Simultaneous attack and damage rolls, would it be possible?

[GainunX]

Would it be (by extension perhaps) that the attack and damage rolls be carried out simultaneously? This is a little trick on the table that greatly increases the speed and fluidity of combat. As the FG automatically applies the damage, DMs would only deal with the essentials: describe the scene ...

[Trenloe]

It would be possible with an extension.

The general thinking is that this could create more issues than it would solve - the player or GM forgot to apply an effect/modifier before the roll that may have meant the attack would have missed (or hit) and so damage needs to be manually removed (or applied), the GM has something up their sleeve that would mean an attack would miss, etc., etc..

If you want to remove the GM check from the process, then you can show the result of the attack to the players in the chat window and they can then roll for damage. Thus leaving the GM to "deal with the essentials" as you say. To do this, turn on the Campaign Option: Game (GM) -> Chat: Show results to client. Turning this option on allows the players to see if they've hit or missed and so can then roll for damage. Speeding up combat quite a lot.

[GainunX]

The general thinking is that this could create more issues than it would solve - the player or GM forgot to apply an effect/modifier before the roll that may have meant the attack would have missed (or hit) and so damage needs to be manually removed (or applied), the GM has something up their sleeve that would mean an attack would miss, etc., etc..

I had thought of something that would apply damage only if the attack hit, but maybe it would be more complicated (if not impossible) to achieve by extension.

[LordEntrails]

...
If you want to remove the GM check from the process, then you can show the result of the attack to the players in the chat window and they can then roll for damage. Thus leaving the GM to "deal with the essentials" as you say. To do this, turn on the Campaign Option: Game (GM) -> Chat: Show results to client. Turning this option on allows the players to see if they've hit or missed and so can then roll for damage. Speeding up combat quite a lot.
This is what my groups do and it seems to run very quickly. I'm usually busy doing something (prepping my NPC's attacks?) and don't even notice if they have hit or missed, I just catch the extra (damage) roll in the chat or by what someone says.

[Zacchaeus]

You'll also have issues with character classes who have a choice to apply additional damage following a hit. For example many Paladin and Fighter abilities allow for additional damage and effects once it is known that they have hit. Or if a character has an ability which could negate a hit such as the Fighter's and Paladin's defensive fighting styles. Or if an NPC has the Parry ability - or many other such things which might turn a hit into a miss.