dogpig00
07-07-2010, 10:19 AM
I noticed the compendium also now shows the dice notation as a range of number. To me this is completely dumb. For example:
Paladin Divine Light III
Activate this ability to deal 18 to 108 points of light damage to all nearby undead creatures. Consumes a use of your turn undead ability. (A successful DC 10 + Paladin Level + Charisma Mod Will save reduces the damage by half.)\n\nD&D Dice: Deals 18d6 light damage to undead.
So instead showing 18d6, it is showing 18 to 108. Sure, 18-108 is easier to understand, but that kind of display masked the extreme statistical impossibility of hitting the extreme ends of the range. For example, it will take on average:
6^18 = 101,559,956,668,416
rolls to hit 6 on all 18 die.
Then, assume the paladin can turn undead 30 times per rest, and rests every 5 minutes, to hit the number 108 in divine light III, it will take:
101,559,956,668,416/(30*12*24*365) = 32,204,450
YEARS to see the maximum or the minimum damage on an 18d6 roll. 32,204,450 YEARS!!
While notation like 18 to 108 seems to be friendly to players not familiar with D&D notation, soon newbies will start to ask, hey how come I never see the maximum damage in Divine Light? The answer--not until you become the undead.
Suggestion: show only the average number (i.e: Activate this ability to deal average 63 points of light damage). The average is all that matters here because it has the highest probability of occurring.
Paladin Divine Light III
Activate this ability to deal 18 to 108 points of light damage to all nearby undead creatures. Consumes a use of your turn undead ability. (A successful DC 10 + Paladin Level + Charisma Mod Will save reduces the damage by half.)\n\nD&D Dice: Deals 18d6 light damage to undead.
So instead showing 18d6, it is showing 18 to 108. Sure, 18-108 is easier to understand, but that kind of display masked the extreme statistical impossibility of hitting the extreme ends of the range. For example, it will take on average:
6^18 = 101,559,956,668,416
rolls to hit 6 on all 18 die.
Then, assume the paladin can turn undead 30 times per rest, and rests every 5 minutes, to hit the number 108 in divine light III, it will take:
101,559,956,668,416/(30*12*24*365) = 32,204,450
YEARS to see the maximum or the minimum damage on an 18d6 roll. 32,204,450 YEARS!!
While notation like 18 to 108 seems to be friendly to players not familiar with D&D notation, soon newbies will start to ask, hey how come I never see the maximum damage in Divine Light? The answer--not until you become the undead.
Suggestion: show only the average number (i.e: Activate this ability to deal average 63 points of light damage). The average is all that matters here because it has the highest probability of occurring.