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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Scurvy_Platypus" data-source="post: 5035823" data-attributes="member: 43283">Well, if both are starting with "10" as a base, it doesn't really matter... the number total you arrive at might be higher than starting at zero, but it's not changing the probability. At least, not as I understand things.Note: I'm not mathematically inclined, so I don't actually do probability things. Instead, I rely on other people doing the work for me. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />One thing that should help you out for at least some of your questions is Small Roller. It's a handy probability program; it might not handle every kind of dice rolling thing out there, but it covers what I need. And as a bonus, unlike a lot of the probability calculators, it'll give you a nice graph to look at as well (from the Display menu option you pick Probability Chart).You can find Small Roller here:<a href="http://www.fnordistan.com/smallroller.html" target="_blank">SmallRoller -- A Dice Roller/Probability Calculator</a>Now for this particular question, it's answered in a couple of places:<a href="http://giantbattlingrobots.blogspot.com/2009/09/math-of-2dx-dice-systems.html" target="_blank">Math of 2DX Dice Systems | Giant Battling Robots</a>and<a href="http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=127591" target="_blank">Opposed Roll Probability - RPGnet Forums</a>The blog shows you the graph for opposed rolls (that downhill thingy) which is basically 2d whatever. Note: if you use Small Roller and simply input 2d20 you'll get the same looking hill but inverted. The key is that the blog graph starts at 100% and goes down, where Small Roller starts at 0% and goes up.The rpg.net link has the important bit about the bonus minus bonus.Now, I actually used the Opposed d20 rolls for about a year; I was using Everstone which is a BESMd20 based game, and one of the things it has is Opposed Rolls for combat.My players seemed a lot more engaged, because they were actively opposing my critter attacks. Individual rounds probably took somewhat longer because there was a lot more dice rolling going on overall, but it didn't _feel_ longer to me as a GM and like I said, the players seemed to be more engaged.Trying to do what it seems like you're doing... hmmmm... the problem is that you're running up against a decent chance of bogging things down with more bookkeeping.Bearing in mind that I personally tend to favor going simpler (in part because I'm a lazy GM), I think the first thing I'd look at playing with is the BAB. Effectively, it becomes a pool of points that can be spent in either Attack, Defense, or a combination.For example, a 13th level Fighter has 13 points that could be put towards actually hitting the target, defending yourself against a hit or a combination thereof. Maybe the attack gets 7 points applied to it and the defense gets 6.Now, I myself would be inclined to use BAB that way, not the actual full Attack Bonus; you know, what you'd get from Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization for example. "Static" bonuses like that (and weapon enhancements, etc) would be straight up pure bonus that I'd be inclined to add on to the Attack side of things.But there's nothing really stopping you from letting people use the whole range of their attack bonus instead of strictly relying on BAB.Should Reflexes add to the pool? Personally, I'd be inclined to say it depends on the kind of maneuver that's being attempted as to whether or not Reflexes would add.For an interesting twist, you might consider doing a "half-your level" bonus (basically every 2 levels you get a +1 bonus) that's applied to either Attack, Defense, or Parry.I'd be inclined to handle Parry along the lines of "For every [x] you beat your opponent by, you inflict 1 point of damage". Yeah, it might not be strictly "accurate", but it means there's now a potential 3rd option besides simply hunkering down and taking the blows, or going ape on someone. If you want to make it a more attractive option, it could be a base of 1 point of damage and then weapon enhancements, weapon properties (like flaming) etc add in.I think there's room to play around with Attack, Defense, and Parry (with Reflexes tying into Parry) to develop some different fighting options.The danger here of course is going in the direction of creating "maneuvers" that cost x number of points and then have y benefit. I think that's simply over-complicating things; a certain percentage of people might be interested in it, but I think practically speaking, it just becomes one more thing to try and remember about the rules, like Bull Rush and all that.If you're wanting a greater "complexity", then tapping into all 3 of the saves and using those as targets instead of just AC might be the way to go. So an attack against Will might be something where you're inflicting relatively superficial wounds that are painful and distracting. Reflexes attack would be where you're trying to keep your opponent off-balance and you're again going for quicker attacks, rather than substantial damage. Fort attack would be straight up trauma and endurance. Doing armour as DR might be more appropriate for this style of system though.Does any of that help, spark ideas, or even relate to what you're thinking?</blockquote>

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