Roll Table

Setting up this thread for any table top rolls that need to be done.

On Hit Points, everyone can do the 5e.PHB norm and take max HP on Level 1 class and then the static increase every Level after (i.e. 6 for Fighter, 7 for Barbarian, 5 for Rogue, etc), or you can call it out and roll each new level, for better or for worse...

Max anxiety for high stakes HP rolls. Trash-talking and jeering is permitted.

Well... Playing safe is borning, I'm going to drive it like I stole it.


Edit: I immediately regret my decision.

Yeah I've never had much luck with that, so took the static increase. :-D

Love it.

I'll roll.

Edit: Oops, ignoring first die roll of fighter for Level 1.

Hahaha. That is so awesome! I thought for sure that no one would take this offer.
OK. OK. Because I am so glad to see that there are still some guys who have the balls to roll for Hit Points, I am going to enact a couple grace period options for those who are dissatisfied with rolls and want another throw.

Option 1: Keep what you have, but any roll of 1 can be converted to the static

Option 2: Reroll the whole set and take whatever it is, including 1s.

Option 3: Go to your girlfriend or wife's drawer, get some panties, put them on, and change your hit points to the normal static book increases.

Nah, I'm just talking trash, fellas. I want everyone to be happy with their characters starting point. I know it can take the wind out of the sails on a low HP series. We are not even supposed to be playing on Saturdays anyway, so we can look the other way past what just happened, right? I'm cool with whatever.

Freakin' hats off to Ox and CB though.
You're still hardcore in my book too, Jabes.

Option 2 has my name on it. I thank you for your mercy.

Edit: The Gods have smiled on me this day.

You know I'm gonna rock these panties! :-D

EDIT: Wait a minute, those are some good rolls!

I'm imagining a beholder in pink panties.

Lacy ones!

Being the calculating and methodical type, I'm good with the static side. Besides, it's on the friendly side of the dice math, and over a long enough timeline, that's good enough for me.

Besides, smart badasses don't need to gun for lucky rolls. I'll take those barely above average statics and still hear the lamentations of the enemy's women...

I enjoy the challenge that dice rolls give. Deterministic systems are quite entertaining to figure out (e.g. min-maxing), but randomness drives creativity.

My favorite way to roll up characters is from Stars with out Number:

3d6, down the line: Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha.
If the sum of all the bonuses is below 0, you may re-roll. You may also re-roll if you are a cheating bastard.
Scores may be reduced and improved by trading 1 point for 1 point. However, no score may be raised above 8 and no score reduced below 13.
After adjusting scores, you may replace any one of them with a 16.

True that. Planning has it's day for sure (and maybe HP decisions are in that category haha), but nothing like a healthy pattern of serving up double shots of BRUTAL RANDOMNESS.
Big win or big loss? Hero or goat? Sometimes it's on the thin corner edge of a d6, d20, or d100. Dig it!

Something tells me that there will be plenty of dice rolls and brutal randomness either way. Dice aren't to be trusted. Hell, look at Oxbox's first set above (1,3,3) and Constablebrew's (2,8,3). Only DMJ's mercy prevents those guys from having thoroughly squishy characters to start (at least hp wise). I'm a big fan of not needing a hand from the DM.

Mine is probably a mindset cultivated from playing table top Warhammer 40k and tactical combat games. I like to stack the odds in my favor, and the excitement for me comes from successfully using those odds to my advantage.

RNGs shouldn't be trusted.

First time rolling on the Table Top...

Rolling a low HP is just a signal to play the game in a different way, use different tactics. If you are a tank with tons of HP, then you want to engage the enemy directly since you can soak up their damage. If you have low HP then you have to use more skirmish-like tactics. Sometimes you get challenges that really impact how you play - you built a tanky character but rolled low HP. Now you have a challenge in finding what odds you can manipulate into your favor.

I agree. I don't like purposely gimping myself, but chance can make things more interesting and challenge you.

