Using different dice (dx)

[Chrono22]

So, I was thinking about probability and stuff. Even when you take all of a person's skill, natural ability and talent into account, there are still things where all of that stuff only has a small chance of altering the outcome. So, in other words sometimes characters' lack of control of the circumstances means they can still fail (no matter how good they are at an activity).
Perhaps a range of dice would help to portray this?

Instead of a d20, you could use a d10 for low-risk activity, d20 for high risks, and a d100 for "random chance". The problem with this idea though, is opposed rolls. Sometimes what's considered a low risk activity for one person, would be a high risk activity for another person. But because the dice ranges are larger for the d20, the unskilled attempt has a higher chance of overcoming the d10 roll.
I suppose it might be solved if you applied the die results as penalties... but in general isn't subtraction teh bad? People don't like doing it. Also, people associate high numbers with rolling well.

Any suggestion/advice?

[Solaris]

Diminishing returns. The player confusion and reworking of the system just isn't worth the effort.

[Chrono22]

Eh, I wasn't talking about any system specifically. More like, a hypothetical one. So, there is no "reworking". Just building.

[Solaris]

Hmm. It still seems to run into the problem of diminishing returns, but I'm not fond of making a system from scratch when there's probably something out there already doing what you're trying to do to begin with. That said, it seems like a fairly reasonable setup. What were you thinking on using for the character building?

[Chrono22]

Eh, I'll tell you in a PM. Don't want to take the thread off topic.

[Silverscale]

Well normally you would have both parties roll the same kind of dice so the outcome is straightforward.

But let say you had your low risk person rolling against your high risk person.....one would be rolling a d10, and the other a d20 if you want to make it so that a high roll for the d20 didn't automatically beat the d10 since the d10 cold never roll higher than 10, then make the results proportional.

For example the d10 comes up 8, and the d20 comes up 15, since 8/10 is greater than 15/20 (4/5 vs 3/4) then the person who was rolling the d10 wins.

Does that make any sense?

[Solaris]

Alternatively, give the low-risk person a +10 bonus on top of his roll. After all, he's good enough at what he does that he has less risk than the person rolling the d20. It helps to not have to do fraction multiplication at the gaming table.

[Chrono22]

Hmm. That could work. I could make decreased risk-step a byproduct of having a skill as one of a character's talents. Functionally it would mean he could always take ten... there would be some issues with passive defense though, but I can work those out later.

[Silverscale]

Alternatively, give the low-risk person a +10 bonus on top of his roll. After all, he's good enough at what he does that he has less risk than the person rolling the d20. It helps to not have to do fraction multiplication at the gaming table.

A simple table would clear up that problem in a heart-beat
d20 - d10
1-2, 1
3-4, 2
5-6, 3
7-8, 4
9-10, 5
11-12, 6
13-14, 7
15-16, 8
17-18, 9
19-20, 10

I don't know the coding for tables
Or something like that......looking at it it doesn't seem right somehow.....

[the_l_z]

{table]d20 | d10
1-2| 1
3-4| 2
5-6| 3
7-8| 4
9-10| 5
11-12| 6
13-14| 7
15-16| 8
17-18| 9
19-20| 10
[/table]

there is your table
but I would just make the 1d10 person roll twice and minus 1 from his roll
which would end up
{table]D20 | 2D10-1
1-2 | (2-3)-1
3-4 | (4-5)-1
5-6 | (6-7)-1
7-8 | (8-9)-1
9-10 | (10-11)-1
11-12 | (12-13)-1
13-14 | (14-15)-1
15-16 | (16-17)-1
17-18 | (18-19)-1
19-20 | (20-21)-1
[/table]

[Milskidasith]

Here's an idea: Low roll wins. It's way easier than your complicated solutions. I mean, having to look up a table to know what my dice roll means? That's just blech.

[the_l_z]

I understand but I can't help but make tables when they are asked for

[Solaris]

Here's an idea: Low roll wins. It's way easier than your complicated solutions. I mean, having to look up a table to know what my dice roll means? That's just blech.

That's kind of what I was getting at, yes, about looking up tables and/or doing math. It gets even worse when we start considering the possibility of ability/skill modifiers.
Low roll winning solves a whole host of problems quite elegantly. For one, penalizing the person who's good at something is just stupid, and that's what making the d10 on par with a d20 or d100 roll is doing.