Hi people.
I'm working on a tile laying solo dungeon crawl. It has RPG elements, as the characters will increase in skill and what not. I'm an artist and designer, but not a mathematician. (As will become quickly apparent)
I desperately need opinions about the mechanic I'm using for attribute and skill checks. I need to know if it's going to provide variable enough results to represent both high skill and low skill characters. I'm using six sided dice. Here's how it goes:
Skill checks:
Each skill has a value from 1-5, which corresponds to a d6. 1 is no skill, and 5 is rather great.
Your skill level tells you how many dice to roll. From these dice, you pick the die with the highest value. Every 6 rolled after the first nets you an additional +1 to your final total.
You then add the associated attribute value to the result for a final score.
I.E.: The skill is climbing, and has a value of 3d6. The associated attribute is REFLEX. You roll 3d6, and pick the highest. Let's say the roll was
2, 4, 3.
You pick the 4, and then add the value for REFLEX which is 3. The final total is 7.
If the roll had been 3, 6, 6, then you would pick the 6, add 1 for the additional 6, and then add the REFLEX of 3 for a grand total of 10.
Here's the stickler - all skill, attribute, and combat rolls are opposed. What I mean is that you'll be competing against a similar roll to represent your opponent. Combat works just like the roll I described above. Dice for your opponent are rolled in the same fashion. You subtract the lower total, from the higher total. The "loser" takes the difference in wounds. Armor subtracts from the total difference in the rolls, after it is determined who "won" the round.
EXAMPLE of COMBAT
Hero:
Skill 3, Reflex 3, leather armor (Takes 1 hit)
Giant Rat:
Skill 1, Reflex 3, no armor.
Round 1
Hero rolls:
2,3,1. Uses the "3", adds a Reflex of 3 for a total of "6"
Rat rolls:
1. Uses the "1", add a Reflex of 3 for a total of "4".
Rat takes 2 wounds.
On the second round, the rat wins somehow, and beats the Hero's roll total by 2. 1 is subtracted for the Hero's leather armor, so the Hero only takes 1 wound of damage.
I'm using d6 here, because I *like* using d6. I wondering however if I should move to d10, to provide a greater variation in the results. With a d6, I may find that the results are too predictable. I'm wondering if that rat is not going to have any chance at all of hitting the hero once the hero gets up to the higher skill level. (Unless he surpises him) A d10 may allow that rat to get lucky. If I moved to d10, I could say that a result of "10" nets an additional +1 to the total, or perhaps even an additional die altogether. if I go with a d10, what would be a decent number of dice to assign to a character's skill for basic proficiency? 3 dice? 4 dice?
Anyway - sorry for being so chatty for a new guy. I'd be grateful for your opinions and suggestions.
Respectfully submitted
Falloutfan
http://www.bgdf.com/files/My_Uploads/Larienna/diceprob.pdf
http://www.bgdf.com/files/My_Uploads/Larienna/d10prob.pdf
It is not an exact solution but it can help you. "Heavy gear" was using a system which looked almost like this.
Now since you are using opposing rolls, it is a bit more complicated to calculate, but calculating probabilities is a bit less important.
Those are interesting. Thanks for providing the link. It's easier to check a table rather than roll 5d6 a hundred times.
First, you must make sure that you offensive roll give generally higher results than defensive rolls. Else, the balance will 0 and there will be a lot of situations where there is no hit no damage.
Good point, I'll bear that in mind while play testing. I think I'll extend the skill ranges a bit. I do want there to be SOME hits that cause no damage, as that would be useful for influences that don't need to penetrate armor. Too many hits like that however, will lead to boredom.
Sincerely,
Falloutfan