How are attack rolls calculated?

[Hexemiyata]

I apologize in advance if this is a really simple question, but I managed to completely confuse myself trying to find the answer in a book.

I've got
+1 base attack bonus
+4 str mod bonus
+6 attack bonus on a flail
+1 attack bonus for focus with a flail

So I'm getting ready to hit something, I roll my d20... out of the above, what actually gets added to that roll? And if something isn't added, then where does it apply?

[Raezeman]

what exactly do you mean with "+6 attack bonus on a flail"?
Magic flail, or what?

[KillianHawkeye]

The +6 is your total bonus: +1 Base Attack Bonus + 4 Strength + 1 Weapon Focus = +6.

That is your total roll, pre-calculated for your convenience. It is not an additional bonus.

Roll a d20 and add 6.

[Artillery]

So you are level 1, have 18 strength, and have weapon focus flail. Yours total attack bonus with a flail is +6. Is that correct?

Your attack roll is a d20 roll plus your static bonuses. With a melee weapon that is.

Attack rolls are (Base attack bonus) plus (strength modifier for melee or dex modifier for ranged) plus (item bonuses such as from a masterwork of magic weapon) plus (feat bonuses that apply).

[Hiro Protagonest]

Um... BAB +/- relevant stat (str or dex) +/- feat modifiers +/- item modifiers.

It's just adding and subtracting.

[Chronos]

There can be many other modifiers: For instance, if you have a bard in the party, he can sing to give you another +1 or more. And if you're flanking a target (you and an ally are on opposite sides), you get an additional +2.

But the basic principle is just that you add all of your individual bonuses together to get your total bonus.

[Zombulian]

I apologize in advance if this is a really simple question, but I managed to completely confuse myself trying to find the answer in a book.

I've got
+1 base attack bonus
+4 str mod bonus
+6 attack bonus on a flail
+1 attack bonus for focus with a flail

So I'm getting ready to hit something, I roll my d20... out of the above, what actually gets added to that roll? And if something isn't added, then where does it apply?

So I'm assuming that someone helped you with your character sheet and put your attack bonus for attacking with the flail next to your flail (using the normal calculations of BAB + Str + WF). But then you took your various bonuses and added to the already made sum.

[Slipperychicken]

Attack Bonus (+6) = Base Attack Bonus (1) + Strength Modifier (4) + Other (1)


You roll a d20, then add your Attack Bonus to the number which comes up on the d20. If [Attack Bonus + d20 result] is equal to the target's Armor Class, or greater than the target's Armor Class, then you successfully hit.

[Hexemiyata]

Thank you for clarifying this for me, guys. I think I get it now.

It makes sense that the attack bonus listed for the flail (+6) is the addition of the other three numbers (+1+4+1) and is written on the character sheet just for convenience. I miscomprehended that last part :smallfrown:

[Slipperychicken]

Thank you for clarifying this for me, guys. I think I get it now.

It makes sense that the attack bonus listed for the flail (+6) is the addition of the other three numbers (+1+4+1) and is written on the character sheet just for convenience. I miscomprehended that last part :smallfrown:

Try not to feel bad about it; it takes a long time to learn this game. Just remember that "attack bonus" number (and make it easily visible on your sheet) so you don't have to recalculate it every turn.

[Chronos]

...so you don't have to recalculate it every turn.
Unless the bard sings, or the cleric casts Bless, or...

[Slipperychicken]

Unless the bard sings, or the cleric casts Bless, or...

That's just adding a +2, which is relatively easy. I'm talking about the people who will, for every single time they make an attack roll, go "oh, so I add my Strength score, right? Oh, you mean the modifier.. what's a modifier? My attack bonus too? Where is that? and what does 'Weapon Focus' do again?...".

They will often do this regardless of how many times the number has already been calculated for them, as though the numbers on the sheet will magically change from the last time they were read.

[Tacoz]

If [Attack Bonus + d20 result] is equal to the target's Armor Class, or greater than the target's Armor Class, then you successfully hit.
Okay, Now I know I'm starting to forget the game. :smalleek:

Wasn't it that defence beat attack?
I did remember that there was one exception, are that AC, or are there something more I have missed? :smallfrown:

On topic:
If you have a bard in the party, you just have the added bonus in the next attack box! I do! =)

[Eldaran]

No, any thing like AC or save DCs or skill DCs are all a target number. If your modified roll equals that number, you succeed.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Okay, Now I know I'm starting to forget the game. :smalleek:

Wasn't it that defence beat attack?
I did remember that there was one exception, are that AC, or are there something more I have missed? :smallfrown:

On topic:
If you have a bard in the party, you just have the added bonus in the next attack box! I do! =)

No, attack wins on ties.

