To Fudge or Not to Fudge Dice Rolls

So over the past week a lot of digital ink has been spilled on twitter about fudgin dice. There I tried to voice
my opinions but it felt disjointed. So I thought I’d share a bit more detail here and be able to point people
towards it when this conversation rears up again. 

I try not to fudge dice. I don’t like it when DMs do it to me and I don’t like doing it to my players.  Dice are
there to determine things I want taken out of my or my players control. When we roll dice in an RPG it is
done  to add dramatic tension of not knowing the result, to be an “arbiter of fairness” in combat, and
prevent the GM or players from just winning. 

So if I am going to fudge the dice I am violating one of these three statements for why roll the dice. If I am
going to fudge the dice I should ask myself “Why are you fudging the dice and was it the right reason or
should I have avoided a dice roll entirely?” In the heat of a gaming session it can be hard to be this
introspective. So note it down or ask a player to make a note1 for you and keep the game running. 

Three main reasons I want to fudge dice and usually there are better work arounds that I should have used.
1) The PCs should have succeeded at this roll or needed to succeed at the roll for the adventure to
continue.
2) The monster is really tough and the players should be hitting more or the monster should be hitting
less or vice versa.
3) I backed myself into a corner and ratcheted things up to far and now I’m going to see a PC killed over
something stupid like a series of jumps across buildings that just got too hard and now she’s going
to fail and fall.

In the first case. The right answer is to not do that. If the players should succeed let them do it without the
roll. Or better yet use the roll to see if there are complications that will happen later on. This is referred to
in some games as “Failing Forward”2. A good example is the players toss a crime scene looking for clues.
They ultimately need to find a clue here to keep the adventure moving and it will break things if they don’t
get the clue and frustrate me and the players. So give them the clue. But use the dice rolls to see if there
are other complications that arise. Maybe poor rolls mean they find the clue but it can’t be used as
evidence. Or they know contact poison was used because they managed to also come in contact with it.
Or the players take so long to complete the search another crime has been committed or the criminals
have shown up to clean up the scene and now there is a fight. These are some examples. But all ideas I
might jot down in adventures notes as ways to “fail forward”. The worse the players roll the more difficult
the complication is to overcome or the more time lost. But at least the adventure can move forward.
When running a published adventure this can be harder to remember to do or determine ways to
incorporate the concept but it is worth taking the prep time to think about.

The second instance of wanting to fudge dice is when a monster proves too difficult. This is also a harder
case for me to fudge my dice. This is because I always try to roll my dice in front of the players. They
can see what my dice are doing so if the dice are hot the players can see I’m not being a jerk chance
just isn’t on their side and my dice are cold (which seems to happen more frequently than I would like)
they can see that I’m not pulling punches to protect them. However, there are times when I’m testing a
new monster or trying something different that the creatures AC or attack is just too high. Rather than
fudge the dice and let the players hit a little more often or have my monster miss more frequently. I
would rather take the time to reduce the monster’s AC or attack roll. Maybe I’d even tie it to something
creative a player did to describe an attack or just in response to the monster getting hit.  “When your
warhammer slams the orc chieftain you know its helm off. It seems stunned for a moment.” If my players
have pegged the creatures AC at this point I might tell them the new AC of the monster at this point. If t
hey haven’t figured it out yet I would keep it secret so they can keep guessing. The same would be true
if I had lowered the attack. Another option I use less frequently would be to have imposed a condition like
dazed on the monster for a round or two. But that is something I would certainly save for clever actions or
descriptions from the players.

The final instance is the hardest to identify and fix. It usually happens because I’m running the game and
my players have left any semblance of why I had planned for. We are not in uncharted territory and the
dice are helping to tell the story but also based on what the PCs are doing and how the dice are going
they also give me time to think about what might be next. So I don’t always realize when there are critical
rolls about to happen that really shouldn’t be left entirely to chance and by the time I do a PC is
plummeting to their death or I or the PCs are backed into a corner and people are starting to get
frustrated. During this time I often have to call a break on the game grab something to drink and sit back
down after 5 minutes. We recap what has happened, what is going on, and what the PC are trying to do.
During this step back from the immediate action I can get my bearing. Then I can figure out what the
forward looks like and understand what failure might be as well. Now I’m back on track with determining
ways to have the party fail forward. At times like this I might even lean on my players and ask them to
provide me with ideas for what failure looks like and determine how they move forward from here.  It isn’t
my favorite style of running the game but sometimes you take a messy solution and keep things moving
over ruining a whole session because I couldn’t plan it all out perfectly.

