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Is it ever explained anywhere how miss chance for things like arcane spell failure and displacement are supposed to be rolled?
I realize that ultimately it doesn't matter as long as the same odds are applied but is it written in the rules anywhere?
I've seen people call it before they roll, "20% miss chance, high is good". I've also seen people say low roll is always good and high roll is always good.
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32
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I'm not aware of it specifying anywhere, but I could have missed it.
Personally, I always figured that if the rule says there's an XX% chance of a thing happening, then a roll of 1-XX causes that thing to happen.
So if it's a 20% chance to miss, then 1-20 misses.
If it's a 15% chance of spell failure, then 1-15 fizzles.
If it's a 50% miss chance, then 1-50 misses.
Makes sense to me, but again, I don't know that it's specified anywhere.
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Thanks Jiggy.
The only rules section I could find in relation to this is from here.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/basics-ability-scores/getting-started
Whenever a dice roll is required, the roll is noted as “d#,” with the “#” representing the number of sides on the die. If you need to roll multiple dice of the same type, there will be a number before the “d.” For example, if you are required to roll 4d6, you should roll four six-sided dice and add the results together. Sometimes there will be a + or – after the notation, meaning that you add that number to, or subtract it from, the total results of the dice (not to each individual die rolled). Most die rolls in the game use a d20 with a number of modifiers based on the character's skills, his or her abilities, and the situation. Generally speaking, rolling high is better than rolling low. Percentile rolls are a special case, indicated as rolling d%. You can generate a random number in this range by rolling two differently colored ten-sided dice (2d10). Pick one color to represent the tens digit, then roll both dice. If the die chosen to be the tens digit rolls a “4” and the other d10 rolls a “2,” then you've generated a 42. A zero on the tens digit die indicates a result from 1 to 9, or 100 if both dice result in a zero. Some d10s are printed with “10,” “20,” “30,” and so on in order to make reading d% rolls easier. Unless otherwise noted, whenever you must round a number, always round down.
But it's such a poorly formatted wall of text it's kind of hard to parse what it's saying.
Many ##% rolls can be simulated with a d20, also, provided they are ##%s that are divisible by 5 (you'll have to use some math, obviously). Like Jiggy said, though, I'm pretty sure that the method of rolling is never specified.
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To my knowledge there is no set standard for this, but for simplicity I tell my group "If there is X% chance of something, then a result of X or lower means that thing." So if there's a 50% miss chance, a 50 or lower indicates a miss. If there's a 37% chance to get a good prize when gambling at the local casino, a 37 or lower is a good prize. It's a bit sensitive to how you phrase things, I suppose, but it works. Since everything that uses this paradigm has a standard phrasing it hasn't been a problem (e.g. it's always "50% miss chance" and never "50% hit chance").
The reason for this is that it's easy for people to get confused when going the other way: "Well, that's a 50, which is high, so that's a miss. Or wait, was that at 51?" This may just be my group, though, which tends to play at the end of a long day of work rather than during the weekend.
As long as you declare ahead of time which direction your miss chance is taking, it doesn't matter how it's rolled. You can flip a coin for a 50% or a d20 or pretty much any dice really as long as you indicate which direction is the hit and which is the miss.
For the 20% you can roll %, a d10 (1 or 2 misses), d20 (1-4 misses)etc...
To my knowledge there is no set standard for this, but for simplicity I tell my group "If there is X% chance of something, then a result of X or lower means that thing." So if there's a 50% miss chance, a 50 or lower indicates a miss. If there's a 37% chance to get a good prize when gambling at the local casino, a 37 or lower is a good prize. It's a bit sensitive to how you phrase things, I suppose, but it works. Since everything that uses this paradigm has a standard phrasing it hasn't been a problem (e.g. it's always "50% miss chance" and never "50% hit chance").
The reason for this is that it's easy for people to get confused when going the other way: "Well, that's a 50, which is high, so that's a miss. Or wait, was that at 51?" This may just be my group, though, which tends to play at the end of a long day of work rather than during the weekend.
This is actually the "right" way.
This is actually the "right" way.
No.
This is actually the "right" way.No.
"Right" as in "per the long explanation provided by the CRB." I don't personally have any problem with any way that represents the same chance. That's why I recommended the d20 method in my first response. Other methods like coin tosses or d10s or d6s all work fine provided the math works.
If you have a GM who won't let you use a method other than the two d10s method to determine a percentage chance, bare with him - he's the boss, so to speak.