DMs - What rolls do you make for your players?

[kensanata]

I let my players roll and require that they act in character. Some of the suspense does come back in that whenever the players ask whether they can hear or see something, I always roll as if the check were opposed, even if there is no opposing party.

 

[sircaren]

At the beginning of a game session I have my players give me 10 d20 rolls which I record. Then, when necessary for suspense, I take the next d20 roll I have written down for a player and add in their bonuses for the skill in question. Then I cross it off the list. When I have to ask a player for a new set of 10 rolls because I've used all theirs up, they always assume they missed a ton of spot checks heh.

So I guess I never actually roll a skill check for players. Although sometimes I do have them make rolls, sometimes real, sometimes bogus, just to add to the suspense.

 

[diaglo]

I don't make any at this point.

ditto.

i even let the players see their rolls.

so if they roll well and think ha... i must have found something/appraised well/ talked their earoff/ spotted/ heard. i let the player be the PC. the PC thus has confidence he did his utmost best.
if they roll poorly.. the player thinks i don't think i did my best... the PC thinks it too. the PC is saying i can do better. and makes another attempt.

 

[Pbartender]

anytime you dont wanna give away a plot point.

That pretty much sums it up for me, primarily because I think this...

My Dm usually just asks you to make random rolls at random points in the game. That way when he does ask for a real roll - you dont get suspicious

...gets a bit silly in practice.

 

[Thad Enouf]

Players in my game roll for their skills/ability checks, init, etc. I just like the randomness of rolling. When we feel like anything can happen, it really opens up the playing field, so to speak. I am not afraid to be at the mercy of the dice.

IMHO, I believe it detracts from the game to have one person roll all (or most) of the time. It just becomes a story time adventure for the players to listen to but rarely participate in if they don't make most of the rolls that pertain to their character. The DCs are already set up, I roll for the baddies, and everyone feels like they have a hand in something.

I've been doing it this way since the red box days. Hope it's not wrong.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I had several new players in my old group. I had the players make an occasional nonsense roll. Probably no more than once or twice per session. I also would make several random rolls myself behind the screen for no apparent reason. When the players would react to my asking for a roll, or rolling myself, I would ask them, "Why is your character doing that?" in an effort to teach them to separate the in-game versus out-of-game information.

In routine practice, I had all the players give me their search, spot, and listen modifiers at the beginning of the session and would make those rolls for them in situations where they were not actively trying to use those skills. I think appriase was the only other one I rolled for the players so they wouldn't have any idea if they had a decent or crappy roll.

 

[KB9JMQ]

None.

I have never needed to make rolls for them. Only one of our 4 DMs in the group roll for us and he just rolls spot & listen checks.

 

[Ry]

I don't roll any dice, at all. I use Players Roll All the Dice from Unearthed Arcana, and in addition to that we use Static Damage (average roll).

I'd make an exception if the players went to a tavern and played an in-character game of dice.

 

[heirodule]

Will saves

 

[Christoph the Magus]

None.