Replace Feats & Skills with Flex Dice! (Ep. 342)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ก.ค. 2023
- Professor DM shows how to replace boring feats & skills with an exciting dice mechanic! What if EVERYONE could sneak attack, smite, create improvised weapons? Now you can--with FLEX DICE!
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As many know, I love the Hyperborea RPG, but mingling Deathbringer with it opened up a whole new world for my players. We kept all the things they loved about Hyperborea and added the deathbringer dice, brought everything in line with consistant d20 rolls and our first session using these rules was a resounding success. What a blast. Thanks Professor.
Well said, Cap!
Thank YOU for your kind words. Watch the first episode of y Lost City campaign. You get a thank you for YOUR great Lost City video.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Wow! thanks I'll check it out!
Hey cap, love your videos.
I also love hyperborea, could you please explain how you integrated death dice in your game without completely destroying the game balance? Thank you!
@@Zoblin161 unbalanced games are fun
Savage Worlds (SWADE) uses Bennies, which allow rerolls of failed skill / trait attempts, to soak damage, add damage, to remove a condition, or to have some narrative control of the story. For that last one, that means if the Player is lost in the story and needs additional info, they may spend a bennie to get an additional clue or to receive knowledge to get them over the mystery.
I also play SW, I like the bennies mechanic. I have brought that over to Shadowdark to replace luck tokens. I thought about using DM Scotty's Luck Dice as an alternate. This is the good thing about looking beyond WotC. Their greed has encouraged competition and has encouraged the players to look outward and to explore what else is out there, like the good old days. Lol
@@Mandalorian2814 Is there really any difference essentially between Luck and Bennies..its like Karma in Marvel Super Heroes - basically a new label for essentially the same thing
I swear, each new rule itteration or "hack" he mentions just brings it closer and closer to Savage Worlds.
And don't forget the Wild Die, let's you roll a d6 along with whatever your skill die happens to be... suck at Diplomacy with d4-2? Well roll that plus the d6 Wild Die and take the highest, you never know...
@@tsmcgudon't forget exploding dice. That's where it you roll the top number (4 on a d4, 6 on a d6, etc...) you roll another and add them. This continues until you roll one that isn't the top number.
"Blinders" is a good term. Learning to think outside of the character sheet is a skill every player needs to develop no matter the game. Taking risks in TTRPG's is where the fun comes in! I love systems that support this, like Cyberpunk Red, Dungeon Crawl Classics, and Savage Worlds.
I realize this is a ghastly affront to hardcore grognards sired by compound arithmetic, but PDM is especially correct regarding character sheets’ tendency to imbue a sense of limitations to new players, where “if it not recorded there, it does not exist” - an extremely shortsighted approach to a game featuring the power of the imagination.
Introducing dice as a variable mechanic of possibility wakes up minds to the most memorable ways of RPG storytelling. Whoever remembers attributing a +1/-2/+4 bonus to the one action that saved a kingdom from utter annihilation?
Really off topic but gotta say Thank you professor. Because of your advise, I recently bought the starter set for Call of Cthulhu and did the solo adventure to learn how to play. Couldn't be happier with my purchase. Thank you again.😊
Glad to hear!
Which solo adventure is this? I’d like to try it.
@@DeadMarsh The tutorial in book 1 of the starter set is a solo adventure and teaches you to play at the same time. Really well done. Kind of like those books in the 90's in which you are the hero and go to different chapters depending on what you choose to do. Also at 40$ tax is, well worth the expense for what you get in the box.
They make products called "alone against xxxxx". It's something they've done since the 80s. Alone against the frost, alone against halloween, ect.
If i remember, alone against the flames is FREE from chaosium in pdf. I had a BLAST playing it.
5e also has an optional rule called Hero Dice where each player starts off with 5 d6 and can add them to a roll when they wish.
I added this to my 5e campaign and it has helped immensely for my players, especially when they miss by 1-2 points.
I’ve been using boon and bane dice since (d6) the early 90s which I stole from warhammer fantasy. In wfrp they were destiny points I just made them dice because I like chaos. This system replaces inspiration.
