D&D 5E Is the d20 sacred?

[Blackwarder]

Hi all!

Looking through the old modules at dndclassics.com and going through the rulebooks for all the editions I realized that somewhere along the line the d20 have taken supremacy around the gaming table and the rest of the dice hardly ever get used any more.

Why is that?

In today D&D, beside damage, you roll a d20 to do everything while in the past the d20 was mainly for attack throws and for saving throws and things like initiative, attribute checks, interaction, random encounters and so on used different types of dice.

Is that a good thing?

Personally I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing, on the one hand we got the simplicity of of just rolling d20 for every check, OTOH sticking for a d20 roll for all checks give a huge range of probabilities which might be goo or bad, on the gripping hand D&D has changed from the game you play with all those strange dice to the game you play with a d20...

What do you think? should DnDNext stick with a d20 roll for all core checks or do you think that a variation in dice rolls will be good for the game and if so how?

Warder

 

[Falling Icicle]

5e also uses skill dice, so you'll use those other kinds of dice quite often. The other types of dice are also used for damage rolls.

 

[JeffB]

The prevalence of the d20 makes things simple, but admittedly is boring. My 13yo and his peers routinely comment on rarely getting to roll anything else, when there is a pile of others sitting in front of them. In our OD&D game it is d6 or d20, 90% of the time.

Sometimes its easy to forget how much fun it was learning and rolling the funky dice. I am partial to 12 and 8 siders.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Yes, the d20 is sacred, no matter how many problems it solves. Overall sometimes I think the d10 could be a better dice with a much tighter probability curve or more exactly variation of rolls.

But overall I like my d20s, and I think I'll love the Enworld ones I'll be getting later this year.

 

[Blackwarder]

@JeffB I'm partial to the d4 and d10

@Falling Icicle yes, but is it enough? does it add enough variation?

Warder

 

[delericho]

The d20 is sacred insofar as the game can't get rid of it entirely. However, I don't think it necessarily has to be the go-to die for pretty much everything as in 3e.

That said, the advantage of having a single core mechanic is significant. I think it would take a very compelling argument to persuade me that abandoning it was the right way to go.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Well, people's superstitions regarding their d20's are pretty extreme sometimes. So yeah, they're pretty much sacred...

But even taking the question as it was meant, yes. I think it's good that 3e standardized almost every roll to d20. Even though I like games that use dice pools and vary their dice sizes, the d20 system makes the game easier to learn and play, and that's worthwhile.

What I think you can do (and what 5e is doing some of) is add other dice to the d20, creating more interesting nonlinear probabilities for those who want them.

 

[timASW]

Unified mechanics are important for ease of play. I'd rather see percentile dice myself but a D20 is fine.

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

I personally prefer dice pool or dice step systems, but the d20 really is sacred. Heck, 3d6 plus modifiers would make for a better game, but it would be wrong.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Heck, 3d6 plus modifiers would make for a better game

I don't know about that. I mean, nature does love the bell curve, so I think that 3d6 is definitely more realistic, but for a game I think that having a 1 in 20 chance of getting the best outcome (as opposed to 1 in 216) is more dramatic and more fun.