Possible alternative to new dice roll system

[Antheal]

I've noticed that many of the complaints about the new damage notations point out that the probability distributions for multiple dice in the same throw, create a non-linear range.

How about if damage information was given as an average value instead of an x-y range?

Many of the other complaints are than by displaying the range damage in the "main" body of text and the xdy notation seemingly as an afterthought, implies disrespect to D&D's roots.

One suggestion that could satisfy people would be to have the xdy notation in the main body of descriptive text, with an "average damage" value in a line at the bottom, as opposed to a x-y range.

This way, people who don't even care about weapon or spell descriptions will only need to glance briefly at the bottom line, see a single average damage value for their given weapon/spell, and decide instantly whether they want to use it or not. No thinking required.

People to take the time to read the descriptions along with the D&D style xdy text will understand how the average damage value at the bottom is calculated, and may even learn to get used to the mental arithmetic to do it in their heads.

One last thing, I feel it's vitally important to take the nature of using "loaded" dice into account when displaying a damage value range/damage average regardless of whether my idea has merit or not.

[donfilibuster]

No point in a third method, either they respect the d20 or not, the new damage notation by itself is good for any game.
It is just that d&d was about rolling dice and ddo the online version of it.

[SisAmethyst]

By the way, the 'Base Damage Rating' of a weapon already show this kind of avearage value. For a +2 Greataxe I have it shows 9,35

Using the dice 1d12+2:
we get (1+2+3+...+10+11+12)/12 + 2 = 8,5

Crit 20/x3 = 5%
we get (8,5*0,95) + (8,5*3*0,05) = 9,35

[Antheal]

LOL How stupid of me to forget that!

It would be nice if there was something similar added for spells, that changes according to enhancement lines taken and active metamagics. But that's a suggestion for another thread, I think.

[SisAmethyst]

LOL How stupid of me to forget that!

It would be nice if there was something similar added for spells, that changes according to enhancement lines taken and active metamagics. But that's a suggestion for another thread, I think.

I guess for spells it is more difficult and less meaningfull as
1. The final result may divergence a lot
2. Weapons you may want to compare to know which one to sell/buy, while spells are something active and depend more on the mob you want to cast onto.

Anyhow for spells I guess it is more important to know if you should use fire or acid on specific Golems or not or in other words which spell for which situation

[Matuse]

It's not like the new and improved descriptions are even accurate.

When it says a spell does 1 to 6 points per level, this is a blatant lie.

A spell that CLAIMS to do 1d6 is actually doing 1d3+3.