Re: OOC Chatter - Pre-Launch Discussion
Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2016 12:04 am
Oh, yeah, that makes sense. To find the number of ways of rolling N d6 and getting X, you just add up the ways of rolling N-1 d6 to get X-1 to X-6.AleBelly wrote:I don't think there's a good shortcut, so my approach is to build a probability tree. It's pretty easy in Excel. You just have to tabulate the number of all possible rolls that could lead to a given value - you start low (4d6) and build from there using copy and paste. For instance, start with 3d6. Have a cell for each of the possible outcomes (3-18), and to the right of it the number of possible roll outcomes that could produce that number (obviously only one for 3 (1-1-1), but there are 3 possibilities for rolling of 4, 2-1-1, 1-2-1, 1-1-2). You can complete 4d6 by...ah, hell. I'm just going to send the file. You can figure it out...
Looking at the stats in that spreadsheet, if I were designing a crummy-stats bonus I'd base it off of total bonuses or something else based on the actual attributes. Rolling 18d6 results in a pretty tight probability curve: 90% of all characters are going to be in the 51-75 range. A character with the median 63 total points could be really interesting or incredibly boring. A PC with stats 18 13 13 9 6 4 could be hella fun to play, for example, but I'd re-roll 12 11 11 10 10 9 in a heartbeat (okay, maybe I'd name the character "Mediocre Fred" and run with it). The former has a total bonus of +2 or +3 depending on whether the 4 goes into charisma (which is the coward's way out!); the latter has no bonus at all.
That's not to suggest any changes, BTW. Getting the game rolling is more important than optimizing a weak-character bonus.
As for clerics—I have to confess (at the risk of being "that guy," which I realize I already am) that I'd like to have an option that has neither the benefits nor requirements of the religions that Marullus has outlined. One of the things I love about OD&D or LL is how quickly you can get a PC up and delving. Using the equivalent of 2e's "priests of specific mythos" adds some awesome flavor, but it also means that a cleric is more complex to create and play than other classes. So I'd kind of like it if a cleric has the option to worship a god that doesn't give any special benefits but doesn't ask for anything special in return. Call the god Apathos, the god of indifference.
As for Smurfgrill...well, that's largely irrelevant because I'll probably roll up a new PC, but Keehnelf drew it up with a really interesting mix of benefits and drawbacks. Here's the description:
That's what Lug got when he went looking for a bow that would let him add his strength bonus to damage. It's literally a quest item since Lug had to go on a quest to get it. And in Keeping with Keehnelf's idea of having items that would survive their possessors and gain legends of their own, the bow is both uniquely suited to Lug and usable by (some) other characters. So not only is it a really cool and storied item, but it also encapsulates some of Keehnelf's unique touch in that game.Symurgwyl ('Heart's Nest')
'It will not strike at the innocent, and should not be used to hunt the beasts of the wild lest its will falter and it crumble into dust.'
The bow is a masterwork longbow that will offer +1 to hit and +2 damage on all attacks except against non-hostile animals or people of good character. However, to use the bow requires a strength of 16 or higher and if the wielder is not at least 6'6' tall, they suffer a -2 penalty to hit instead of the +1 bonus.
All of which is by way of saying that I have no idea how he came up with 4,002 xp for that bow, what with the combination of powers and limitations.