In summary (tldnr) there are more options for GMs to use beyond fudging dice. They might have the
same effect but feel less capricious and are applied evenly across all players and actions. So think
about why you fudge your dice and try to use other methods in the future. At the very least it will help
stretch your thoughts about the game’s rules and how to apply them to odd situations. I hope it helps.

Pax ludi and have fun.

1 I try to get my players to keep track of things I may want to revisit later rather than stopping the game
to take the note myself.  It usually consists of me saying something like “X, please send me an email
about the ruling I just made. To check if there is a rule we should have used.”

2 Thanks Robin D. Laws I believe my first contact with this idea was reading about Gumshoe. I started to
get it while running 13th Age by Rob Heinsoo.

My RPG goals for 2020

I have not posted much here.  But I think I should. Or at least I should more often then twice a year. So in preparation for 2020 I am writing this post. It will be my "pledge" to write more.  Some of it will be about mini painting. Some of it will be about games I am in. Some of it will be my ideas and reviews of RPG material. With luck all this extra writing will prompt me into even writing a few more details about a game and setting I'd like to elaborate on.

I know this blog isn't frequent enough to have regular readers but for those of you following it be ready to hear more from me.

Cheers,
Matt

Psionic Sub Classes for 5E

I've been watching The Mike Mearls Happy Fun Hour, lately. He's been showing off some of his design process a lot of it full of idea boards just tossed into a word document and him speaking about the story and feeling he wants represented in play. This is a messy process and it is inspiring to see such a prominent lead do this kind of work in public in an hour. He doesn't always finish what he starts in an hour but he makes a fair bit of progress. A few episodes ago he started looking at creating a psion like sub-class for Wizards. He made enough progress and had enough potential he went on to do this for the fighter and now the monk.


But, enough about how I feel about the videos. The import part is that it has inspired me to think about design. Largely in part because during a few episodes Mike mentioned that there was a design element for Barbarians thought of as the Nova Barbarian. The idea being when the Barbarian stops raging there is an affect that happens. What the design team found out was that it prompted players to enter rages and then end them the next turn to get that effect. This wasn't satisfying and didn't really feel like a barbarian tactic, so it was scrapped. I was thinking about this concept and wanted to try and make it work. That got me on the path to thinking of a barbarian that rages and while raging builds up a pool of damage that is dealt to everyone around her at the end of the rage. The longer the barbarian rages the more damage she will be able to do. But, I couldn't figure out a theme for it until Mike started the psionic sub class series. It made a lot of sense for this Nova Barbarian to be psionic themed. In addition it got me thinking of other classes and concepts to explore. So before showing off my Psionic Barbarian Path, the Path of the Telekinetic. I want to outline a few other sub class and psionic ideas in general. Mostly so when Mike beats me to developing them I can say I tried.

Telekineticist - Barbarian - This class' psionic power is fueled by raw emotion. They are the most terrifying kind of wild talent because thing move and jump around them and often they will never control or understand their power. Those that do are terrible and dangerous because they've learned to tap into their internal turmoil and inflict it physically upon the world.


Mind Spiker - Rogue - This rogues sneak attack does psychic damage. At higher levels it causes confusion and maybe even lets them interrogate the minds of people outside of combat. In addition the mind spiker might even be able to render himself invisible to observers by removing the memory of his presence all together. The mental link to interrogate people might be the kind of thing that is a non-combat ability that the Mind Spiker achieves by "pickpocketing" the mind of another and allowing scrying like abilities on that person.


Mental Mage - Wizard - Mike already covered this and it might be better to run with his idea if it is ever released as an Unearthed Arcana. However I think there might be more options or space to play in particularly if this mage is about fear effects, illusions, and confusion, rather than the psychic damage/thought theft that Mike took the subclass in.


Psychic Surgeon - Bard (specialized in mind & body) - The bard already borders on psionic powers because this class is often about influencing emotions. But taken to an even higher level this class is so in tune with the effects of mind over matter that it can heal the body or tear apart the fragile minds of those that oppose it.

