This seems to be an age old debate. Which is better? Xd6 vs 1d20? Probabilities seem to dominate this discussion and it's fair enough. I'd say the biggest advantages are how the probabilities of both options affect the system math. But I wanted to look at it from an aesthetics perspective. I realise this is completely subjective and everyone will speak from their own personal biases and that's fine because I want to hear the reasons. I'm working on a ruleset and I am completely torn on the issue and don't know which way to side to land on.
So which do you find more aesthetically pleasing? Have all rolls be a 1 or more d6 or have multiple dice types with the primary dice being 1d20.
Advantages of Polyhedral Dice
* All D&D fans (and fans of d20 derivatives) are more likely to give your game a chance.
* You can get more granularity with weapon damage rolls as they'll always be some multiple of polyhedral dice. E.g. With polyhedral dice one attack can hit 3 targets for 1d6 each (average is 10.5) while another attack can hit a single target for 2d10 total (average is 11).
Disadvantages of Polyhedral Dice
* Those gamers who hate d20 and refuse to play any games with it won't play your game.
* With new gamers I have seen it time and time again. They take a good session or two to learn which roll uses which dice and if they only play once a month it can take up to 6 months for them to learn it.
* Dice are more expensive for new gamers (which is why attacks that require lots of dice almost always require d6).
Advantages of Using d6s
* Those gamers who hate d20 are more likely to give your game a chance.
* A certain percentage of D&D gamers will be willing to play your game.
* Everyone (including D&D gamers) has some d6s lying around. If they don't it is significantly cheaper to buy a box of them vs enough polyhedral dice that you can always roll them at one time.
* Newbies will always know which type of dice to roll.
Disadvantages of Using d6s
* Those D&D gamers who refuse to play anything that isn't d20 based won't play your game.
* You're limited to damage rolls being separated by intervals of 1d6. You can have a modifier to the damage roll, but is that aesthetically pleasing?
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So what do people think? Is it aesthetically pleasing?
Talking a little about the probabilities. I'll get to damage rolls in another post as I want to run some numbers first. But with skill checks this is where 3d6 may shine.
2d6 Skill Roll
Unskilled (DC 5): Skill Rank 0
Amateur (DC 10): Skill Rank 5
Professional (DC 15): 10
Expert (DC 20):15
Unparralleled (DC 25): 20
Epic (DC 30): 25
All checks have a 72.22% chance of succeeding.
3d6 Skill Roll
Unskilled (DC 5): Skill Rank -2
Amateur (DC 10): Skill Rank 3
Professional (DC 15): 8
Expert (DC 20):13
Unparralleled (DC 25): 18
Epic (DC 30): 23
All checks have an 80% chance of succeeding.
1d20 Skill Roll
Unskilled (DC 5): Skill Rank 0
Amateur (DC 10): Skill Rank 5
Professional (DC 15): 10
Expert (DC 20):15
Unparralleled (DC 25): 20
Epic (DC 30): 25
All checks have a 80% chance of succeeding.
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Why is the lowest DC at DC 5 and then all subsequent categories add +5 to the DC? Because as a GM it's easier for me to remember that the number is going to be around 15 vs 22 or 23. As people we tend to find it easier to jump ahead by lots of 5. I've seen this in D&D 4th edition, Pathfinder and D&D 5th edition. Multiples of 5 are always easier for DMs (IMO).
So in this scenario 2d6 and 1d20 have the same bonuses, although in 2d6 you're 7.78% less likely to succeed. In a d20 game -1 to a skill check isn't really seen as that big a deal and that's how I'm seeing the difference.
The 3d6 roll is the least aesthetically pleasing because it's not in multiples of 5.
The biggest problem I have with the 1d20 roll is that an Epic roll which is intended to represent the highest hardest thing possible, can be achieved by a mere expert 55% of the time. An expert is meant to be good, but not THAt good. A way around this is to increase the Epic DC to 35 and give an epic person the ability to roll 2d20 and take the best result. According to google this takes the person with a +25 bonus to the check from succeeding 55% of the time to 80% of the time. Mathematically it achieves EXACTLY by reducing the expert to a mere 5% chance of success. However we've skipped DC 30 as being a category and introduced a new mechanic (roll 2d20 and take the best) that has to be given to the player somehow. That decreases the aesthetic beauty of the 1d20 roll.
If we look at 2d6 then an expert cannot ever reach the DC 30 epic roll. This firmly places the expert as the pinnacle of mundane human achievement (Heroic tier in D&D 4th ed terminology) while it gives the Epic character a 72.22% chance of success without needing to introduce any special mechancis or increasing the DC by +10 instead of +5.
To be perfectly honest I'm inclined to abandon the d20 mechanic in favour of a 2d6 mechanic. However I'm hesitant simply because d20 is such a well known brand and unifying identity. All d20 games share a lot in common amongst their fans.
