Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Sorcerer experiment - your thoughts?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Steampunkette" data-source="post: 8967117" data-attributes="member: 6796468"><p><strong>So... the two big pitfalls I can see are:</strong></p><p></p><p>1) Too many rolls to resolve for speed of combat.</p><p>2) Too much Ad Hoc</p><p></p><p>For the first one, let's say your Sorcerer casts, or tries to cast, Melf's Acid Arrow. So you have to roll 1d20+Mods against a dc 12 to cast the spell and roll a 1. You still cast the spell, but it may do something silly. So you roll a d12 on the table for mishaps. THEN you roll your attack roll, THEN you roll you damage roll. THEN you figure out how it all went down and whether you also hit yourself.</p><p></p><p>That is a lot of slowdown at the table.</p><p></p><p>For the second one: Because some of the effects are "Reverse" or "Empower" or other "Mishap" that requires a per-spell decision point on how it goes silly, with at least 3 variations per spell on your list, you're gonna wind up with a lot of "Um... uh..." to extend the sorcerer's turn.</p><p></p><p>Setting up 12 "Set in Stone" results (or 20, or whatever) would definitely help with the back half of the slowdown. But you're still gonna wind up throwing at least an extra d20 roll every time a spell is cast, and a d12 roll every time a bad roll comes up.</p><p></p><p><strong>Ways to Streamline:</strong></p><p></p><p>1) Bake the "Mishap" roll into the Attack Roll or Saving Throw. </p><p></p><p>If you fire off the Melf's you get the mishap if your attack roll is below 8 minus your Charisma modifier. So you start out with a 40% chance of Mishap but with maxed Charisma (+5 bonus) you're down to a 15% chance of mishapping on a 3 or less. For multi-targeting effects, pick an "Initial Target" for your attack roll to trigger Mishap on.</p><p></p><p>For a Saving Throw put it on the other end. If your enemy rolls a 12 or better (Modified upward by Charisma modifier) you get a Mishap, with minimum 15% chance to mishap. For AoE spells pick a single "Primary Target" in the area to check for Mishap.</p><p></p><p><strong>Downside: </strong>Some spells cannot mishap. Magic Missile, Silent Image, Prestidigitation, Power Word: Kill. Some spells don't have attacks or saves.</p><p></p><p>2) Reduce chances for mishaps to "a Crit" and apply it to the attack roll or saving throw.</p><p></p><p>Nat 20 save or Nat 1 attack triggers mishaps. Nothing else does. But instead of a primary target, AoEs all trigger off any Nat 20 save, and multi-attack spells trigger off any Nat 1. Multiple Mishaps in a single casting become a wild possibility.</p><p></p><p><strong>Downside: </strong>Some spells still cannot mishap.</p><p></p><p>3) Player-Controlled Mishaps.</p><p></p><p>Player declares a spell they cast will Mishap. Player rolls the d12 and gains Inspiration or a number of spell points back or some other benefit in exchange for having a mishap. Player cannot mishap more than once per round, and can only mishap a number of times equal to their proficiency bonus per long rest.</p><p></p><p><strong>Downside: </strong>Giving player control removes some of the 'Wildness' of the mishaps. Though they are still perfectly 'wild' within the narrative of the setting/story/game, happening inexplicably as far as the sorcerer is concerned.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Steampunkette, post: 8967117, member: 6796468"] [B]So... the two big pitfalls I can see are:[/B] 1) Too many rolls to resolve for speed of combat. 2) Too much Ad Hoc For the first one, let's say your Sorcerer casts, or tries to cast, Melf's Acid Arrow. So you have to roll 1d20+Mods against a dc 12 to cast the spell and roll a 1. You still cast the spell, but it may do something silly. So you roll a d12 on the table for mishaps. THEN you roll your attack roll, THEN you roll you damage roll. THEN you figure out how it all went down and whether you also hit yourself. That is a lot of slowdown at the table. For the second one: Because some of the effects are "Reverse" or "Empower" or other "Mishap" that requires a per-spell decision point on how it goes silly, with at least 3 variations per spell on your list, you're gonna wind up with a lot of "Um... uh..." to extend the sorcerer's turn. Setting up 12 "Set in Stone" results (or 20, or whatever) would definitely help with the back half of the slowdown. But you're still gonna wind up throwing at least an extra d20 roll every time a spell is cast, and a d12 roll every time a bad roll comes up. [B]Ways to Streamline:[/B] 1) Bake the "Mishap" roll into the Attack Roll or Saving Throw. If you fire off the Melf's you get the mishap if your attack roll is below 8 minus your Charisma modifier. So you start out with a 40% chance of Mishap but with maxed Charisma (+5 bonus) you're down to a 15% chance of mishapping on a 3 or less. For multi-targeting effects, pick an "Initial Target" for your attack roll to trigger Mishap on. For a Saving Throw put it on the other end. If your enemy rolls a 12 or better (Modified upward by Charisma modifier) you get a Mishap, with minimum 15% chance to mishap. For AoE spells pick a single "Primary Target" in the area to check for Mishap. [B]Downside: [/B]Some spells cannot mishap. Magic Missile, Silent Image, Prestidigitation, Power Word: Kill. Some spells don't have attacks or saves. 2) Reduce chances for mishaps to "a Crit" and apply it to the attack roll or saving throw. Nat 20 save or Nat 1 attack triggers mishaps. Nothing else does. But instead of a primary target, AoEs all trigger off any Nat 20 save, and multi-attack spells trigger off any Nat 1. Multiple Mishaps in a single casting become a wild possibility. [B]Downside: [/B]Some spells still cannot mishap. 3) Player-Controlled Mishaps. Player declares a spell they cast will Mishap. Player rolls the d12 and gains Inspiration or a number of spell points back or some other benefit in exchange for having a mishap. Player cannot mishap more than once per round, and can only mishap a number of times equal to their proficiency bonus per long rest. [B]Downside: [/B]Giving player control removes some of the 'Wildness' of the mishaps. Though they are still perfectly 'wild' within the narrative of the setting/story/game, happening inexplicably as far as the sorcerer is concerned. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Sorcerer experiment - your thoughts?
Top