Recent content by Lakesidefantasy

Yeah, you're right. Now I'm going to have to do some real math. Just multiplying them won't work. Maybe I shouldn't have gone out and bought so many lottery tickets. 🙃

How about this as an idea. The Player rolls a d20 in front of the screen and the Dungeon Master rolls a d20 behind the screen. Then the Dungeon Master adds their roll to the Player's roll but you roll over the count back to 1 if if the sum is more than 20. Examples: Player = 1, DM = 6...

It would seem that 41% of people on these boards Roll with Dice, 31% Buy with Points, and 25% use the Standard Array.

I doubt it. Have you made 66 Point Buy characters? Then you are guaranteed to have made two identical sets of arrays. But you probably don't have to make that many characters. I think there are fewer than 20 arrays we end up with; particularly if we apply optimization guidelines to our score...

That balance comes through sacrificing diversity. With the Standard method we would never roll the same set of scores twice in our lifetimes. I suspect 25% to 50% of the time we build the same set of scores with Point Buy.

FIGHT CLUB!!! There 54,264 different combinations off ability scores. So I think the probability of two people rolling the same set of scores would be a 1/54264 chance multiplied (?) by another 1/54264. If my math is correct then the chance of two people rolling the same set of scores is...

Hmm, interesting.🤔

Checks benefit from consequences and time pressures, etc., but I think this misses the point. Players often see an opportunity to throw more dice at a problem, or throwing their best modifiers at it in order to succeed. We can blame this on the Dungeon Masters poor design choices (and frankly...

This is why I focus on "dump" scores rather than low scores.

This is true, they both have the same problem. But we don't talk about Flight Club here.° Point Buy tacitly promises us that we can make whatever Character we want by allowing us full control over Score placement. But that promise falls short when we are forced to "dump" lower and lower Scores...

I'm interested in reining-in the Chimera. I see this sometimes with skills like Deception and Persuasion. For instance when one character is quite clearly having a conversation with a non player character and we determine that Deception is being employed so we call for a check. They fail and the...

You bring up a good point, though. "Blended" is a good choice of words because this "blurs" the line between what is accomplished by the individual and what is accomplished by the group. Opening a door may not be the best thing for a group check; maybe lifting a portcullis would be better...

That would not be blended.

I like the blended group check. Maybe after the second person tries and fails you declare that this is now a group check and we have two failures.

This is what I call "Walking the Chimaera", because, as a Dungeon Master, it feels like the party is one body with many heads. I would suggest noise, loud noise that attracts monsters for each failed attempt. If that's not going to help the situation then just allow them to beach the door. I...