Etheric Summoner - Druid (summons the essence of nature) - This "druid" is attuned to the spirit of nature such that it understand the mind of wild beasts and plants and is able to bring into reality the truest essence of the form. This druid would be able to summon not a bear but instead it summons the essence of a bears rage manifested in a form that perfectly fits that beasts emotion. Or perhaps the druid can cloak herself in the essence of a lionesses' stealthy strike granting her a form and powers beyond just becoming a lion, then after the strike has been made the druid channels the stability and resilience of the spirits in the rocks around her to protect her for the rest of a fight.

Wild Talent - If the design encourages adding some "psionic" abilities that are generic across all the psionic classes or even a pool of abilities that are psionic and not specificall exclusive to class this would make them available to everyone in addition it might be nice if a player wants to add more psionic abilities to their class.


As you can see these classes above are still germinating ideas. But I hope they interest people enough to want to play them and also to want to make their own ideas. However this post has grown long enough that I think the Barbarian should in it's own post. That will be posted this afternoon once I have cleaned it up a little.

Path of the Telekinetic Rage

As I mentioned in my previous post here is the for the Path of the Telekinetic Rage. And please if you play this or like the idea but think it needs improvement let me know. If you hate the idea please don't let me know. I am not sure I want to deal with that kind of vitriol the internet can produce here.

Barbarian: Path of the Telekinetic Rage

This document presents a personally created and playtest quality option for the Barbarian: Path of the Frenetic Rage 

This Is Unofficial Content 

This is content has not be vetted by or reviewed by Wizards of the Coast. It was developed after listening to too much “Mike Mearls’ Happy Fun Hour”. I wanted to take a stab at a design the Mike Mearls shied away from. Feedback and comments are welcome.  

Primal Path 

At 3rd level, you choose a path that shapes the nature of your rage. At the DM’s discretion, the following primal path is available to a barbarian in addition to those offered in the campaign. 

Path of the Telekinetic Rage 

Those who choose the path of the Telekinetic Rage might have been thought of a possessed by spirits as a child or worse a controller of foul magics. As things around them occasionally moved.  But in truth it was just the force of their emotions acting upon the world. As they grew they learned to control and harness those emotions until they could embrace The Path of the Telekinetic Rage. Releasing that emotional force as an attack and cathartic release. 

Building Rage 

Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, you can exert your emotion energy upon the world. When choose to enter a rage you may choose to enter a Building Rage. A Building Rage grants you a rage pool that adds one die at the end of every turn you are raging. When your rage ends for each die in your rage pool inflict 1d4 force damage to every creature within 10’ of you in addition you suffer one level of exhaustion. 

Kinetic Control 

Beginning at 6th level you are able to control your emotions enough to alter the world around you in more subtle ways. This allows you to cast mage hand at will. 

Rejuvenating Rage 

Beginning at 10th level you no longer suffer a level of exhaustion when you expend your Rage Pool and it results in damage to at least one enemy. In addition when you score a critical hit you may expend all the dice currently in your Rage Pool without ending your Building Rage. 

Ranged Rage 

Starting at 14th level when you expend your Rage Pool you can channel the energy to a point you can see within 50’. This creates a creating a 10’ burst centered on the target. 

1d13 things to Start or Change your 13th Age Campaign

1d13 events to start or drastically alter your 13^th Age Campaign.

1.       12 Golden barges of tremendous size with red sails anchor at Santa Cora, the people from the ships spend their gold freely and speak of their religion ‘The Church of the Unified Monotheism’. They seek audience with the Priestess but quarrel with her when she refuses to acknowledge that monotheism is the only valid religion, with all other gods and goddess aspects and agents of their one true deity. Without warning, the monotheists besiege the city. Their golden ships lift out of the water, their golden masts and red sails forming great wings, from which they rain down divine retribution upon the unbelievers.

2.       A storm hundreds of miles across rages on the Sea of Monsters, at its heart a tornado 600’ in diameter destroys everything it touches. As it approaches the coast it is kept at bay by the powers of the Arch-Mage, and the storm shatters against his wards. As the days pass the wards weaken eventually succumbing to the power of the storm. Many were evacuated and much of the Dragon Empire survived, but the capitol has been lost and the Dragon Emperor was wounded, and now seeks seclusion while he heals.

3.       The Lich King quits, through his emissaries he contacts the Dragon Emperor and informs the empire that he will abandon his claim of dominion over the empire if he is permitted to claim the role as chief arch-mage and purveyor over all arcane defenses and research. In addition the Lich King offers to grant the Dragon Emperor immortality. Hearing that the Dragon Emperor is considering the deal, the Arch-Mage leaves his official holdings to wage a war of subterfuge against the Lich King.

