I'm just curious how many GMs roll behind a screen for combat as opposed to on the table for all to see. (Specifically referring to attack rolls) Melee, Ranged, Spells, etc.
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My group doesn't usually play around a table, but sitting around the living room in chairs (and thus, obviously, sans map), so everyone's rolls (mine included) are technically in the open but not necessarily immediately obvious. But I don't go to a lot of effort to show mine to the players, and certainly never say what I rolled, instead saying things like "What's your AC again?" rather than "Does an 18 hit?". So some effort is made to keep things a little under wraps.
Of course, since I don't usually see their rolls either, the trust involved is something of a two-way street. Actually, I don't think I'd feel quite comfortable runing a game for people I didn't trust not to cheat, though the reverse isn't necessarily true for a new player who doesn't know me yet.
My dm only rolls in front if it's an enemy save or if there is a chance of one of us dying.
I'm thinking of starting a session.
I do think it's appropriate to do so in combat, but not for skill checks.
Just wondering the general consensus.
OP - "How do you roll combat" - I use dice, which I roll out in the open.
Call me old school, I use a screen. And my reasoning for this is a little different than what I've heard from others that do. See, I roll "like a player".
In my experience, DMs that I've had roll low on average. I know, dice are random but my DMs roll poorly, like, 95% of the time. I can't explain it. Unlike them, I never lost my "player luck" and roll above 15s a good chunk of the time.
So, I use a screen so that I can fudge my rolls, and I always fudge in favor of the player. Last session alone, I rolled three critical hits, that confirmed, in a row against the same first level PC. On the flip side, none of my eight players could roll above a 5 for four rounds in a row. To me, crap happens and PCs die but who wants to play when the only one that can hit anything is the enemies and the PCs look like a joke.
Also, it's great for rolling those reactive checks that PCs make. I keep a note card for each PC that has all the modifiers for "reactive" checks(Perception, Sense Motive, Knowledges) behind the screen with me. Then, I roll dice constantly, playing it off as a nervous habit. This lets me roll checks for the PCs that the simple act of rolling them would contaminate "character knowledge" (Me:"Roll a Perception Check." Player rolls and fails. Me:"You don't notice anything." Player:"I search for traps.").
Also, good to keep books like Bestiaries behind so that players don't see what I'm running when I set the book down. Try as they might, even the nicest players meta-game when you throw temptation in their face.
OP - "How do you roll combat" - I use dice, which I roll out in the open.
Oops! Good point. Sorry.
I like the idea of only rolling saves and those involving the potential death of a character out in the open. Everything else should be secret.
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I roll in the open. I don't use a screen. I print out the stats from the bestiary or write them up on a personal monster card. I will sometimes leave the bestiary open to a misleading monster just to keep the players on their toes. I slightly adjust every monster so the players can never predict exactly what it can or can't do.
I roll behind a screen unless I want to do something particularly dramatic. Which is rare. I almost never fudge rolls. I just have a lot of material behind my screens and its just downright awkard to keep leaning over the screen to roll my dice.I roll them where it is convenient for me to keep the game moving as fast as possible, that's all.
Depends.
Most time, everything which result the plaers can see (saves e.g.) open. Attacks most times hidden, so I can fudge the rolls a little bit to create more threat or simply ignore a crit. (Most times I don't need to fudge the rolls^^)
All my rolls are behind the screen, unless I'm rolling for a PC for some reason.
I tend to roll behind a screen unless it's dramatically important. Then I whip out the big dice and roll them in public so the party can see what happens. And following my DM luck more oft than not that die roll comes up 1 and I end up with things like a BBEG turned into a pie.
I roll behind except when the party is in terrible danger, then I bring it out into the open so they can see that the dice are plainly indicating whether they live or die.
I roll behind a screen just mostly to keep things mysterious and to make sure no hints are given.
Example:If a player uses an ability on a monster that it is immune to and I don't roll they know what is up. If I roll then they have no idea that it failed. I could not pull this off without a screen. The same thing goes if they decide to make a sense motive check, and the NPC is not bluffing.
We roll behind a screen. PC spell casters roll the saves for enemies they've targeted though.
I roll behind a screen, but only because I keep my notes behind a screen already, so it's sort of there. But I tend to roll huge amounts of damage in the open, or save-or-die spell hits, or rolls for randomness (like which direction your sword flies when you're disarmed or if all the characters are the same distance away and the enemy will attack one of them randomly).
I also use a screen, at least at the start of the combat. As some here also do, I like to keep some of the monsters abilities secret, including just exactly how tough he is... As someone above me said - the players don't know if the bad guy got lucky, or if they 9the players) are up the creek without a canoe....
As the combat goes on though, and players start to get a feel for how tough the bad guy is, I then start to roll in the open. I tend to let the dice land where they fall, and if that means a dead PC, so be it. I *do* fudge, but very very rarely (to avoid a TPK sort of thing - one death is heroic and interesting... 4 deaths is just a statistic about why a campaign failed).
One roll I always make in the open though - monster/bad guy saving rolls. It is just TOO much fun not to (You mean... he made the will saving thrown on... a 2?!!!!! *gulp*)
Cheers
Aiddar
The only time my rolls are hidden is if I'm using the die roller on one of my GM-aid programs like Combat Manager. And that's not to be sneaky, it's just for the convenience. Sometimes I guess dice fall where the players can't see them but that is what it is. I don't go out of my way to hide my dice rolls, don't go out of my way to make them visible.