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<blockquote data-quote="Guilt Puppy" data-source="post: 512396" data-attributes="member: 6521">Re: Re: Re: Help me understand &quot;average rolls&quot;In a sense, it does... You have to keep in mind that D&amp;D checks are (typically) all-or-nothing... In these all-or-nothing circumstances, you have either success or failure. The 17 or 18 (again, not stated as 17.5 to avoid confusion) simply means that, on average (which is to say, more often than not), he will succeed at those perform checks.Now, you'll note that this is somewhat misleading if you take it as 17.5: On DC's of &quot;17.5&quot; (if they could exist), there's a fifty-percent chance of success and failure (instead of &quot;more often than not&quot;)... However, you'll note that this is accounted for in the mechanic... The result of 10 (which is what the example states), if successful, accounts for 55% of possible rolls (which are essentially identical, because they are successful). So, if he will succeed on rolling a 10, he will succeed more often than not -- which brings us back to mode, curiously.Basically, the explanations may not be totally mathematically accurate, but that's because they're trying to explain it in terms which are easy to understand -- which is exactly what they should be doing. Any system that goes into as much detail as I just did (which isn't very much at all, really, but still too much) to explain a simple concept in its core rulebooks is not one I'd like to take the time to learn: Just get the general idea across so that I can understand and use the system, and if I'm curious, then I'll take the time to check up on the math.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Guilt Puppy, post: 512396, member: 6521"] [b]Re: Re: Re: Help me understand "average rolls"[/b] In a sense, it does... You have to keep in mind that D&D checks are (typically) all-or-nothing... In these all-or-nothing circumstances, you have either success or failure. The 17 or 18 (again, not stated as 17.5 to avoid confusion) simply means that, on average (which is to say, more often than not), he will succeed at those perform checks. Now, you'll note that this is somewhat misleading if you take it as 17.5: On DC's of "17.5" (if they could exist), there's a fifty-percent chance of success and failure (instead of "more often than not")... However, you'll note that this [i]is[/i] accounted for in the mechanic... The result of 10 (which is what the example states), if successful, accounts for 55% of possible rolls (which are essentially identical, because they are successful). So, if he will succeed on rolling a 10, he will succeed more often than not -- which brings us back to mode, curiously. Basically, the explanations may not be totally mathematically accurate, but that's because they're trying to explain it in terms which are easy to understand -- which is exactly what they [i]should[/i] be doing. Any system that goes into as much detail as I just did (which isn't very much at all, really, but still too much) to explain a simple concept in its core rulebooks is [i]not[/i] one I'd like to take the time to learn: Just get the general idea across so that I can understand and use the system, and if I'm curious, then I'll take the time to check up on the math. [/QUOTE]

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