memory of a thousand lifetimes

[SkidAce]

I let them know what they missed by.

In my mind it's not too powerful because they may need a 5 or 6 on the 1d6 and could roll low, their risk, their call.

 

[Scipio0420]

From what I've seen of Shield and Elven Accuracy, the designers have all but said they were intended to work with the player having the maximum knowledge available, in other words knowing if they would matter. (This is from several threads over at the WotC boards.) I can't imagine that Memory of a Thousand Lifetimes would work any differently.

 

[mneme]

I think that the designer intent (and the way most 4e GMs who are actually running 4e in the spirit it's designed) is that you get to know the result of the roll -- whether you hit or missed; whether the skill check succeeded or failed. It's the equivalent of "and miss" except that you're allowed to use it even if you succeed.

I'm annoyed (though I'll deal) if a GM won't tell me whether a roll succeeded or failed. I do think this is an abuse, though it's within the GM's purview.
I think it usual if a GM will tell me if it succeeded or failed, but not by how much.
I consider it a "nice GM" thing if the GM gives me more; either telling me I only missed by a little or exactly by how much I missed (I will generally do this as a GM; I can keep the challenge up by something other than players wasting powers).

Also, I have, actually, used Memory of a Thousand Lifetimes to turn an 18 on a death save into a 20+, letting my character wake up in the middle of a close fight.

 

[Matt James]

Simple answer: What does your DM say?

Happy gaming

 

[Havrik Stoneskimmer]

If it came up in my game, I think I would rule that it applies to the roll, before the result is known. The reason for this is because there are powers such as Heroic Effort which explicitly has as its trigger "you miss with an attack or fail a saving throw". So there is a clear example of the wording for a power that does come into play after the result is announced.

 

[Saeviomagy]

I guess it really comes down to whether you like yelling "haha, you stupid jerk player, I made you waste your racial power! Hah! Take that!" or not...

 

[wlmartin]

I let them know what they missed by.

In my mind it's not too powerful because they may need a 5 or 6 on the 1d6 and could roll low, their risk, their call.

I do think that the DM needs to learn how the group works.
If they are (like we are in our group) interested in what HP an enemy has to the point that when we add up the damage against him (say 25) and the next hit does 5 points (30 total) that puts him bloodied, we know that he wasnt bloodied at 25 but is at 30 so his total HP are between 50 and 60 and he has between 25 and 30 HP left.

This annoys our DM a bit but due to the design of Bloodied in the game, it is unavoidable and players will do it either activly or passivly in a lot of cases.

Also if you hit an opponent for 16 vs Reflex and it misses but another guy hits for 17 vs Reflex and hits, you know that the monster has 17 reflex... it often won't help you since you are going to be at the whim of the dice rolls anyway but sometimes knowing that the same enemy has 22 AC (judging by previous attacks that miss/hit) and 17 reflex, focusing on attacks that hit reflex instead of AC seems wiser.

This could translate tactically into the adventuring group analyzing their opponents to see where they are vulnerable and such but to some DMs the groups ability to peek behind the screen can be a bit unnerving.

I think that if some Devas use this cunning to assertain what hits and what doesnt, rolling a D6 in instances where they believe due to the information gathered in the encounter seems fine and even in keeping with the game but to use the roll as some kind of mulligan type do-over seems a bit overpowered and I dont think at all in keeping with how the game is.



Oh and appologies... It seems I have necroed this thread quite badly, it is over 2 years old!! oops

 

[Ferghis]

I do think that the DM needs to learn how the group works.
If they are (like we are in our group) interested in what HP an enemy has to the point that when we add up the damage against him (say 25) and the next hit does 5 points (30 total) that puts him bloodied, we know that he wasnt bloodied at 25 but is at 30 so his total HP are between 50 and 60 and he has between 25 and 30 HP left.
[...]
Also if you hit an opponent for 16 vs Reflex and it misses but another guy hits for 17 vs Reflex and hits, you know that the monster has 17 reflex... it often won't help you since you are going to be at the whim of the dice rolls anyway but sometimes knowing that the same enemy has 22 AC (judging by previous attacks that miss/hit) and 17 reflex, focusing on attacks that hit reflex instead of AC seems wiser.

To each his or her own, but I'm fine with this. The characters would have a vast array of information we (as players) do not have. They'd be able to assess an enemy's combat skill and staying power in a way that players hopefully aren't interested in (other than for the sake of flavor). It's only fair that the players work with the information they have. When I DM live, I have no qualms announcing defenses and approximate HP after a few rounds of combat. Online, I just post that information after the first hit. No sense in hiding the objectives.