D&D 5E Introducing the COUNTDOWN DICE Mechanic!

[David Johnson2]

I kind of like Betrayal at House on the Hill's method better.

Each whenever. You add a d6 to the dice pool and roll. If the total is over X the thing happens.

If you remove the d6's, then you could be waiting for many turns to roll that last 6. It could be 1 turn or 100 turns. It would be pretty rough if you plant a bomb and roll a Yatzee on the next turn.


By adding dice, you have a minimum and maximum time frame, and more of a bell curve as to when it will happen.
And if you want more/less uncertainty, you can increase/decrease the die size.

Yeah. I haven't thought about that mechanic, but I guess my initial reaction is: They are different and have different use cases. I've never really seen a reason to limit myself to only using a fixed set of mechanics. If it works for what you're doing right now, use it. If not, find something else that works.

 

[Ruynarety]

I’ve been messing around with similar mechanics and found that tracking changing dice states can get tricky at the table. I started using https://dice.оnl/ to quickly roll and visualize different die types online—it’s simple and works well for stuff like this. Having a visual reminder of which dice are still “active” helped my players keep focused during tense parts without having to dig for the right die each time.

 

[aco175]

@Ruynarety welcome and think you for bringing back this thread. I have an upcoming game with a couple places where undead break down the gate and a wizard sets something off with bad things happening. The book says 5 rounds, so it looks like I only need 2d6 and it might go a little longer. Maybe I'll just use 1d6 so things happen sooner though.