[Sir Chuckles]

That's just adding a +2, which is relatively easy. I'm talking about the people who will, for every single time they make an attack roll, go "oh, so I add my Strength score, right? Oh, you mean the modifier.. what's a modifier? My attack bonus too? Where is that? and what does 'Weapon Focus' do again?...".

They will often do this regardless of how many times the number has already been calculated for them, as though the numbers on the sheet will magically change from the last time they were read.

Yeah, I used to have two players like that. One wanted to DM and got over it, and the other still, after nearly five years of playing 3.5, still gets confused when he doesn't make a Reflex save when I have something hit him in melee, and thinks Wizards are useless (After playing a Sorcerer as his first character, and failing miserably, he's played almost nothing but high-Strength Monks and Rangers)

It's better to ask the "dumb" questiosn early :smallsmile:

[Slipperychicken]

Okay, Now I know I'm starting to forget the game. :smalleek:

Wasn't it that defence beat attack?
I did remember that there was one exception, are that AC, or are there something more I have missed? :smallfrown:
)

It's on the SRD.


The Core Mechanic

If the result equals or exceeds the target number, your character succeeds. If the result is lower than the target number, you fail.




An attack roll represents your attempt to strike your opponent on your turn in a round. When you make an attack roll, you roll a d20 and add your attack bonus. (Other modifiers may also apply to this roll.) If your result equals or beats the target’s Armor Class, you hit and deal damage.

[TuggyNE]

It's better to ask the "dumb" questiosn early :smallsmile:

Ain't that the truth.

[Zombulian]

Yeah, I used to have two players like that. One wanted to DM and got over it, and the other still, after nearly five years of playing 3.5, still gets confused when he doesn't make a Reflex save when I have something hit him in melee, and thinks Wizards are useless (After playing a Sorcerer as his first character, and failing miserably, he's played almost nothing but high-Strength Monks and Rangers.)

*blinks*

What?

[Slipperychicken]

*blinks*

What?

I once had a DM who had played for years, yet would still ask for Reflex saves to dodge crossbow shots.


I could see how someone who isn't socialized into the internet tabletop-gaming forum subculture* could perceive spellcasters as inferior, particularly if he hasn't seen the online resources (Treantmonk's guide, Logicninja's guide, etc) which demonstrate how to play their strengths. They (Wizards and Sorcerers) are extremely squishy and don't deal much damage out of the box, plus rely heavily on player skill (especially resource management) to survive and thrive.

*If you want a vision of 3.5 optimization culture, imagine a Wizard, stamping on a Monk's face -forever.

[Sir Chuckles]

I once had a DM who had played for years, yet would still ask for Reflex saves to dodge crossbow shots.


I could see how someone who isn't socialized into the internet tabletop-gaming forum subculture* could perceive spellcasters as inferior, particularly if he hasn't seen the online resources (Treantmonk's guide, Logicninja's guide, etc) which demonstrate how to play their strengths. They (Wizards and Sorcerers) are extremely squishy and don't deal much damage out of the box, plus rely heavily on player skill (especially resource management) to survive and thrive.

*If you want a vision of 3.5 optimization culture, imagine a Wizard, stamping on a Monk's face -forever.

Hey, I only recently delved into such things, but I realized how much power spellcasters can get long before I showed up here.
I actually ended up the ire of one of my ex-player/DMs by being a Dwarf Cleric of Kord (Luck/Strength Domains).

Nothing says "Screw your carefully planned out foil-to-the-party boss" quite like a Lv3 10ft tall Dwarf with 20 Str, Power Attack, and half a dozen stackable to-hit modifiers.

On that note:
Here's another bit of advice. We may tell you builds that can create Lv10 Demi-Gods, but sometimes it's more fun to play the Expert Skillmonkey who only uses scavenged weapons (especially improvised ones), and leave the 100k loot to the Fighter, who needs it to even compete with the next encounter.

If you ever DM, it's even more vital to identify your players.
Know who's gonna be a munchkin, know who hides in the corner playing the scantily clad Drow "maiden", and who's going to jump on the table and sing the entire Les Mis soundtrack from memory in response to "What does your Bard do?"

