Radical Idea to Speed Up Attack Addition

[GRStrayton]

I came up with a crazy idea about quickening the determination of scoring a hit on a foe by speeding up the times it takes to add up the total attack roll, i.e., adding the attack roll modifier to the d20 roll, by using smaller numbers for both attacks and defenses. It takes a tiny bit of work, but I think the results could increase the speed of battles, like many other people (including myself) have been trying to do with varying degrees of success.

I haven't tried it out yet (it just came to me), so I'm curious to hear your thoughts on this one:

Radical Attack vs. Defenses Idea Legends & Labyrinths

 

[Siberys]

I dunno... I recall reading somewhere that for most people, subtraction - even very simple subtraction - is harder than addition. That's why people often use the 'counting up' method of subtraction - I know I do when I help out at a friend's store and have to make change without a calculator!

In the end, I think it's just trading one complication for another. A better solution, I think, would be an across the board modifier (something like this was suggested in the comments of the blog you linked to). For example, a -5 per tier penalty. Keeps the numbers low without actually changing anything, and all of the modification is done pre-game (during character creation and leveling for PCs and during game prep for the GM).

 

[Saeviomagy]

The best one I can think of would be to remove 1/2 the players level from everything on all monsters and challenges and remove that same number from all player characters.

Probably cutting back on that static 10+x would be a good one too, but I think that you want to avoid ending up with negatives.

 

[GRStrayton]

I dunno... I recall reading somewhere that for most people, subtraction - even very simple subtraction - is harder than addition. That's why people often use the 'counting up' method of subtraction - I know I do when I help out at a friend's store and have to make change without a calculator!

In the end, I think it's just trading one complication for another. A better solution, I think, would be an across the board modifier (something like this was suggested in the comments of the blog you linked to). For example, a -5 per tier penalty. Keeps the numbers low without actually changing anything, and all of the modification is done pre-game (during character creation and leveling for PCs and during game prep for the GM).

The best one I can think of would be to remove 1/2 the players level from everything on all monsters and challenges and remove that same number from all player characters.

Probably cutting back on that static 10+x would be a good one too, but I think that you want to avoid ending up with negatives.

Good points from both of you. I can't defend my idea 100% -- I'm not sure if it will work. I'll have to try it during play. Subtraction (according to the reference I used in my article) does take longer to carry out for the human brain. But working with smaller numbers is quicker to carry out, whether addition or subtraction. I think the worst you'd have is something like a -4 for a mage at 1st level. Slayers would start with a 0 modifier. Everyone else would fall in between and hit positives at different rates depending on where they start.

This is why I called it radical -- I really don't know if it will work doing it this way. But I like the idea of adding smaller numbers to attack rolls (since I currently run and play in several 4e games and play in an OD&D campaign I can constantly witness the difference between adding high numbers vs. low numbers to attack rolls). The question is, how best to achieve it. In AD&D (pre-3e) you didn't get a proficiency bonus for weapon use and you didn't add half-level (that was taking care of in the charts or THAC0, depending on how you ran combat -- I prefer the charts).

Thanks for helping me think through all this. I'd love to make it work somehow. I'll let you know if I come up with another way to do it, or if I playtest it. If you guys or anyone else has any more ideas, I'd love to hear them!

Thanks!

 

[Stalker0]

Probably would work alright. The players would generally only need to do the math once on their character sheet.

The DM would have to adjust the numbers on every monster, but if he finds it speeds up his game its probably worth it.

Since even at first level with teh -10 you have may positive numbers than I don't think players will have to do any subtracting on the fly past level 1 or 2.

 

[GRStrayton]

Probably would work alright. The players would generally only need to do the math once on their character sheet.

The DM would have to adjust the numbers on every monster, but if he finds it speeds up his game its probably worth it.

Since even at first level with teh -10 you have may positive numbers than I don't think players will have to do any subtracting on the fly past level 1 or 2.

I love your optimism! All I can say is that I have a *feeling* it will work in play. When I DM, I use combat cards on which I wrote the monster defenses (so I'm not constantly flipping through books), so I would just subtract 10 from each defense as I was copying the data over. (In fact, I try to do the cards in advance, so it actually wouldn't take any time at the table at all.)

But we shall see!