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Showing posts from October, 2016

It's All About the Crits: Critical Successes and Failures

When you roll a 1, something bad happens; when you roll a 20 something good happens. It is a simple roll in many systems that can be the curse or bane of players and GMs. Today we're going to be discussing it in D&D 5E, however this rule applies lots of places. Lets get some terminology out of the way first. An attack roll is made when a creature attempts to hit a target using a weapon (which could a natural, like a fist or claw) to hit a target. A saving throw is a a creature trying to resist or avoid an effect of something like a spell or a trap. A skill check is used when a creatures applies its knowledge to answer a question or its skill to perform a task.  For our purposes, this creature will be a player character. For attack rolls, a 20 deals double damage dice, and a 1 misses in 5E RAW. These two effects nearly cancel each other out over the long haul, although not perfectly (math left as an exercise for the reader).  Every PC on every attack has the same change of a

A Stern Warning

Dreden slammed his fist against the table. "DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!" "Yes," said the two hobgoblin warriors who faced him across table. "You cannot go above ground. We cannot be discovered, " said Dreden, his brow furrowed so that it was nearly touching his nose. "This mission will fail if you disobey." "Yes, commander," the two repeated, one slightly before the other. Dreden sat into the chair, lumber creaking under his muscular hobgoblin physique. The two warriors seemed fidgity. It was the white cloaks and the white helmets. They were too bright, too clean, and too civilized when they were above ground. "Now what is the status of the tunnels?" Dreden spoke slowly. His face was normal again. "The southern tunnel is slow going. There is bedrock under the river." said one warrior. "The northern tunnel is a day ahead, so far as we can tell, " said the other. Dreden frowned. "Escort Gitrid