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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chaosmancer" data-source="post: 8692797" data-attributes="member: 6801228">So, you aren't going to do the math. You don't understand my math. But you know my math is wrong.Wow, if I have ever seen a more perfect example of why debating people on the internet is a massive pain in the butt.But, you know what, I'm in the trenches, so why not waste more of my time.Is 45% nonsense? Every number on a d20 is a 5% chance. You succeed on a death saving throw when you roll a 10 or higher. Therefore to fail a death saving throw, you need to roll a 9 or lower. 9 x 5 = 45%Basic algebra? NONSENSE!But, it gets more nonsensical. See, Halflings ALSO fail on a 9 or lower, now I may have reversed my math the last time, but calculating luck is pretty easy. See, it only activates when you roll a 1. That's 5% of the time. Then, you multiply that by the chance of success. I reversed it last time and multiplied by the chance of failure, so 47.25% isn't accurate. Instead, it is 5*55%= 2.75% you then subtract this from the original chance of failure so, it is actually 42.25%! . So, a human succeeds 55% if the time, and the Halfling succeeds 57.75% of the time.The 3% is assuming a success rate of 60%But, you are correct, the 5% of the time that a halfling might roll 1 one on their death save is basically prevented. Huzzah and hooray! Our supernaturally lucky character who was beaten to death and left bleeding in an alleyway is going to bleed out slower and have a slightly less slim chance of recovering.I mean, obviously an officially licensed DnD comic with officially licensed and written characters (The halfling is Bree Three-Hands is a Level 7 Rogue Thief) couldn't possibly have anything to do with DnD, right?I mean, the author is <a href="https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/John_Rogers" target="_blank">John Rogers</a>, who helped right the 4e Manual of Planes, he probably has never even heard of DnD?!You know, maybe, the more I think about this. Maybe I picked an officially licensed DnD product to talk about DnD because I thought it might connect to DnD. Crazy thought, I know. It is almost like I expect the media surrounding the game to be somehow connected to the game.If halflings aren't supernaturally lucky, then why are they supposedly defined by their good luck? Why is it that DnD comics, shows and books have often depicted them as "reality warpers" as you want to put it?Also... yeah, if it isn't my job as the DM to narrate the Elf PC being aloof, or the Dwarf PC being stubborn, or decide when the Dragonborn PC has flames licking from their jaws, why is it my job to make sure to bend the world to narrate halflings being lucky? I've already got Maxperson saying that I must be a Bad Faith DM because I don't go out of my way to describe lucky events happening to the halfling over and above what happens to the rest of the party. But I don't have to narrate the racial traits of the other party members. They get to do that. They get to decide when their elfness or dwarfness or goliathness comes into play. But if I as the DM don't enforce halfling luck... it barely exists.Or... maybe because it isn't defining? Maybe "everyone can do this if they try" makes it not something that feels unique about the halfling?Okay, fine. Give me a scenario where a halfling is brave where a human level 10 paladin can't be brave?In fact, I'll be more fair. Give me a scenario where a halfling is brave, where a human can't be, without mentioning dice rolls.Because, again, I've only been talking about the narrative impact. I've been doing that from the very beginning. If your just angry because you think I'm saying these mechanical traits are weak or something, then just stop, because I'm not discussing that. Because, shockingly, the narrative does matter. This isn't a board game, it is a role-playing game. So the narrative impact matters. And unless you are saying that you cannot be brave unless you pass a saving throw against magically induced fear, then halflings are not uniquely brave. Because "is more likely to resist magical fear" isn't how we define bravery.Right, it isn't like Mordenkainen's goes on to say anything like "When a halfling trips, slides down a hillside, and lands on a nugget of gold, that's Yondalla turning bad luck into good." (pg 103)Or that Yondallam who is credited as the source of the halflings luck, was usually given the Protection domain (in both 3rd and 2nd edition) which would strongly imply that halfling luck is literally divine intervention to protect her children.Or that one of the writers for DnD (Mike Mearls) referred to it as "cosmic luck" and said that it was gifted to them from the Goddess [MEDIA=youtube]Jtfh6KAh8kg[/MEDIA]Man, I just have no idea why I might have gotten the idea that Halflings are supernaturally lucky? I mean, the fact that their lucky is divinely inspired is just normal statistics and physics, right?Why does no one seem to understand that feeling fear and being shaken by fear doesn't make you a coward? How is this a hard concept? I've literally taught it to 7 year olds in picture books about monsters under the bed. But somehow, this idea that halflings are brave because they can succeed on a save just refuses to bend to the actual definition of bravery.</blockquote>

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