D&D General Eliminating the whiff factor

[Charlaquin]

You aren't the only reader of the thread, and not everyone has your knowledge.

Of course I’m not, but since you directly quoted me, I thought it natural to assume you were directly addressing me, and nothing in your post seemed to indicate otherwise.

 

[Fanaelialae]

Right. Which is why the giant wouldn’t be doing that much damage when the fighter missed. It would be, as I said, minimal damage. Something like 1d6 or 1d8 or a fixed 5 damage. Something minimal.

Okay, that's not as impactful then. When you said basic attack in the OP, I had thought that would apply both to PCs and monsters.

Another very significant affect this would have on the game would be making disadvantage on attacks potentially very strong. If I'm likely to miss, then I'm better off not attacking at all and instead taking the dodge action. Which then means my opponent is encouraged to consider dodging instead of attacking. Which could result in both sides in a dodge-off, waiting for the other guy to get impatient and attack (at disadvantage).

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

You know what happens when you “miss” in roulette? Something. Something negative, yes, but something.

No. It's just the same as in D&D.

Just like in roulette, when I roll "to hit" in D&D, and I miss, an attractive young person comes up to me and gives me a free drink.

Isn't that how it works at your table? Sheesh, you need to start playing better D&D, my friend.

 

[Fanaelialae]

Also, this would make shield a fairly decent offensive spell.

 

[Stalker0]

I believe there was some statistics provided a while back that humans respond best to situations where they succeed about 70% of the time. That gives them enough reaffirmation to feel good, with enough loss to ensure a feeling of challenge.

So in theory X happens on a miss is reasonable if the hit rate is low, but if the hit rate nears that 70% it might actually be a detractor to satisfaction.

I also think there is a distinct difference between regular attacks (which are an at-will resource) versus special abilities and spells (a more limited resource). For example, I'm a fan of high level spells always having some effect, as that is an extremely expensive resource

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I really don't think this would "speed up" combat, the extra overhead to resolve misses would slow the game down even if some combats would finish in fewer turns.

 

[CleverNickName]

When I imagine combat in my mind, I imagine two fighters swinging their swords like crazy at each other. Swords and fists and shields are clanging and sparking everywhere, six, seven, twelve times per round. It's a melee...literally.

Now for most combatants, there's a chance that one of these dozen-or-so swings will impact the target in a six-second period. If one of those combatants has the Extra Attack feature or a weapon in their off-hand, there's a chance that maybe two of these swings will impact the target. If one of them is a monk and spends some Ki points, there's a chance that four of those swings might hit impact the target. There's not a single "whiff", there are several...too many to count.

The idea that a trained martial artist can only swing once or twice every six seconds is immersion-breaking for me.

 

[commandercrud]

It’s a house rule @overgeeked is proposing for D&D. If you don’t like it that’s fine, but you don’t add anything of value to the conversation by saying so.

Other games do that. D&D doesn't. Could you houserule D&D to be like that? Sure. But it wouldn't be D&D anymore, so why? Just play that other game.

 

[overgeeked]

I really don't think this would "speed up" combat, the extra overhead to resolve misses would slow the game down even if some combats would finish in fewer turns.

I disagree. There’s not really any overhead to deal with. Someone attacks you and miss, you deal something like 5 damage to them. Done. It might add a few seconds to a turn but combat would finish faster.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I disagree. There’s not really any overhead to deal with. Someone attacks you and miss, you deal something like 5 damage to them. Done. It might add a few seconds to a turn but combat would finish faster.

I thought the point of this was to make the game more exciting. If the same thing happens on every miss then it would be even more boring than nothing happening.