4.       The Red Dragon returns erupting from a mountain. The volcanic activity after this escape blocks the sun from the north plunging it into a perpetual night. The lands in all other directions receive little sun, the temperatures plunge by 10 degrees. The lack of direct sun causes crops to fail and famine spreads across the land.

5.       The Crusader begins a new offensive against the Diabolist. To bolster his forces he offers elite training to any that would seek it at CASTLE PERILOUS. Those who go in return changed. Many appear normal, but for their unrelenting fealty to the Crusader but others… they hide their arms and faces. Rumors abound that the hidden feature are for the best lest people see the maddening disfigurements they bear. Those of a learned nature imply that those poor souls bear the fractures of demons and that their minds have been touched by that wickedness, some even portent that they have the immortality of a fiend wine a bit of their mind inhabits the maelstrom of the abyss.

6.       A new Gold Dragon is born. While those would ordinarily be a heralded event, some claim it is a sign that the Great Gold Wrym has died in the Abyss and this is the Wyrm reincarnated. Without the Great Gold Wyrm’s intervention to keep the demons at bay the Diabolist’s influence increases. Her schemes hamper the Crusader and throw him off the hell holes he has conquered allowing new forms of chaos to rage across the land.

7.       The statue of the first dwarf, said to bow only before the Dwarf King or Queen, has become active. For the first time in two Ages it has sought out an individual and bowed before him signaling a divine change in the leadership of the Dwarfs. Stranger still the statue of the first dwarf has found and prostrated itself before the Orc Lord.

8.       While staring across the vastness of space and learning the deeper truths of magic and the arcane world, the Arch-Mage realizes that he now understands the secrets of ruling his people to create Utopia. To achieve his goals he retreats to one of his flying realms. While he finishes the preparations to bring about a new Utopia under his rule, the customary rituals that keep the Lich King bound are not renewed, nor are the rituals that redirect the lay lines to keep the sea of storms pacified. Meanwhile the oracles for when to plant and harvest have been made by less skillful magi resulting in famine as farmers plant before the frosts are finished and reap after the dry season has already begun.

9.       In the center of the Dragon Empire a new Hell Hole has opened up with signs several others are about to open up. The creation of a new Hell Hole has caused waves of fear and panic rippling throughout the Empire, sparking new rumors that the Diabolist has begun a new offensive while gaining greater powers of control over fiendish minions. While these new openings are of her creation, it from a ritual gone awry, they are opening too fast for her to control causing her dominion over fiends to weaken while other summoners find they can bind ever more power fiends to their will without risking nearly as much of their souls in the bargain.

10.   A new wave of Living Dungeons surge forth to the surface. Lands once peaceful are plagued by the beasts that vomit forth from these dark vaults. People from all over look to the Dwarf Lord, to learn why so many Living Dungeons reached the surface. But, no messages are returned. Rumors begin to spread that the Dwarf King and his court have been consumed by a terrible dungeon and the creatures it birthed.

11.   The dead in heavily forested areas have begun to rise from their graves. While many believe this to be a plot of the Lich King and both the Dragon Emperor and the Arch-Mage hire bands of adventurers to reinforce the grave-wards said to keep the dead in place. But all is in vain, as these are not traditional undead. Instead the High Druid has found a new strain of fungus that will reanimate the dead and given time even infect the living as this plague spreads so too will nature while humanity’s oppression of nature will be forced to an end.

12.   One morning everyone awakes to find that it is midday, as time passes the sun does not waver in the sky staying always in the middle of the sky. Astrologers are perplexed by this endless day. Even the Archmage is uncertain as to why the Sun is not chased across the sky, unless the moon were unable to do so. Rumors swirl and many, especially in the underworld speculate that the moon was stolen by the Prince of Shadows. Unwittingly his grandest heist has ruined his domain of darkness.

13.   The Elf Queen accepts a rare invitation to travel to a Winter Court of the fairies. While she is away the fey Duke Urien sits the throne, declaring himself the Elf King; inciting a civil war throughout the Elven Court. The Dark Elves near universally support Urien. Several of the other courtiers remain silent to ensure they are not executed by Urien’s exuberant Loyalty Squads. While others declare for their queen. The bloodshed and mistrust running through the Eleven Court bleeds through to the world creating greater mistrust between the fey and even resurfacing old rivalries which threaten to unbalance the greater peace of civilization.