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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Joshua Randall" data-source="post: 4627140" data-attributes="member: 7737">Ah, well, here's an interesting correlary to my statement about randomness not favoring the PCs:The more PC-like a bad guy is, the more he would also like to avoid randomness.Note that I am talking strictly about "favor" or "like" in a mathematical sense, not what would make for an exciting game or appeal to the players' (or DM's!) sense of adventure and derring-do.A bad guy (or PC) who is much higher level than the PCs (or monsters) would prefer to fight in a completely nonrandom fashion, because he outclasses the PCs (monsters) and will always win a war of attrition. (He has more hit points, better defenses --> gets hit less often, a better attack bonus --> hits more often, and deals more damage on a hit.)Put it this way: imagine every roll in the fight being average +0.5 (so, all d20 rolls are 11; all longsword [W] rolls are 5; etc.). Now, who would this favor? In some cases, it may be impossible for one side to hit the other side with 11s as their attack rolls. It is only the randomness of the d20 that turns the fight from a sure thing into a risky endeavor, for one side or the other (or both!).</blockquote>