Static Saves & Spellcaster rolls

[Bardarok]

EX: A creature with reflex bonus +6 instead has reflex class 16

Caster with spell save DC 16 instead rolls 1d20 +6 on their fireball to try and beat the reflex save DC of the enemies.

Has anyone actually tried this? I would be interested to know how it went.

[Create Mr. Pitt]

What are you trying to accomplish with this? How does it make the game better?

[Bardarok]

Create Mr. Pitt wrote:

What are you trying to accomplish with this? How does it make the game better?

Well the idea is that it would make spell-casters (well blasters) more fun because they get to roll vs enemies more often. It would also make the game more consistent with all defenses static and all attackers rolling. It seems interesting but I am unsure if it is worth the effort , which is why I am looking to see if anyone on here has tried it.

[Create Mr. Pitt]

I've never tried it. I don't see the value of static defenses. But then I love the rare need to roll as a caster (I prefer to eliminate random swingy elements of the game, a 1-20 spread does not represent the reliability of normal actions). But the roll still exists on the other side in any event.

So I don't think your game will benefit much from this, but perhaps others who've tried this have enjoyed it more. I think it's basically functionally the same. The only difference is that it may be easier for casters to predict opposing saves and metagame the system.

[thunderbeard]

4e D&D did this. It doesn't change anything mechanically; it just changes how many rolls the players make, which gives a different sort of agency.

[Cyrad]

You could just cast spells that require an attack roll, like rays.

[Snorb]

I do see the value of static saves (or at least 10 + character level + appropriate stat + class bonus) as a Saga Edition fan, but I gotta admit it's a little more fair for the player to roll his own saves.

Says the guy who rolled four natural 1s on Reflex/Will saves last night in Shackled City.

[DonDuckie]

Haven't tried it and I don't think I will. It increases power of the caster, and reduces power for martial classes in this fireball scenario:

active saves: many rolls against the fireball gives a spread among the enemies which often have the same stats. Some make the save and some don't.

passive saves: one roll against many similar static values means they all fail or succeed at once which could be devastating to either side.

And here is my main concern; static saves means when the group is attacked and somebody(at least one) fails then the low save characters ALWAYS fail, again and again, encounter after encounter - and that is not fun play to me who likes TWF and combat maneuver builds.

[master_marshmallow]

This already exists in pathfinder unchained.