Dragonbane general thread

[Blackbrrd]

Maybe let them exchange two rolls for one guaranteed advancement. If they risk it, it's on them.

Nah, their good skills start at 14, so those only have a 25% chance of success for leveling them. It is a bargain they would take any day. The player probably should have selected some of his bad skills as well, not just the ones with 10, 12 or 14 in them.

If the same character gets no advances next game as well, I will let him increase one of his skills that is below 14.

From my point of view, all characters start out pretty competent in Dragonbane. When in D&D do you have a 70% chance of success? Almost never! I really like how clear-cut this is. Especially for things like sneaking.

 

[overgeeked]

Nah, their good skills start at 14, so those only have a 25% chance of success for leveling them. It is a bargain they would take any day. The player probably should have selected some of his bad skills as well, not just the ones with 10, 12 or 14 in them.

If the same character gets no advances next game as well, I will let him increase one of his skills that is below 14.

From my point of view, all characters start out pretty competent in Dragonbane.

Yeah, that makes sense. Don't focus on your high skills to advance, spread that out. That's on the player.

When in D&D do you have a 70% chance of success? Almost never! I really like how clear-cut this is. Especially for things like sneaking.

The math for D&D 5E is balanced around the assumption that you'll always have a 65% chance of success when facing an enemy or obstacle that's equal level. So if you have even a +1 over the designers' baseline assumption, you'll have that 70% or better.

 

[Blackbrrd]

The math for D&D 5E is balanced around the assumption that you'll always have a 65% chance of success when facing an enemy or obstacle that's equal level. So if you have even a +1 over the designers' baseline assumption, you'll have that 70% or better.

Interesting, so my feeling that you are never at 70% is correct, except if you are facing easy challenges.

Most of the "real" dangers are those that are above your level. Bosses etc, then you are often below the 65% mark. In Dragonbane you start out at 70% for your top skills if you have 16+ in the relevant stat. After the first session I already have some characters with a 15, or 75% chance of success.

The interesting part is that in combat, it's all dice for damage. For instance 2d8+1d4. Sometimes you roll 5, sometimes you roll 19, so the character with a boon and a 14 had nearly 90% chance of success, but the damage and with it, the degree of success was pretty diverse.

 

[The Soloist]

The interesting part is that in combat, it's all dice for damage. For instance 2d8+1d4. Sometimes you roll 5, sometimes you roll 19, so the character with a boon and a 14 had nearly 90% chance of success, but the damage and with it, the degree of success was pretty diverse.

The distribution of likely damage in DB is skewed very much towards the middle because of the added dice third dice (more than with 2dx). On 2d8+1d4, rolling a 5 is only 2.35%, while rolling a 19 is 1.17%. If we look at the spread in AnyDice.com, players will most likely roll between 8 to 14 (about 74%). Rolling very low (7 or less) or very high (15+) is only about 13% each.

AnyDice

AnyDice is an advanced dice probability calculator, available online. It is created with roleplaying games in mind.

anydice.com

 

[Von Ether]

The distribution of likely damage in DB is skewed very much towards the middle because of the added dice third dice (more than with 2dx). On 2d8+1d4, rolling a 5 is only 2.35%, while rolling a 19 is 1.17%. If we look at the spread in AnyDice.com, players will most likely roll between 8 to 14 (about 74%). Rolling very low (7 or less) or very high (15+) is only about 13% each.

AnyDice

AnyDice is an advanced dice probability calculator, available online. It is created with roleplaying games in mind.

anydice.com

I find you can also turn the dial on the heroic level of the game when players get up to a 17 in an attribute due to the basic/trained skill level and the d6 bonus damage dice.

So for my last game, I wanted it to be a bit more gritty and I gave an array of 14, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8. It worked well for my game, especially since my concept was to have all the PCs be Young. (I wanted the classic motivation of young adults striking it out on their own,)

 

[overgeeked]

Interesting, so my feeling that you are never at 70% is correct, except if you are facing easy challenges.

Uh…no. You’re almost always at 70%+ in 5E. The baseline assumes no optimization. Even the most basic level of optimization, best stat in your class’ main stat, will get you that +1.

In Dragonbane you start out at 70% for your top skills if you have 16+ in the relevant stat. After the first session I already have some characters with a 15, or 75% chance of success.

Aren’t stats randomly rolled? So it’s all up to chance.

 

[Von Ether]

Uh…no. You’re almost always at 70%+ in 5E. The baseline assumes no optimization. Even the most basic level of optimization, best stat in your class’ main stat, will get you that +1.

Aren’t stats randomly rolled? So it’s all up to chance.

4d6 drop the lowest, so it's a higher than average bell curve. You assign as you go but you can then swap around two scores at the end. More like random within a fairly common range of numbers.

Interestingly, the game has you chose your kin, profession, and then roll stats.