to screen or not to screen do you roll in front of your players?

[Ruined]

With this campaign, I've noticed that I've gone to rolling the dice in the open. It doesn't matter as much because the players aren't the type to watch my rolls like a hawk, and it increases the tension on those rare moments when I'm rolling well for the bad guys (like the maxed critical from the giant doing 78 pts of damage to the shapeshifted druid). In my case, I have less insecurites with this group where I'd feel the need to fudge die rolls one way or another. I won't say it happened much in older campaigns, but now I don't have the temptation.

 

[maddman75]

Our group doesn't hide much of anything. We always tell players the AC of the creatures. More often than not players are told the DC of a save - make a DC 18 Fort save or whatever. And while I do roll in the open, the complexity of 3e allows me to still fudge. What with feats like expertise and power attack, ac, attacks, and damage go up and down all the time.

Once you realize this, the Zen of 3e becomes apparant. If they can't tell that I'm doing this, they can't tell if I completely BS my way through stat blocks. As long as I'm in the right neighborhood, in all the various combinations of classes, templates, races, and PrCs there have to be some variation that happens to match whatever numbers I pull from the air.

Don't try to learn all the rules, that is impossible. Only realize the truth.

There are no rules.

 

[Cthulhu's Librarian]

A bit of both. Most rolls I do behind the screen, but I'll roll really important rolls in the middle of the table. I guess I want to be able to fudge a roll if necessary to keep things going in an exciting and realistic way. I don't want to take out a PC because of a freak roll.

 

[DragonSword]

I don't tell player the stats of anyone they take on, but don't use a screen. I'm normally fiddling with a d20 or something anyway, so they don't tend to notice when I'm making surprise checks against them...

 

[shilsen]

I don't use a screen and never will again, since it's just too much trouble. In general, the players never bother to check out my rolls, only really paying attention when it's really going down to the wire.

 

[Mercule]

I use a screen pretty much all the time. Mainly, I do this because of notes, as others have said. The other reason is to obscure rolls like Search. I don't fudge very often at all.

 

[SpringPlum]

Our DM uses not one but 2 screens. One for his notes and the other for his rolling. And I know he fudges his number but it has kept my character alive in the past so I definately don't mind. For example:

Me: All right, DARN I didn't kill him with that last strike and I don't have many hitpoints left. *Prays to the god of roleplayers* Please be kind!

DM: *Rolls dice* What's your AC again? 24? Uh-oh.

Me: What, pray tell, is "uh-oh"?

DM: Well, he did hit you. Let's see if he confirms. *Rolls dice* Uh-oh.

Me: *facepalms*

DM: Exactly how many hitpoints do you have. 5, you say? Then he hit you for... *rolls dice* Uh-oh. Umm... let's just say you're at -9.

 

[Acid_crash]

I dislike using the screen for my own reasons, and I really hate when DM's use the screen to hide all the combat rolls. I can understand if the DM rolls behind the screen when something like moving silently or sneaking past someone is important, because we really wouldn't know. But, in combat, I think they should be in the open, no fudging, period.

 

[Thorin Stoutfoot]

Screen for notes and sense motive checks...

Attack rolls, saving throws, and all other rolls get made in front of the players. They really enjoy it when I roll a 1 for a massive damage fort save for a big bad a monster.

 

[SpringPlum]

If our DM rolls something spectacularly good or bad, he usually laughs (or cries) and shows us. He thinks it's a hoot when he rolls 4 d20s that all come up 20. We don't.