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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 5317453" data-attributes="member: 92305">I've been thinking a lot about this "Player Rolls All Dice" variant of the d20 game. Have you seen this? It's pretty cool. Nothing changes, really, about the mechanics or the chance in the game. A player will roll his attack normally. But, instead of using an AC, he rolls his defense. The defense number is akin to the character Taking Ten on his Defense throw, right? If a character has +3 Parry, then his Parry AC is 13. Instead of using that 13 AC, the player rolls a d20 +3 to represent his Parry AC, returning a number between 4 and 23. The percentage chance to hit the character remains the exact same--only the method used for attack and defense change. Now, here's the kicker. Player rolls all dice, right? So, when a bad guy attacks, the GM Takes Ten on the attack throw. There is no throw. If the guy is +6 attack, he'd normall throw a d20 +6, right? Well, under the player-rolls-all-dice method, the attack is always 16. It's like having an attack armor class. The player rolls his defense against the attack of 16. How do you handle criticals? Just reverse the dice. If a weapon gets a critical check on a 19-20, then it happens under this method on a defense roll of 1 or 2. Simple as that. Just so that we're all on the same page, let's go through a simple example: Thrallan is +4 attack and +5 on his Dodge defense (normal Dodge AC 15). He's fighting Caelis, who is +6 attack (now a flat 16), and he's +3 with his Parry, giving him AC 13 parry defense. Let's give Thrallan the initiative. The attack round would play out like this... 1. Thrallan attacks. Player rolls d20 +4 against Caelis' AC 13 Parry defense. Any hit means Player rolls Caelis' damage against his own character (because "player rolls all dice"). 2. If Caelis is still standing, Caelis can attack. The attack is a straight 16. Thrallan must roll defense or be hit. Thrallan's defense is d20 +5 Dodge Defense. The reason why I'm looking at this is that I think this method has the opportunity to both speed up combat and encourage a more cinematic experience. The game is sped up because you've cut the dice throws in half. You're no longer throwing for the bad guys. The GM has static numbers for attacks and defense for all the opponents. This takes a load of work off the GM. He can litterally write down stats on a line of notebook paper and use that to narrate the fight. Assume Caelis has the initiative when reading the below: "You see Caelis, a barbarian of the Grath clan, coming towards you. His sword is out. His walk is determined. And, you can see the hatred in his eyes. Blood Feud." "I pull my weapon out." "As you do, the hulking barbarian raises his sword with both hands and brings it down towards your right shoulder as if it were a meat cleaver!" Player rolls Dodge defense of d20 +5 vs. Caelis' attack of 16. Player rolls a natural "1". "You're not quick enough! Roll damage!" Player checks for critical, which is successful, and rolles Caels' damage against his own character. Damage is doubled, but Thrallan still has a few hit points left. "That blade came down, and you started to dodge, but it caught you on the shoulder and upper arm, slicing off some skin. Blood streams down your arm." "I recoil, sling my sword around, and with all my weight onto my right foot and slam the point towards my enemy." Player rolls attack of d20 + 4 against Caelis' Parry AC 13. It's a miss. "The tip of your sword extends toward his gut, but he twirls his weapon around low in front of him, knocking your sword off its mark." This is a pretty interesting way to play the game, is it not? I think it may speed up the game quite a bit and keep the battles exciting. OTOH, will it be boring for the GM? Not getting to roll dice and particpate in the fight by controlling the NPCs is part of the fun for the GM. Would the GM still enjoy the game only narrating it? Thoughts?</blockquote>

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