What do people think? Are there reasons for going with Xd6 over polyhedral dice that I haven't considered? Are there even more reasons to want to abandon polyhedral dice in favour of d6 that I haven't considered? Which do you find most aesthetically pleasing and why?
So which do you find more aesthetically pleasing? Have all rolls be a 1 or more d6 or have multiple dice types with the primary dice being 1d20.
Advantages of Polyhedral Dice
* All D&D fans (and fans of d20 derivatives) are more likely to give your game a chance.
* You can get more granularity with weapon damage rolls as they'll always be some multiple of polyhedral dice. E.g. With polyhedral dice one attack can hit 3 targets for 1d6 each (average is 10.5) while another attack can hit a single target for 2d10 total (average is 11).
Disadvantages of Polyhedral Dice
* Those gamers who hate d20 and refuse to play any games with it won't play your game.
* With new gamers I have seen it time and time again. They take a good session or two to learn which roll uses which dice and if they only play once a month it can take up to 6 months for them to learn it.
* Dice are more expensive for new gamers (which is why attacks that require lots of dice almost always require d6).
Advantages of Using d6s
* Those gamers who hate d20 are more likely to give your game a chance.
* A certain percentage of D&D gamers will be willing to play your game.
* Everyone (including D&D gamers) has some d6s lying around. If they don't it is significantly cheaper to buy a box of them vs enough polyhedral dice that you can always roll them at one time.
* Newbies will always know which type of dice to roll.
Disadvantages of Using d6s
* Those D&D gamers who refuse to play anything that isn't d20 based won't play your game.
* You're limited to damage rolls being separated by intervals of 1d6. You can have a modifier to the damage roll, but is that aesthetically pleasing?
---
So what do people think? Is it aesthetically pleasing?
Talking a little about the probabilities. I'll get to damage rolls in another post as I want to run some numbers first. But with skill checks this is where 3d6 may shine.
2d6 Skill Roll
Unskilled (DC 5): Skill Rank 0
Amateur (DC 10): Skill Rank 5
Professional (DC 15): 10
Expert (DC 20):15
Unparralleled (DC 25): 20
Epic (DC 30): 25
All checks have a 72.22% chance of succeeding.
3d6 Skill Roll
Unskilled (DC 5): Skill Rank -2
Amateur (DC 10): Skill Rank 3
Professional (DC 15): 8
Expert (DC 20):13
Unparralleled (DC 25): 18
Epic (DC 30): 23
All checks have an 80% chance of succeeding.
1d20 Skill Roll
Unskilled (DC 5): Skill Rank 0
Amateur (DC 10): Skill Rank 5
Professional (DC 15): 10
Expert (DC 20):15
Unparralleled (DC 25): 20
Epic (DC 30): 25
All checks have a 80% chance of succeeding.
-----
Why is the lowest DC at DC 5 and then all subsequent categories add +5 to the DC? Because as a GM it's easier for me to remember that the number is going to be around 15 vs 22 or 23. As people we tend to find it easier to jump ahead by lots of 5. I've seen this in D&D 4th edition, Pathfinder and D&D 5th edition. Multiples of 5 are always easier for DMs (IMO).
So in this scenario 2d6 and 1d20 have the same bonuses, although in 2d6 you're 7.78% less likely to succeed. In a d20 game -1 to a skill check isn't really seen as that big a deal and that's how I'm seeing the difference.
The 3d6 roll is the least aesthetically pleasing because it's not in multiples of 5.
The biggest problem I have with the 1d20 roll is that an Epic roll which is intended to represent the highest hardest thing possible, can be achieved by a mere expert 55% of the time. An expert is meant to be good, but not THAt good. A way around this is to increase the Epic DC to 35 and give an epic person the ability to roll 2d20 and take the best result. According to google this takes the person with a +25 bonus to the check from succeeding 55% of the time to 80% of the time. Mathematically it achieves EXACTLY by reducing the expert to a mere 5% chance of success. However we've skipped DC 30 as being a category and introduced a new mechanic (roll 2d20 and take the best) that has to be given to the player somehow. That decreases the aesthetic beauty of the 1d20 roll.
If we look at 2d6 then an expert cannot ever reach the DC 30 epic roll. This firmly places the expert as the pinnacle of mundane human achievement (Heroic tier in D&D 4th ed terminology) while it gives the Epic character a 72.22% chance of success without needing to introduce any special mechancis or increasing the DC by +10 instead of +5.
To be perfectly honest I'm inclined to abandon the d20 mechanic in favour of a 2d6 mechanic. However I'm hesitant simply because d20 is such a well known brand and unifying identity. All d20 games share a lot in common amongst their fans.
What do people think? Are there reasons for going with Xd6 over polyhedral dice that I haven't considered? Are there even more reasons to want to abandon polyhedral dice in favour of d6 that I haven't considered? Which do you find most aesthetically pleasing and why?
2d6 v 3d6 v 1d20: Which is Aesthetically pleasing?
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