Searched the boards didn't see this. Question about the Proficiency dice variant and bards...

[Evenglare]

Hey guys quick question, bards jack of all trades say you get to half your proficency on ability check rolls you aren't proficient with and round down. So the question is if I'm using the proficency dice variant would you roll the prof dice and divide by 2 round down. OR would you just roll a 1d2 (ie. a d4 counting 1&2 as '1' and 3&4 as '2')(assuming a d4 prof die). It doesn't explicitly cover that in the variant explanation. I say that I'd do the 1d2 method, but if there's something I'm missing .. well thats why im here.

 

[Coroc]

I'd Interpret it RAI you roll normally (1d20 for the check) and may add half of your proficency rounded down e.g. you got prof 3 you add 1

Your variant is not familar to me, but i would say you roll your prof dice as normal take half of the roll and round down. so if you roll a 2 or a 3 on a d4 a 1 is the result

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Rounding down (minimum 1) seems appropriate. On d4 the average is 2.5. On d4/2 round up it would be 1.5 on round down it would be 1.5. On d4/2 round down min 1 it is 1.25 as expected. D6/2 round down min 1 has an average of 10/6 which is sligtly lower than half of 3.5 which is still a lot better than no increase at all as in the normal proficiency bonus system. For d8 it is 17/8 or 2.125 which is slightly lower than half of 4.5 which good enough as you habe equal chances of tolling above or below 2.
For a d12/2 the average is 37/12 or 3 1/12 and still what you might expect.

 

[fjw70]

Even if using the prof dice variant I would still probably just take half of the fixed prof bonus to keep thing simpler, but rolling and dividing by two would work also.

 

[Shiroiken]

I would go with 1d2, 1d3, 1d4, 1d5, and 1d6 myself. Not only is it fairly simple IRL, but I mostly play on Roll20, where non-traditional dice are no different than the normal ones.

As a side note, I love this variant, but my players never wanted to give it a chance.

 

[Evenglare]

I would go with 1d2, 1d3, 1d4, 1d5, and 1d6 myself. Not only is it fairly simple IRL, but I mostly play on Roll20, where non-traditional dice are no different than the normal ones.

As a side note, I love this variant, but my players never wanted to give it a chance.

Yeah we're on roll 20 as well. Im producing this as a show for our youtube channel doing editing sound effects and all that. We only ever get to play just an hour or so at a time so I've tried to streamline the rules as much as possible. We've done the ability checks instead of skills rule as well. I actually like the simplicity.

I'd Interpret it RAI you roll normally (1d20 for the check) and may add half of your proficency rounded down e.g. you got prof 3 you add 1

Your variant is not familar to me, but i would say you roll your prof dice as normal take half of the roll and round down. so if you roll a 2 or a 3 on a d4 a 1 is the result

The variant is in the back of the DMG. The reason that the round down method kind of irks me is that normally a character would get a +2 static, but here that only happens 1 out of 4 times, (only happening on a rolled 4) . Actually thinking on it, since this is a bard specific ability and +1 would be the normal "half" if it was a static mod.. yeah I guess it would still be more powerful in the longrun regardless of doing the 1d2 or half 1d4 round down.

Since im getting a bit of both from you're guys responses, I guess I'll just have to think on it I guess and make a decision since there's nothing explicitly written (and rightfully so since this is a super niche combination of rules and variants)

 

[Li Shenron]

Both "roll, then halve" and "roll a half dice" give you an average result which is higher than the static half-prof-bonus, but this is ok because the whole rolled-proficiency variant does that already for those with regular proficiency.

The averages of "Roll, then halve" are smaller than those of "roll a half dice", and thus closer to the static half-prof-bonus.

But from another perspective you could also consider that the difference between proficiency and half-proficiency remains more similar to the static case when using the "roll a half dice" method.

 

[Evenglare]

Both "roll, then halve" and "roll a half dice" give you an average result which is higher than the static half-prof-bonus, but this is ok because the whole rolled-proficiency variant does that already for those with regular proficiency.

The averages of "Roll, then halve" are smaller than those of "roll a half dice", and thus closer to the static half-prof-bonus.

But from another perspective you could also consider that the difference between proficiency and half-proficiency remains more similar to the static case when using the "roll a half dice" method.

Yeah I know what you mean by the averages. I just realised I messed up in the previous post erroneously saying that it was a static +2, when its actually just half that (+1). I think im probably just going to run with the half die rule. Making 1&2 =+1 and 3&4 = +2 . It is slightly more powerful, but in our particular game speedy playtime is paramount. I appreciate all the feel back though guys, it has given me insight.

 

[Satyrn]

Since im getting a bit of both from you're guys responses, I guess I'll just have to think on it I guess and make a decision since there's nothing explicitly written (and rightfully so since this is a super niche combination of rules and variants)

It could definitely go either way, and it's really just a preference thing that'll decide it.

I'd suggsst asking your players what they'd prefer and go with the majority - or whatever the bard's player wants if he's got a strong opinion.