Quote:
Originally Posted by tbeard1999
HERESY ALERT
I actually stopped using 3d6 as the resolution mechanic and went to 1d20.<ducks for cover> Before being burned at the stake, I’d like the chance to at least make the case.
Comment: After many years of fiddling with TFT, I finally determined that the 3d6 bell curve is too steep and causes players to overvalue DX (i.e. an adjDX of 12 = 74% chance of success; adjDX 13 = 84% and so on). Replacing the 3d6 roll with a d20 will simultaneously make lower attribute characters more capable and expand the opportunities for more powerful characters. Obviously, converting monsters will require some effort (like recognizing that IQ 6 animals would have a revised IQ of 2).
OK, you may now set me on fire...
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I would like to hope that there is absolutely no chance of replacing 3d6 with d20. I cannot stand d20 based systems. There is nothing wrong with the probability curve of 3d6, in fact I find it perfect for this sort of game. The problem is that rolls are not opposed. This leads to a situation where, once a character's adj DX reaches 14, the success chance is about 90% whether the opponent has an 8DX or a 14DX. Clearly that makes no sense at all.
As I've posted before, both here and on BGG/RPGGeek, there is an easy fix for this which does not require any other changes to the rules. Basically it's this; "2 fighters of equal DX have a 50% chance to hit one another." So if two fighters of 14 DX meet, they don't both have 90% chance to hit, they both have 50%. Where there is a difference, divide it between the two combatants. So if 14 DX meets 12 DX, the higher has a (10+1) or 11 chance and the lower has a (10-1) or 9 chance, and so on. You can use a table for this but I quickly found we could make the calculations in our heads almost instantly after a little while.
I found this worked very well for us and I've used it consistently over the years. The only problem that can occur is where you give monsters (such as Giants or Ogres) very low DX scores and then have them fighting high DX characters. Once the difference between scores becomes 6 or greater the chance for the lower DX character or monster to hit goes to 7 or less which is a very low probablilty of success.
You can either live with this, and have the huge, but clumsy Ogre who does 4d6 or more of damage, or you can bump up the opposition DX slightly to offer a challenge to your players.