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Mossop
October 22nd, 2011, 02:11
Hi guys,

Might be a real simple answer I cant find on the forums...

I am keen to hide the rolls of my NPCs, but I want them to see the results i.e. Hit, Miss, Critical Hit. Is there anyway of doing this?

Having a play with GM options, I can allow the players to see all the rolls and results, but if I switch off the visibility of the rolls, it also switches off the visibility of the results... the players see nothing at all.

Hope thats clear.

Cheers guys,
Mossop

Moon Wizard
October 22nd, 2011, 02:32
Truthfully, this is the first time I've seen a request for this. Just to understand, I'd like to understand your reasoning behind showing the results but not the rolls. If the results show automatically, then you can't even fudge the result. The only information hidden is the modifier to the roll.

Regards,
JPG

Callum
October 22nd, 2011, 08:03
In fact, this is exactly what I was requesting here:

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?p=115524#post115524

I can't answer for Mossop, but my reason is that I don't want the players to know the foe's attack bonus (or any of the other info shown as affecting the roll), which they wouldn't know, and can use to influence their decision-making. It's a verisimilitude issue - I'm happy for them to work things out from observing what happens, but not just to know the numbers straight away. It's also what would happen round the tabletop - my rolls would be hidden, but I'd tell the players the results.

It's true that showing them the automated results removes the possibility of fudging the rolls, but that's a trade-off I'm prepared to make because having the automation speeds up combat so much. Also, I hardly ever actually fudge rolls, so I don't miss it much. If I really need to do it, I can always fudge some other way.

Mossop
October 22nd, 2011, 09:20
Callum has really hit the nail on the head here... I don't want the players to make assumptions about the NPCs based on combat mods, consciously or sub-consciously, but I want them to be able to see the results, so I don't have to say, by necessity, that it is a Hit or a Miss.

We tend not to fudge results in our game, and rely heavily on the DM to balance the encounters and players not to be too brash... Oh noes!

Cheers guys,
Mossop

Valarian
October 22nd, 2011, 11:02
After the roll has gone through, drag the result by dragging from the dice cartouche in to the chat frame and it'll display. That'll give the result but without showing the roll itself.

Mossop
October 22nd, 2011, 22:59
The results I want to see are the Hit and Miss results, and when I think about it - damage as well (probably the most important one)

The problem came up in a rather interrupted testing session we were running on the new functionality. One of the players was having problems with his voice comms, so he was communicating through chat only. One of my NPCs scored a critical hit, and knocked him to the ground in one fell swoop. We were all cheering on the orc on comms and I didn't realise that these Hit, Miss and Dmg result icons were not showing up on the chat window, it was only my descriptions that was keeping the other PCs in the loop. So the poor halfling thief had no idea! It wasn't until it was his turn that he realised his dilemma, prone on the floor, loosing blood and faced with two angry looking orcs standing over him - especially the one he sneaky attacked pulling him down to just 1hp... Problems!

Having those results icons is awesome, I really like the idea of result transparency where the PCs can go back and see how things have panned out - reliving great critical hits etc...
But I don't want them to see rolls for the verisimilitude and secrecy purposes, hence the dilemma.

Currently we can:
a) Show nothing
b) Show rolls but not results
c) Show rolls and results

But we can't
d) Show no rolls, but show results.

JPG, would this be a simple functionality to include, or would it require some serious code crunching?

Cheers guys for helping to clarify my issue!

Mossop

Callum
October 23rd, 2011, 12:14
After the roll has gone through, drag the result by dragging from the dice cartouche in to the chat frame and it'll display. That'll give the result but without showing the roll itself.
That shows the total modified value, but doesn't show whether the attack hit or missed.

I agree entirely with Mossop - the damage is the most important thing to show, which is why I mentioned that first in my thread. We had very similar experiences, where my players weren't seeing the damage dealt to their characters, and I didn't realise at first that they couldn't see the outcomes of the rolls. Showing hit or miss for NPC attacks would also be nice, as the players are often waiting keenly to see what happens. I generally get round to typing a descriptive sentence, but it would be great for them to be able to see the outcome straight away.

I guess the key question is the one posed by Mossop - can this functionality be added relatively easily? If so, it would really help my game. (And presumably the other side of the coin - hiding the detailed outcomes of PCs' damage rolls, as mentioned in my thread - would also be relatively easy to add.)