Wow, we could just make a thread of this stuff.

[Raezeman]

if there are many factors in your party that change the attack bonus of your character, you can make a table of it all to speed up things during play. For example, in one of my campaigns, there is a barbarian with power attack and also a bard in the party. The barbarian has a table with:
-standard attack bonus
-attack bonus with full power attack
-attack bonus when raging
-raging with full power attack
-each of the above with boosts from the bard's bonuses
I think he designed the table so that it has 2 columns, one for with and one for without full power attack

That player's previous (and first) character was a sorcerer, ergo, he made very few attack roles, so you can see that it sometimes took a while to account for all the things that changed his attack bonus when he started playing the barbarian.

[lytokk]

I think part of the problem with players thinking wizard/sorcerer/druids are worthless are going to be first impressions. When you first get into the game, you're going to end up playing with more experienced players, who you may assume know what they're doing. One of them plays a wizard and you decide, since you're still learning the game, to play a fighter. Easily accessible class, basic abilities, something with some training wheels. What you find, since you are more than likely starting a game a low level, is that you outdamage the wizard. This ends up being because the experienced player actually had no clue what they were doing, but knew wizards get powerful at higher levels. Then the DM loses interest, and by level 5, decides to start a new game. Since he didn't like where this one was going.

Then comes the new game. You knew that your fighter was more powerful than the wizard, so why bother playing a casting class. Go barbarian or ranger, and destroy from a distance or close up. And so on and so forth.

Its not until you get more books and more experience playing when you find out your original DM, and most of his experienced players, couldn't keep focus or make anything than a completely underpowered class.

Maybe this is just my story though.

But, don't let it get you down, now that I've taken over the group, some of the players still forget how to add skill points, or level up even.

[RFLS]

I once had a DM who had played for years, yet would still ask for Reflex saves to dodge crossbow shots.


I could see how someone who isn't socialized into the internet tabletop-gaming forum subculture* could perceive spellcasters as inferior, particularly if he hasn't seen the online resources (Treantmonk's guide, Logicninja's guide, etc) which demonstrate how to play their strengths. They (Wizards and Sorcerers) are extremely squishy and don't deal much damage out of the box, plus rely heavily on player skill (especially resource management) to survive and thrive.

*If you want a vision of 3.5 optimization culture, imagine a Wizard, stamping on a Monk's face -forever.

Well said. I often have to explain this to new players.


*blinks*

What?

Why does your sig say "RIP visigani" ? :smallconfused:

[Karnith]

*If you want a vision of 3.5 optimization culture, imagine a Wizard, stamping on a Monk's face -forever.
So, are Monkdays our Two Minutes Hate?

[Zombulian]

Why does your sig say "RIP visigani" ? :smallconfused:

He got banned.
He was hilarious.
RIP

[RFLS]

He got banned.
He was hilarious.
RIP

Ah. I hadn't seen that yet. Good to know. Moving on, so as not to violate forum rules -

[Sir Chuckles]

I think part of the problem with players thinking wizard/sorcerer/druids are worthless are going to be first impressions. When you first get into the game, you're going to end up playing with more experienced players, who you may assume know what they're doing. One of them plays a wizard and you decide, since you're still learning the game, to play a fighter. Easily accessible class, basic abilities, something with some training wheels. What you find, since you are more than likely starting a game a low level, is that you outdamage the wizard. This ends up being because the experienced player actually had no clue what they were doing, but knew wizards get powerful at higher levels. Then the DM loses interest, and by level 5, decides to start a new game. Since he didn't like where this one was going.

Then comes the new game. You knew that your fighter was more powerful than the wizard, so why bother playing a casting class. Go barbarian or ranger, and destroy from a distance or close up. And so on and so forth.

Its not until you get more books and more experience playing when you find out your original DM, and most of his experienced players, couldn't keep focus or make anything than a completely underpowered class.

Maybe this is just my story though.

But, don't let it get you down, now that I've taken over the group, some of the players still forget how to add skill points, or level up even.

Ahc, we should make another topic to have this discussion.

But the thing is, that guy who almost exclusively plays Monks and Fighters asks me how to add up his attack bonus essentially every time he attacks.

Don't be that guy. Please, if you love your DM more than you love a mollusk, don't be that guy.

[lytokk]

Sorry, did I go too far off topic? The point I was trying to make was experienced players still forget things.

Yeah, I went a little off topic..