Some people just like the thrill of chance, even when it's just some dice in a game. I can appreciate that.

However, there will be plenty of chance throughout our gameplay without letting the dice create 'challenges' to overcome via a soft character (and, all else the same, a higher hp character is just more versatile, less one dimensional, and consequently more interesting). We will roll a shit ton of dice before it's all said and done, and my interest in overcoming my character being soft is zero (as is my interest in being relegated to a 'skirmisher', or some role/play style that doesn't appeal to me).

To each their own fellas, but you gotta ask yourself: if you like the idea of playing a challenging character, who has an inherent weakness, maybe your DM's and GM's haven't properly challenged you? I find, for the most part, that the majority of players' gaming experience is the softer kind where the DM coddles them, and spares them, etc. In the simplest terms, in the games I GM, you won't find players looking to challenge themselves with unnecessary weaknesses, because the game will be hard enough as it is. I'm never out to 'get' my players, but if they do something stupid, or the dice don't go their way, they pay the price. It makes for a much better game.

I've never gamed with DMJ before, but I know he's a fan of realism in his games, so I've got to wonder if he's comfortable pulling the trigger and killing a character. Based on what I know, I'm inclined to think he is.

Oh yes, I have known the joy of a hardcore GM. My favorite GM was a wargamer, expert strategist, and always outclassed me and my fellow PCs when it came to utilizing the game mechanics to their fullest. No mistake was forgiven, unless it were in the nature of the npc. It was a challenge every session. I lasted an average of three sessions with him before having to roll up a new PC. Part of that was my dumb mistakes. Part was foolhardy PCs. And part was my exceptionally bad dice rolling. Fun.

Yo, PC death has been a part of DMJ-managed gaming since the 1980s! Remember: DMs don't kill people, monsters that are controlled by DMs kill people.

In all seriousness, it is annoying to have a DM who is out to kill players. That was a pretty big problem in the past if you ask me. Maybe the pendulum has swung the other way now, and a new trend is that DMs are constantly cooking the books and running protection plans to ensure that PCs never die. Believe me when I say that neither one of those will be a problem here.

After talking with all of you on the boards and PM, I think we are all in the same ballpark viewpoint on this stuff. I advertised Dark Thrones as a tough, gritty, "realistic" game (fake realistic? I know I can be laughed at for that one). All of you guys responded so I know you are here for a setting that is maybe rougher than most. There is purposefully a heavy element of high risk, high reward. Big glory is up for grabs, but fatalities are definitely going to be in play too. If not, then I would be doing a disservice to the characters, making their victories and sometimes their survival illegitimate - a list of accomplishments that all have asterisks hanging on the end.

It seems like a good time to say this maybe: I don't have any commitment to this idea of "balanced encounters" that I have read about. Sure, not every encounter is going to be a no-win death machine, but I am not going to put much of any time to calculate what you guys can handle, and then game up all encounters of being either just a little under or just a little over your threshold of supposed tolerance. I think that is a complete waste of time and puts us all into constant unrealistic story lines.

What when you are low level, you can't roll up on a room full of hostile iron golems? No you can. And if you do, then you should decide on your own to get the fuck out of there unless want to try out the new Death and Dying House Rule set. On the other hand, if you are high level does it mean that you can't be threatened and confronted by a batch of cutthroat highwaymen with STR 12 AC 11 HP 10? No that can still happen. Stupid idea by those guys, but no law against stupidity for NPCs.

The world is what it is. It is based on making your characters the stars of the show for sure, but it isn't made to contort and bend to accommodate any and all choices. Also the dice will have their day too. That is the way it is supposed to be in this game historically, I think so anyway. So sometimes the best of plans can be foiled by bad luck, but other times even the stupidest of moves can turn into the game-winning shot with a timely 20.

Looking forward to the instability of it all. In all the mix, I bet we will see some cool scenes. I know you guys are going to come correct when you step up to Dark Thrones scenery and opponents. And if you get all of the money and the fame, you can rest assured that you earned it.