustion. Fail by 5 or more, no benefits from the horrible night's sleep [I]and[/I] gain a level of exhaustion. [Sleep in better conditions slides that scale up one "success category".] I also use Emphasis Rolls that I read about somewhere online. The thing being attempted simply [I]works[/I] - like picking the lock with no time constraints - but the die with the largest differential from "10" tells you if there are benefits or complications, and how large they are. (You don't get [I]both[/I] benefits and complications.) But say Araylia is picking the lock on the defeated goblin chief's chest. She can't "fail", so she makes an Emphasis Roll, getting a 7 and a 12. 7 is "farther" from 10 than 12, so she "succeeds with a complication"... but 7 isn't [I]very[/I] far, so it's a minor complication. If both dice are high or low, you can read into that... or just take the most. On the RARE (1 in 400) occasions that "nat1" and "nat20" are rolled together... well,... 20 is father from 10 than 1 is, so it is still a success, but it's time for me to have fun! [double nat20s has also happened, but somehow in 2 years of using this mechanic, double nat1s has not?] (In actual play, Araylia rolled a 12 and a nat20 when picking that lock. I had her pop open the chest unexpectedly quickly because... the chest was crap, but the high-quality lock came free in her hand - bonus loot!) So I would love if my players just rolled a "+,+,blank,blank,-,-" die [Fate?] or something similar with their rolls. I'd love narrating things, checking charts, multiple types of results differentiated for every skill, spell, and situation. And all my players would say "go play/write a computer a game, that's too much to actually use at the table". [/QUOTE]
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