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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hawken" data-source="post: 5057133" data-attributes="member: 23619">Yes, its a good idea as long as there is a reasonable limit to its use. There are plenty of obvious reasons for it, especially when there are a lot of situations where the success/failure of the game or the life/death of a character hinges on a single roll of the dice. I would suggest though that in addition to the players having a 'pool' of dice to use that the DM use a similar pool for the characters. There are plenty of situations that the DM is aware of that players would be ignorant of, where a roll of the dice might determine whether the PC becomes aware of a particular event or piece of information and nothing gives the game away more than the DM saying, "Ok, everyone make a Spot/Listen/Search check". However, there is a flaw in your d20 idea that I haven't seen mentioned by anyone so far. That flaw is that your d20 pool is no longer a resource or helpful if the extra rolls fail also. At that point, the pool is useless--providing no value to the PC at all. If you fail a roll and your d20 extra roll fails also, you've accomplished nothing, mitigated nothing, and just expended a 'resource'--to do nothing!Instead, I would suggest a model like Star Wars Saga Edition rules or SW d20 rules. You get a number of d6 rolls to ADD to your d20 roll. The number of dice is level dependent and increases every 4 or 5 levels. Since these rolls ADD to your base roll, even a critical failure can be mitigated to a 'miss' or just a regular failure while a regular success could possibly become an exceptional result. Similar to SWSE, you could replenish these points when a new level is gained, or when the character performs an act of sacrifice (taking a hit for another player), or an act of dramatic heroism (swinging across a chasm with the princess in your arms). In this method, characters gain 5 uses + 1 use per 2 character levels and each use grants 1 d6 bonus to a roll per 4 or 5 levels. The drawback to this method though is that it can take a long time to level up, so points can be expended rather quickly and leave a long time before more are gained. An alternate would be to allow maybe 1 use of this dice pool per 5 character levels and have the points replenish each day. The character can use the bonus dice less often on a daily basis, but the next day, they are back to being their 'heroic' selves and able to do things that most people cannot.@ On the fly equipment:This is a good idea and one I've used in my games for many years. The way I've done it is that I require players to inventory any special items--masterwork, alchemical, magical, anything with special properties or qualities or that provides some bonus to the character. But for mundane things (backpack, mirror, fish hooks, etc.), I allow my players to list a gp value worth of mundane equipment. D&D has always been about resource management and risk/waste; managing spells, whether to use expendable items (potion of healing, etc.), whether you have enough hit points to keep fighting or if you should instead retreat. I have never believed that the creators of the game ever intended for the game to be bogged down by whether your character has a whetstone in his pack or if he has enough fish hooks for everyone in the group camped at the river to be able to fish for their own dinner. The game is about adventure and fun, and writing down every single item in your backpack or pouches is neither adventurous nor fun. In my game, if a character needs a length of rope and a grappling hook, I'm going to assume that those items are part of the PC's "200gp of mundane items". I do not want players wasting valuable time deciding whether they will need a small mirror in their pack or not. I do not want the game bogged down or brought to a crashing halt because they didn't bring enough rope or someone forgot a grappling hook. It may not be practical for every player to have a collapsible tent in their pack, but if one or two of them are so inclined, I don't mind. It may stretch "game-reality", but at the end of the adventure, no one is going to be thinking, "hey how did Fred the Halfling Rogue fit a tent into his backpack?", they are thinking about how much fun they had, about the bad guy they beat, or about the treasure they found.Exceptions are for things like weapons (arrows, daggers, etc.). Characters do have to inventory armor and weapons in addition to exceptional items, but mundane items, I've never required my characters to track things like whether their boots are hard or soft, if their cloak is a cape or a fur-lined garment designed for warmth. If they want something, as long as they've spent some money on mundane gear, I'm treating it like they've got it.</blockquote>

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