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View Full Version : Combat Competence – like “Take 10” on attack rolls, but not exactly



nonsi
2018-11-15, 01:59 AM
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An idea: with level accumulation and experience, there should be a level of competence that a character can (almost) guarantee.

So, when rolling a d20 to hit, there’s a near guaranty to ensure a minimum value on the dice roll, provided that you don’t blunder your attack roll altogether.
In practice, if a d20 result on an attack roll is lower than ˝ your BAB but higher than 1, it automatically counts as ˝ your BAB.



Motivation by example: A 3-year-old might miss a wall 10’ away with a thrown stone from a stand still. A healthy adult will hit that wall every time, no exceptions.

Explanation: I’m well aware that attacking while threatened in combat is not simulated by throwing a stone on a wall from a comfortable stand-still, but 6th level characters are supposed to already have an inhuman level of competence, and tilting a d20 roll by +1 in your favor once every 20 dice rolls at 7th level doesn’t seem outrageous to me.
While this would usually be negligible to meaningless at low-mid levels, it will become significant as levels go up. In fact, I’m quite ok with it that a BAB +38 character/creature could guarantee a crit on 19 out of 20 Attack rolls.

Lacuna Caster
2018-11-15, 06:48 AM
Motivation by example: A 3-year-old might miss a wall 10’ away with a thrown stone from a stand still. A healthy adult will hit that wall every time, no exceptions...

...While this would usually be negligible to meaningless at low-mid levels, it will become significant as levels go up. In fact, I’m quite ok with it that a BAB +38 character/creature could guarantee a crit on 19 out of 20 Attack rolls.
But the healthy adult hitting that wall is presumably already modelled by the adult's higher BAB and the wall's low... armour class, if that's how it works? (Also, the 3-year old will have str/dex penalties that might affect range increments? I dunno.)

Guaranteed crits versus vastly weaker opponents might make sense, but not if the BAB +38 critter is fighting another BAB +38 critter. This seems like a solution looking for a problem, to be honest.

Eldan
2018-11-15, 07:31 AM
Yeah. Plus, dice rolling happens in stressful situations. Just idly throwing rocks at a wall shouldnt' take a roll anyway, a semi-competent character can do that anyway. If you're rolling an attack roll on your sling, you're doing it while running across a battlefield at a dodging target.

What I mean is, yes, the 6th+ level character is inhumanly competent, but honestly, if your Level 6 is facing a single goblin, I wouldn't call for a dice roll either, just "yup, you sling a stone through his head to make a point".

nonsi
2018-11-15, 08:44 AM
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Fair enough.
It was just an idea :smallbiggrin:

Eldan
2018-11-15, 09:31 AM
I mean, it's not a bad idea. I'm just not sure if it is necessary or how much it would add. I wouldn't disagree that D&D dice are often too random.