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 coming! 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
DMs, how do you fudge?
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="Blue" data-source="post: 8593298" data-attributes="member: 20564"><p>Not the person you were asking, but I have an answer for me about this.</p><p></p><p>That comment "99% of the time what I plan happens" is where I see a difference. D&D combat is a lot of very swingy rolls because the range on d20 is usually the majority of what is needed to reach the target AC or DC. Combine that with criticals that can really have a large effect, and realize that a single battle is far to few rolls to mathematically expect a statistical average, and you find that encounters can be a lot more or a lot less deadly then expected. Not just <u><em>can</em></u> be, but mathematically <em><u>will</u></em> have some far out of expectations. Outliers exist, and they are part of the possible results.</p><p></p><p>And once characters start dropping there's a downwards spiral. The party will often lose actions from characters that are down when their initiative comes up. And that means eliminating the threat slower, so the foe ends up having more actions <em>as well</em>. And if that drops another it just intensifies.</p><p></p><p>So unless you always aim quite low in challenge so even a cycle of bad luck won't change the outcome, then mathematically the swinginess of combat will eventually catch up and make an even battle into a deadly one (and another one into a cakewalk). And that's a lot more common than that 1% left over from your 99%.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Blue, post: 8593298, member: 20564"] Not the person you were asking, but I have an answer for me about this. That comment "99% of the time what I plan happens" is where I see a difference. D&D combat is a lot of very swingy rolls because the range on d20 is usually the majority of what is needed to reach the target AC or DC. Combine that with criticals that can really have a large effect, and realize that a single battle is far to few rolls to mathematically expect a statistical average, and you find that encounters can be a lot more or a lot less deadly then expected. Not just [U][I]can[/I][/U] be, but mathematically [I][U]will[/U][/I] have some far out of expectations. Outliers exist, and they are part of the possible results. And once characters start dropping there's a downwards spiral. The party will often lose actions from characters that are down when their initiative comes up. And that means eliminating the threat slower, so the foe ends up having more actions [I]as well[/I]. And if that drops another it just intensifies. So unless you always aim quite low in challenge so even a cycle of bad luck won't change the outcome, then mathematically the swinginess of combat will eventually catch up and make an even battle into a deadly one (and another one into a cakewalk). And that's a lot more common than that 1% left over from your 99%. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
DMs, how do you fudge?
Top