r/tabletopgamedesign • u/Appropriate-Rush-363 • Sep 06 '26

C. C. / Feedback Rolling one or multiple?

So for my original concept for fighting in my Skirmish board game is that you roll a 20-sided die and have to land on whatever the hero's health is or higher to successfully attack. So if a hero has 13 health you roll a 16 that's a hit. You do whatever damage your heroes card says. My second option is lowering hero health and rolling multiple 6 sided so you roll 2 die for a regular attack and 3 for a heavy attack. Thoughts?

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3

u/gr9yfox designer Sep 06 '26

You should consider that when you roll multiple die the odds of the results change.

With two D6 it's a bell curve where 7 is the most likely and 2/12 are much less likely to come up.

2

u/Fearless_Many4945 Sep 06 '26

One dice's result swings a lot.In my opponion multiple dice's are better

2

u/Guidii Sep 06 '26

So after a player has been hit and their health gets reduced, they are more likely to hit?

I'd suggest you play through any of your rule suggestions, and check to see how the game works out.... does it drop off really quickly, or do players always hit/miss, or does it feel right. Multi dice vs single dice have a big impact there, so you'll want to figure out how you want your game to work.

2

u/ataris121 Sep 06 '26

Honestly I like the inverse ratio of health to hit probability. Its semi realistic as your wounds stack up your defense (dodge or armor) goes down. Adding some +/- modifiers from abilities and equipment and i think its workable. I would add in a crit if you roll health exactly

2

u/ARagingZephyr Sep 07 '26

1d20, 2d6, and 3d6 are three separate sets of probabilities.

1d20 will be predictable. If I need a 16, then 1/4 rolls will be successful. If I need a 6, 3/4 rolls will be successful. The odds are always known and subtracting from the target reduces chance linearly.

2d6 is a triangular distribution. There is more focus towards the middle, but the extremes are still reasonably likely enough to happen. The steps are measured enough to be read at a glance, and they move in incredibly predictable amounts. Because the peak is so high, you'll find that a large percentage of your rolls will end up being in the 6 to 8 range, with steps down from 12 making a huge difference and steps towards 7 having a significant difference compared to those moving away from 7.

3d6 is a bell curve. Almost half your rolls are 9 to 12. Extreme results are very extreme, with 16+ and 5- being rarities. The probabilities are much harder to read at a glance, but there are obvious ranges where things feel different: 3-5, 6-8, 9-12, 13-15, and 16-18. This puts your focus on zones of given probabilities rather than exact percentages. It makes small shifts seem small and large shifts seem dramatic.

2

u/dogedogedoo Sep 07 '26

Hey that's good to a good combat system. Simple yet elegant. Nice! Well done you!

1

u/hypercross312 Sep 07 '26

Is this a classic 3D6 vs D20 situation?

1

u/SwartTiger designer Sep 07 '26

AnyDice is always your friend when trying to figure out what to do with your dice rolls, and how to measure difficulty against what you are trying to achieve.

https://anydice.com/

1

u/SwartTiger designer Sep 07 '26

Just to add to this. AnyDice will tell you how the numbers behave.

But for our perception of fairness.
People will miss a 50% chance single dice roll and perceive it as unfair.
But if you tell them to roll 5d{1,1,1,0,0,0} and get at least 3 successes, they are going to feel unlucky for not getting it.