fudging dice rolls

[AKABigBlack]

does anyone have a good way to fudge dice rolls? especially to hit and damage rolls? i'm going to be running my first game soon and the PC's are low level. i really don't want some hot dice to kill them off prematurely.....

[Andraax]

In the C&C ruleset, I just have GM rolls hidden. Then, instead of using targeting for NPCs, I just do the rolls with no target. Once I have one that I like, I drag and drop it on the character's token. As far as the players are concerned, I did targeting like normal, looks the same from their side.

[AKABigBlack]

this, i like. i'm at work and can't check, but is there a way to turn of the GM dice roll shadow for the clients? (using the 5E ruleset)

[Andraax]

No, but I roll the dice at random times, then pick one off the chat window when I need it. My players have gotten used to the fact that they see dice rolls all the time. I do the same thing in face to face games - roll the dice behind the screen at random times, then pick one I want to use when I need it.

[Valarian]

I don't fudge rolls. In fact, I make all rolls out in the open (not hidden). The roll of the dice decide the fate of the player characters. That said, I don't call for a roll unless the situation would demand it. Searching a room? Unless there's a time pressure or a really cunningly hidden secret door to find then why make the PC roll. Sooner or later, they're going to find it.

The thing is, if players know that you fudge rolls then they expect you to fudge the rolls in their favour. That means, if something bad happens to their character, it's your fault. It's the GM's decision to make that bad thing happen. You may as well not roll and just say what will happen. If the dice work against a player they can curse your luck with the dice, or curse the dice, but they can accept the randomness of the event. Only call for a roll when the random element calls for it, or suspense in the game requires it, and this becomes even more acceptable. Use whatever the 5e equivalent of the "take 10" or "take 20" mechanic is to handwave minor or non-time critical actions.

I used to fudge rolls, but I've learnt that it's a bad thing to do. My advice would be to accept the randomness of the dice.

[Griogre]

If you want to only occasionally fudge dice rolls and are willing to accept some randomness then one of the easiest ways is to just give plus or minus mods to your DM dice rolls. IE if the monsters have been constantly hitting the character(s) and you want to give a low level character a break then just do everything as normal but give the monster a minus to hit. Especially if you are using automatic hit resolution, its the most seamless way to fudge without the players being aware. It's not perfect just because occasionally the monster will crit or roll a one so the mod won't matter.

Like Valarian, while I do roll hidden dice I almost never fudge rolls, and when I do - its mostly for story reasons.

[Dekorume]

Like Griogre, I too just give the npc mobs either a minus to attack and damage rolls or I'll give them disadvantage on the rolls. If I've made an encounter that turned out to be too over-powering for the players. Although, I prefer to let the die rolls stand and then give the party a chance to change the outcome, two examples from my game:

A giant frog leaps off a sarcophagus and scores a swallow whole on a pc, the character would have died at the end of the round. I allowed two of their companions to "share" the damage as they each reached into the frog's mouth to pull their companion to safety before actually being swallowed. three players ended up damaged and alive instead of one player dead. These players had actions that took place after the frog in the initiative order, but before the end of the round.

Skeleton archers have perforated the player character, with the last skeleton's arrow scoring the death blow; I allow any party members that have range actions attack the skeleton 6 (the one scoring the death blow), ruling that if they can drop the skeleton before he drops their companion the last shot will be a miss instead. However, they would all have to take their attacks at a disadvantage in order to react in time.

This allows the players to help one another in dire straits, but doesn't guarantee success. Remember, we DMs have Creative Control.

[damned]

Welcome Dekorume!

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[VenomousFiligree]

I never understand people who roll dice then don't use the result, why roll in the first place? But, maybe that's just me....

[Dekorume]

@damned: Thank you for making my first post special. *grin*
@VenomousFiligree: I can only speak for myself, but I will change the outcome of a die roll to keep the game (and usually a player or two) alive. Killing players is easy, the difficult part is keeping them alive long enough to see the story come to life. Creativity, Fun and the Story trump rules and die rolls, in my humble opinion.

As always,

Dek