What AC did you hit? Adjudicating Immediate Interrupts

[mkill]

I don't think it came up when I was DMing, but of course I would tell the player whether that would stop the hit or whether he'd waste the power. It's the same with telling which monster is a minion, or whether a monster is rather tough, agile, or strong-willed (i.e. which NAD would be high/low).

If I need to make fights tougher I can just make them tougher directly by adding more / stronger / smarter monsters, I don't need to screw people over to "win" as DM.

(Win in "" because the real DM Win is a challenging fight and a fun evening for everyone, not dead PCs)

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I say "it just barely hits you." That communicates that it only missed by a small amount without getting really meta-gamey.

This!

It is not that far fetched, that a wizard can make an educated guess when to use his magic... but he can fail doing so... so a in character hint will usually do the trick!

 

[Pickles JG]

Open dice rolls & full disclosure for me including monster defences after a round or two.

 

[Prism]

I don't know what the players defenses are so I nearly always announce what number I have hit unless its very high. The players defenses change fairly often with various powers

Besides, if a monster had a similar power I'd know exactly when to use it since I would have the monster defence and the players attack roll - only seems fair to work both ways

 

[Mengu]

I'm in the same camp as those who announce the monster's attack roll. If it's a miss I typically don't bother saying anything other than miss. If it might hit, I just say, "24 vs AC, 17 fire damage and ongoing 5 fire save ends." I don't want to keep track of a paladin's defense buffing zone, or a dwarf's second wind bonus, or a warlock's shadow walk, or a deva's bonus against bloodied enemies. They can figure that stuff out and tell me if a 24 hits or not. And they can also decide if they want to use an interrupt or not at that point. Typically, I don't even care if they decide to use an interrupt after I tell them damage and effects.

 

[Wik]

As a DM, I find it easiest to announce my attack number, and rely on the players to be honest about whether it hits their PC or not.

This is because there are often a lot of effects floating around that I as DM might not be keeping track of as well as the players are.

For example, I might know (from seeing it on his character sheet) that the fighter has AC 20. But as DM, rolling for the orc, I might say, "The orc makes a mighty swing with his axe... [dice clatter]... hitting AC 21 for 13 damage."

Now, the player might have a +2 AC from somewhere. Or he might decide to use an Interrupt. Or some other player might decide to have her character use an Interrupt (the ranger's Disruptive Strike is a favorite).

Conversely, I might say, "The orc makes a slightly less accurate, yet still mighty swing with his axe... [dice clatter]... hitting AC 19 for 13 damage."

Normally this would miss the fighter. But maybe his AC was debuffed by something, so it actually hits.

What I'm saying is, I have enough to worry about as a DM without tracking the PCs' exact defenses for them. So I just announce the numbers and let the players sort it out.

Yeah. That's what I do. Never really thought about doing it any other way - but I gues it really is a "different strokes for different strokes" sort of thing.

 

[blargney the second]

Yeah. That's what I do. Never really thought about doing it any other way - but I gues it really is a "different strokes for different strokes" sort of thing.

Keep it simple. Works for me!