Pre-rolling dice for the game

[shilsen]

I was just doing some prep work for tomorrow's game and pre-rolling some things, and I wondered if other people do that. Recently, for the purposes of speeding up combat, I tend to pre-roll a lot of combat rolls for NPCs. I'll roll saves, attacks, damage, etc. If there are spells with variable effects that I expect to be cast (esp. things with lots of dice like fireball), I'll roll up the results beforehand.

The first time I started doing this, my players were a little surprised and I did get a little grumbling about them not getting to see what I roll. I pointed out to them that the only reason they get to see what I roll anyway is because I roll in the open (all the DMs I've played with rolled behind a screen) and that they know I don't fudge, for good or bad. I've never had a complaint since and it is a habit that has saved me a huge amount of time during the game. I've also applied it in other areas, such as having players roll a set of skill checks or saves for their PCs at the start of the session and write them down, and referring to the results as needed, marking them off as I go. I don't do this all the time, but if I can predict a combat (which isn't always the case, since I do a lot of free-form DMing with PCs having very high degrees of freedom in what they will do and rarely do dungeon crawls) and esp. a potentially long/complicated one, I will probably do it.

So here are my questions - do you ever do this as a DM? If not, would you consider doing it, and if not, why not? As a player, would you have problems with your DM doing the above?

 

[Crothian]

Nope never do it a sa DM and nope never conmsider it either. I don't see the point, it doesn't really save time and I don't want to be influenced by the knowing the die rolls. If I can see the next die is going to be a critical it may effect who I use it on.

 

[Mark]

I know a guy who has a sheet of mothing more than d20 rolls so that he doesn't tip off his players when he needs to make a roll secretly (Spot checks, unknown saves, etc.). Otherwise, when it need not be secret, he rolls the dice.

 

[deltadave]

I make my players roll a list of 20 d20 rolls before the game to use for secret rolls, but never do it as a DM...

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I've considered doing this, but rejected it ... part of the fun of the game is rolling dice. Why take away my fun in the name of efficiency?

 

[Odysseus]

I've never pre rolled with combat or damage dice, but i do frequently for monster/npc skill checks . Rather than look up a monsters listen stats during a game . I can pre roll it , which saves time.

 

[Darkness]

No need. I just use my laptop if I need to do a lot of rolls.

 

[Sieobahn]

I have done this before for player rolls, such as getting the elf to pre-roll a bunch of search checks in advance.

And in another case when I knew they would need to make a save vs illusion, I made them roll in advance, when that encounter finally occured, it flowed very well as the group attacked one of the PC's who was the target of the illusion, and fortunately for me, had failed his save. It was two rounds before the ones who did make thier save get in close enough to recognise the deception.

As a DM I wouldn't bother. The group rarely does what I expect so I can't plan that well in advance. Plus I like rolling things like fireball damage in the open so I can see thier expressions at all the fives and sixes my dice roll!

 

[megamania]

I've only done this once during an experimental game where every 2D20 rds the environment changed due to a powerful curse. About half way thru it I ditched the sheet and rolled it anyway.

 

[Izerath]

Me too

I know a guy who has a sheet of mothing more than d20 rolls so that he doesn't tip off his players when he needs to make a roll secretly (Spot checks, unknown saves, etc.). Otherwise, when it need not be secret, he rolls the dice.

I do this for EXACTLY the same reason. The moment I roll a die, my players get paranoid, extra curious or nervous and metagaming enues en masse. I HATE that. So, I now make numerous checks for their characters - for secret doors, traps, listen, spot, search, hide and move silently. You name it, if they might not know a thing until I ask them to "roll," then I use a pre-rolled d20 result from a spreadsheet, scratch it off, and keep going. No die rolls, no pause, and I can make multiple checks quickly without ever tipping anyone off.

My games have been far more suspenseful since I have implemented this. At first my players rebelled a little, until they stared benefitting from things as well as missing things. Now - I hear few complaints, if any at all.