The variation with rolling leads to more descriptive fights. Players love to get a high roll or series of high rolls on damage. It gives the DM some benchmark for describing hits as well. I prefer it over average damage. Though if you are more interesting in speed of play, average damage is much faster.
D&D 5E Pros and Cons of using the average damage on the Monster's stat block.
Flexor the Mighty!
18/100 Strength!
Anything that gets the dice out of the question is a bad thing IMO. I love rolling dice as a player and DM and would really have an issue with a game that is all average damage, HP, etc.
TheMadGent
First Post
I use average HP, but not average damage. Mostly because it's how I ran previous editions. I'd maybe use average damage if I was fighting with mobs of 10+ enemies, just to speed things up, or if I was having monsters attack passive NPCs and didn't just want to handwave it.
tl;dr so forgive if mentioned:
A critter is "on scene" for one encounter, typically, PCs are always on. So for players, averaging their dice rolls over all scenes usually ends up average. The PCs are the stars here, so having average monster dice encourages a more level playing field...its less swingy to the players benefit (swingyiness is bad for PCs, good for monsters).
For jaded Min/maxers (my homeboys Ive played with for decades) I always roll.
For the 10 year old at encounters playing for the first time: average damage always
For most others: average for levels 1-3, roll from then on out.
A critter is "on scene" for one encounter, typically, PCs are always on. So for players, averaging their dice rolls over all scenes usually ends up average. The PCs are the stars here, so having average monster dice encourages a more level playing field...its less swingy to the players benefit (swingyiness is bad for PCs, good for monsters).
For jaded Min/maxers (my homeboys Ive played with for decades) I always roll.
For the 10 year old at encounters playing for the first time: average damage always
For most others: average for levels 1-3, roll from then on out.
Yaarel
He Mage
I prefer the d20 be the only variable. So I use average damage.
In light of those who want more randomization, I am considering the following.
When rolling a crit on a d20, the damage is maximum.
When rolling the exact number needed to hit, the damage is minimum.
Rolling anything in between the damage is average.
In light of those who want more randomization, I am considering the following.
When rolling a crit on a d20, the damage is maximum.
When rolling the exact number needed to hit, the damage is minimum.
Rolling anything in between the damage is average.
Sacrosanct
Legend
Yeah, I really like the variation. With 5e, which is designed to have HP be the main factor in combat rather than how often you hit (because you hit more often in 5e than any other edition IME), if we use standard HP and standard damage, we might as well just narrate the battles, and they turn into "after X rounds, who is still standing." I find that some players meta game this way too much, and plan their entire PC actions around the knowledge that they will last exactly X amount of rounds. I much rather prefer the unknown, and find it more exciting.
billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him)
I never use average damage - it takes too much interesting variability out of the game.
I try to keep average hit point use to faceless, generic, or grouped monster encounters. I roll hit points of significant leaders, named NPCs, boss monsters, lone encounters, and so on using the same methods that my players use for their hit points.
I try to keep average hit point use to faceless, generic, or grouped monster encounters. I roll hit points of significant leaders, named NPCs, boss monsters, lone encounters, and so on using the same methods that my players use for their hit points.
I generally roll far under half damage. When I roll 12d10, I usually roll between 42 and 52. For this reason, I decided recently to use average damage just to prevent all my encounters from being pushovers! Highly recommend this for anyone else with the same bad luck.
Tony Vargas
Legend
Average hps may save you a few seconds here or there, if you're really obsessed with 'fast' combat.
In general, though, randomness is your friend when you're running 5e (it's like fire, though, a good servant, but a terrible master). It keeps the strings hidden. When a player knows a monster does 7 damage per hit, the math becomes too easy, he can be certain he will (or won't) survive that next hit and act accordingly. If he knows it's done 4, 10, 8 & 6 damage he might not be so sure. Randomness adds uncertainty on the player side (if you're rolling behind a screen, though, you can always over-rule the dice), which helps keep the illusions alive.
If you're going to be rolling out in the open a lot, OTOH, using average damage can keep randomness from wrecking things for you.
In general, though, randomness is your friend when you're running 5e (it's like fire, though, a good servant, but a terrible master). It keeps the strings hidden. When a player knows a monster does 7 damage per hit, the math becomes too easy, he can be certain he will (or won't) survive that next hit and act accordingly. If he knows it's done 4, 10, 8 & 6 damage he might not be so sure. Randomness adds uncertainty on the player side (if you're rolling behind a screen, though, you can always over-rule the dice), which helps keep the illusions alive.
If you're going to be rolling out in the open a lot, OTOH, using average damage can keep randomness from wrecking things for you.
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