Taking the average instead of rolling many dice

[reveal]

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!

You're so funny, Rel!

 

[Rel]

You're so funny, Rel!

Reveal, I'm starting to like you.* So cut it out.






*[Rudy]Not in a homosexual way of course.[/Rudy] NTTAWWT

 

[Zappo]

I DM with a laptop and use a dice roller. Rolling doesn't really take time, the unpredictability is enjoyable, and it gives me room to fudge if needed.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

I wouldn't like taking the average for weapon hits. There's a lot of variability in a single die (or two dice), and that variability is part of the fun.

However, variability decreases as the number of dice increases, so I've made it a regular practice to do "partial averages" on damage from fireballs and the like -- for a 10d6 fireball, I'll call it 4d6+21. I do this as both player and DM, and my DM has begun doing it as well. The speed increase to combat is significant at high levels.

At the other end of the spectrum, we have a guy who rolls the same d6 10 times for a fireball, and he doesn't seem to even grasp why we're annoyed.

 

[Thanee]

There are also some factors, like Damage Reduction or Energy Resistance to consider.

Bye
Thanee

 

[swrushing]

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

by the time my dnd campaign broke level 10, i was already doing qda, quick damage allocation, to save time. basically i would roll a d6 and if the roll was 3-4 pick a number right at average, if it was 2 or 1 i would pick a number in the low to lower average range, and for 5 and 6... you get the picture.

a 10d6 fireball would be something like 21 27 33 37 44 50 depending on the d6 roll. (one rule of thumb is to watch the high ends to make sure you aren't setting up a one-shot-kill on a failed save, since an OSK when you have monkeyed with the odds of the high end damage might not sit as well with players.)

when writing up quick sheets for monsters, i actually would sometimes write in the values for 1-6 rolls and just add the totals up. if my troll hit with two claws one d6 roll and pick two numbers and go.

I found it actually saved a good deal of time overall, especially in large battles with many varmints and spells.

no complaints came from it.

 

[sniffles]

While I can understand wanting to speed up and/or simplify things, as a player I'd feel gypped if the GM just said, "The goblins do 3 points of damage to everybody every round.". I like to use damage rolls to help visualize the action - if it's a low roll then the opponent's sword managed to find an unarmored spot and my character scoffs, "It's only a flesh wound!". If it's a high roll then the opponent clove right through the armor and my character shouts in pain. If everybody suffered the same amount of damage it would feel like the characters had no individuality. That's why I don't like dice pool systems where you don't roll for damage.

 

[Mista Collins]

you mean I can take the averages?!?!

I just bought this nice matching set of dice for nothing!

Mista Collins is a sad panda

 

[ThirdWizard]

Sure, if you want to suck the fun out of the game.

 

[Wormwood]

I take the average as often as I can . . . it's a habit I picked up while running Buffy.

The lesson I learned from that game was that the fewer dice I roll, the happier I am.