Question about dicebag and RP.

[silverdraco]

I have a question About the dicebag and it being used while you RP about stuff.

It is because I had a great RP last night With a couple of players.(about 6 to 8 hours ago.)
I was a great RP and enjoyed it alot. But it did gave me a question. I saw those players use the dice bag system alot, and I think it was because of trying to find out if their characters noticed stuff or not.
But how do you work with that? I saw the dice numbers like: "Charisma 3 + 4 = 7" but i didn't see any failure or succes for that mater. So how do you guys work with that. Do you think of a number before you throw the dice or what?

Since I'm new here, and new to RP I'd like to know about it.

[GhostWhoWalks]

D&D 3E has recast most mechanics into a clever, universal system known as d20. mechanic called a Difficulty Class, or DC for short. The DC is a set number that must be either met or beaten on a roll of a twenty-sider. high is always a success and low is always a failure.It is very easy for a DM to quickly come up with a difficulty class on the fly for just about any situation the characters might encounter. Here is one simple rule of thumb:[TABLE=head;sort=1a,2,3]Difficulty Levels

Difficulty of TaskDC

Everyday|Automatic|
Easy|5|
Moderate|10|
Hard|15|
Extreme|20|
[/TABLE]  Besides the DC number itself, another important consideration is what ability score should modify the success check. For example, Charisma would be used for a task that required persuasion. The character's score in the relevant ability will then modify the DC check, as shown in the following table:
[TABLE=head;sort=1a,2,3]Ability Score Modifiers

Ability ScoreModifier

3|-4|
4-5|-3|
6-7|-2|
8-9|-1|
10-11|0|
12-13|+1|
14-15|+2|
16-17|+3|
18|+4|
[/TABLE]  In addition to ability scores, other factors may also provide modifiers—including the character's class and level. But the beauty of the DC system is that all of the modifiers are expressed as bonuses that are easily added together.
  Once the DC is set and all bonuses calculated, the player rolls 1d20. If the adjusted roll meets or beats the DC, the character succeeds. If the adjusted roll is lower than the DC, the attempt fails.
  Nearly impossible tasks would have DC's as high as 40. For example, bashing down an IronPortcullis is a strength check DC 30. Knowing an Obscure bit of information would be a DC 35 Lore check. Etc. Rarely do DCs go above 40, unless you're talking about the impossible. Swiming up a waterfall for example is DC 80 swim check. Balancing on a Cloud? DC 120. Ignoring all damage from a fall from ANY height? DC 100. Like I said... nuts. But at epic levels? Nearly anything is possible. An epic 40th level ranger can track someone over stone in a snow storm after a week, at a DC 90 Wilderness Lore check.

[Philosopher]

Ahah! I'm going to nab the table above the above. (The stuff about the DC things), I have been using the spot check to see if I have a group of ogres, usually I blindingly run into battle without realising theres a bunch of human-hungry, brain-bashing, club-err clubbing ogres right in front of me. I do survive most of the time but I just blame my helmet or my hood.

[GhostWhoWalks]

Remember that the DCs set are up to the DM. There is no set system. The above is just a general idea. And useful for players that wanted to do checks without a DM.

[Gulnyr]

There are also opposed skill checks, where the skill roll of one character is measured against the roll of another.  Let's say two bards are having a contest to see who plays the better lute.  Each rolls a Perform check, and the bard with the higher roll is the better player.

There are skill rolls where the skill check of one character sets the DC for another.  Hide vs. Spot is a common example.  The first character rolls a Hide check, and that total is the DC for the second character's Spot check.  If the roll fails, the first character has sucessfully hidden from the second.  If the roll succeeds, the second character has spotted the first.  NWN handles this skill vs skill roll automatically, but doesn't do some others.

If one character wanted to Bluff another, the opposed roll would be a Wisdom check, since NWN doesn't include the Sense Motive skill, which is a Wisdom based skill.  That's not a perfect solution, since the "attack" exists in-game without its "defense."  It might work better to use opposed Charisma and Wisdom rolls between PCs, and save the Bluff check for DM'd events, just to try to keep things fair.

Sometimes you'll see characters interacting in playful ways that are still somewhat like attacks.  Maybe one character throws something at another, or tries to pick up another and toss them into the pond.  The dice bag is used then to represent how successful the characters are in their attempts.  So one character might make a Dexterity check to throw something, and the other make a Dexterity check to dodge whatever was thrown.  The higher roll determines who was successful.

[Weeblie]

I tend to use will save against bluff checks as wisdom checks has far too low modifiers (a little bit more "fair" with will save... ).

[Gulnyr]

There you go!  I knew I was missing something.

[Drizzlin]

silverdraco - 4/19/2006  11:48 PM

I have a question About the dicebag and it being used while you RP about stuff.

It is because I had a great RP last night With a couple of players.(about 6 to 8 hours ago.)
I was a great RP and enjoyed it alot. But it did gave me a question. I saw those players use the dice bag system alot, and I think it was because of trying to find out if their characters noticed stuff or not.
But how do you work with that? I saw the dice numbers like: "Charisma 3 + 4 = 7" but i didn't see any failure or succes for that mater. So how do you guys work with that. Do you think of a number before you throw the dice or what?

Since I'm new here, and new to RP I'd like to know about it.

I think what you may be seeing is not from a players dice bag. If you type *listens quietly*, implying that your toon is listening to what someone is saying, the game will do a listen check for you and show the roll. There are other commands like this that do the check. This is more or less for a GM and not really a guide for RP.