Taking the average instead of rolling many dice

[Quasqueton]

Say the PCs are up against a couple dozen goblins. The goblins are using [Small] longswords, doing 1d6 damage. What if the DM just said 3 damage instead of rolling each hit? [Edit: he rolls the attack, he just skips the damage roll, if the attack is successful.]

How about if the BBEG hits the group with a 10-dice fireball. What if the DM just said 35 damage instead of rolling 10d6?

How important is the actual rolling of damage like this (by the DM) to the D&D experience? Would you feel jipped? What if it sped up combat? (Granted doing this might shave less than a minute off the total battle time.)

Quasqueton

 

[Venport]

whatever

I think what ever it dose not matte much

However my players like the idea that there could be minimum damage and don't like it when i tell them the take x damage with out rolling a die...

that's that i have experianced

 

[EricNoah]

Happens in an epic level game I'm in all the time. DM either picks the average, or has the computer roll the dice.

 

[billd91]

I generally prefer rolling dice. Over time the number of hit points of damage done by goblin-wielded swords may regress toward the mean, but I like the variability of each individual trial. Some hits are harder, some are not.

There's also something satisfying about thowing a fistfull of dice at the table and tallying up the damage on a fireball. It just feels good.

 

[Aeson]

Warhammer 40k uses lots of dice. A friend and I tried to take the average instead of rolling dice. He said I would have an advantage because I had higher stats. I still lost. Some because of bad tactics also because he had more shots. I fact he realized after we started. This was my one and only attempt at taking the average. It could work different for you guys.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Sometimes we do this ... Sometimes I hand-wave entire combats. Turned undead? "You eventually hunt them down and kill them." I'm an absolute fanatic for speeding things up where they can be sped up. I'm the kind of GM that starts putting up fingers counting to five when somebody is hemming and hawing about a combat decision. I've averaged damage a few times for the sake of speed ... not regularly, though, as I've found that a distinct part of the fun for most people seems to be that tense moment of high or low damage. One of my players has a bunch of big red casino dice that he relishes having rolled ... even if it's ME (the GM) rolling damage for a fireball on THEM. Just because it's big and loud and dramatic. If it's a low roll everybody can say: "Boooooooo."

--fje

 

[reveal]

I use a computer so it's not an issue. However, if I was to roll dice, I would prefer to roll them rather than take the average. If the PCs are given the opportunity to do max damage, or minimum, why shouldn't their enemies get the same opportunity?

 

[Mercule]

Depends on the situation. I've got a PC in my game that has 3 points of generic DR. I wouldn't want to take the average of 3 damage for the goblins against him. In general, though, the higher level the game/encounter, the greater the number of dice involved, and the more the result will tend toward the mean, anyway.

Can it DMO. If you, as DM, think it's sufficiently inclined toward the mean, then save the die rolling.

 

[Crothian]

Roll the dice, unless you are just bad at basic addition its not saving you a lot of time. And the people i do know that are bad at basic addition will take the same if not mor etime trying to figure out what the average is anyway.

 

[Rel]

How important is the actual rolling of damage like this (by the DM) to the D&D experience? Would you feel jipped? What if it sped up combat? (Granted doing this might shave less than a minute off the total battle time.)

Dammit, man! The very existance of the Dice Manufacturers of the World are at stake here! They already send their lobbyists here on a daily basis decrying the practice of Point Buy. This could sent them right over the edge!