machine_epsilon
Topic Author
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon 05 Jul 2021, 20:06

Dice math - attribute-based TNs and Favoured mechanic in 2E

Tue 06 Jul 2021, 23:56

I want to preface this by saying I don't play RPGs as a min/max'er, so all of this should be trumped by character concept in my opinion. However, I and the people I'll be playing with are new to the system and I just wanted to wrap my head around the impact of some of these mechanics to inform the choices we'll be making at character creation. Also, I know nothing of bbcode and how to format these tables for the forum, so here's a link to view the Google Doc:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

I wanted to understand the impact of Attribute vs Skill level on probability of success. The tables in that sheet reflect success based on rolling a Gandalf rune on the d12 or by equaling or exceeding the TN. I made a lot of use of AnyDice.com to compile that and can talk about some of it if anybody is interested.

Here are my main takeaways for character creation:

-Skill levels matter more than Attribute. Rolling one extra d6 is like lowering the TN by about 3. (This also means Parry +1 is NBD and even +2 only affects ~1/10 rolls).
-Attributes of 4, 5, and 6 seem perfectly fine. 7 doesn't seem worth the cost of having a 2 or 3 unless you are okay with always failing those skills.
-Favoured is almost as good as adding an extra d6, though it's a little less impactful and doesn't help you roll Tengwars.
-Ill-Favoured is almost as bad as losing a d6.
-Weary is only really impactful if you're rolling three or more dice (i.e. if you have 2d6 or less, you're not likely passing with 1s, 2s, or 3s on your roll anyway). Weary with skill level 3 or higher is similar to losing a d6.
-Rolling 3d6 is key to succeeding at least 50% of the time, so getting favoured or a useful item or some other 1d gain on a 2d6 roll is important.
-Rolling 4d6 means you almost always succeed and investing in rolling even more dice seems a waste of resources. It doesn't even help with Tengwars that much compared to the cost.
-3d6 or better is also important for rolling a Tengwar ~50% of the time. Never plan on rolling more than 1 Tengwar if you can help it.
-Going from Skill level 0 to skill level 1 is a waste unless you plan on increasing it to 2 or 3 in the future (i.e. just save any leftover, single skill points).
-Miserable, for pure success/failure, is barely impactful as a result of 0 on the d12 is practically an auto-fail anyway unless you're rolling 4d6 or more.

Boiling it down further:

Attributes
-7: I will pass most of these tests from the first session with only minimal help
-4, 5, and 6: I can pass these tests with some help immediately and then without much help in the future
-3: I can probably pass one of these skills semi-regularly if I prepare for it
-2: I will basically never pass these tests

Skill levels
-0 and 1: Hail Mary.
-2: spend Hope, use a useful item, gain Favoured, or gain 1d somehow and I feel okay
-3: I already feel okay, a little help if it's a very important test
-4: bring it on
-5+: I probably wasted my skill points unless I'm constantly Weary/Miserable

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 3 guests