For a cinematic feel - i agree that resetting every session works. I like how luck in Basic Role Playing ( BRP) works - you start with a luck score equal to your willpower, - and you can burn any amount you want to increase any dice roll on 1to 1 basis. Whats interesting luck is also used in game for things like : what do you find in an old chest, what happened when you pressed a random button, but also whom the monster attack first, who the rocks fall on ect. You only regain a small and random amount "after single adventure concluded " My players got creative with those and it works for different styles : one was hoarding it, to be able to use it in an emergency, and it payed off as he saved party members from a very dire threat - but had to pay a massive amount of luck points for that. Other just spends small amounts when a roll is close so he doesnt have to pay too dearly, and he does that mostly to progress the story or get over an obstacle that takes too long. Last but not least last one was spending luck like crazy, but only for really specific and quirky things - to establish the character, now hes super unlucky, but it makes for hillarious moments, and other players dig it ( DONT LET HIM TOUCH THAT! ). So yeah im a real fan of some sort of resource players can use -even better when its double edged. Other notable ones are burning luck and Spellburn in DCC and void points from Death in Space
Thanks for sharing.
I love Deathbringer/Luck dice and my players do too! And I replaced Luck tokens in Shadowdark with the Luck dice system. Really amps up the pulp action!
Same! Extra Deathbringer dice if beating a man to death with a leg of mutton!
Thanks!
I remember the Wizards Star Wars Saga Edition used force points and destiny points to a similar effect. Destiny points were incredibly rare (1 per level). Their use would swing an entire combat encounter. It always felt epic when someone used one
Class restrictions and character archetypes breeds creativity. In the right environment, people tend to rise to a challenge when facing limitations, upending tropes and surprising even themselves with out-of-the-box solutions. The killer to all of this is homogeny on one side of the coin, and on the other side, gamey systems that make class abilities things that should be allowed for anyone (i.e., backstabbing someone shouldn't be a class ability, because IRL a knife to the back from even a wizard is lethal).
It can. It can also stifle creativity. Anyone in your game refuse to talk because another character has +1 more in CHA? The defense rests.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 Back in day when I ran D&D, sure; but that's my gamey systems gripe. Systems I run today don't have a Cha stat, and its equivalent is completely elective, and affects reaction rolls from NPCs, which I've found doesn't have the same effect on players deciding who should talk. However, we played a post-apoc Western where one character was a town elder and politician, well known and liked by most. The group relied on him being the face - not because of social skills and bonuses, even though he had those - but because the scuzzy gunslinger, and introvert net-runner knew he was good with people when they were not. It was part of the story. Even then, for whatever reason (my particular players, maybe), the gunslinger had several awesome social scenes, including a few that blossomed into a romance with the town sheriff and the others that eventually boiled over into a showdown with the town bully and "fastest gun" that contributed to a great finale.
@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 profesor i think that it really depends on the group, for example i play mainly with 2 people, people who are very new to the game and people who come from games like path, call of cthulhu, cyberpunk and non d&d games, and most of the player of those 2 groups were very creatives in their approach and did things out of the rules that i loved, for example i had a call of cthulhu campaign where the player who i knew because we had a greco match because he had no weapons decided to suplex a cultist and when i asked why he came with the idea he just said why not, there is nothing that says that i can't try, despite there been clearly rules about grappling, or another time where in a pathfinder 2e campaign through the use of ray of frost they destroyed a lock through basic water thermodynamics, and they said the same with the previous one, while when i see people who come from d&d they stick so much to the rules and think just in the pure mathematical bonuses that it doesn't matter which kind of thing they choose they are just going to do the same exact thing and i think because of the mmorpg feel of 5e(that from my pov is more mmorpg than 4e even but masks it through changing names and where it puts the things) and that many come from playing very strict videogames, and i think that other of the reasons of why it works like that is because they don't have any reason for not doing it, the system and gm rewarded for sticking into it, about the +1 cha tbh it only has happened when i play with min maxers or people from the usa(every time i have played with another latino we just didn't care that much about the bonuses to don't do things that we want) been something extremely rare but what i discover is that the way to make them get out of that comfort zone is not to just make everyone be able to do anything with mechanics like the dice because it just make everyone feel irrelevant or underwhelmed(they think it's lazy and no better than roleplaying through amino), the way that worked for me is to putting them under pressure like wichhouse said but i feel that going just with the dice is going into a full extremes that tends to dont work at least with the groups i have played(that's why we choose "rules heavy"(idk if it just me but i feel that people exagerate that term a lot because if some comprehends the basic maths behing the game that are usually good enough for a 11 years old to figure it out) systems in general) and i also think profesor that the charisma think that you said is kind of a straw man fallacy as it is a big exageratrion at least with the people i have played and the stories i have been told by other players
blessings from peru and i apologize for my english
@@alemaiqofficial Thank you for sharing!
I love this mechanic and have used it in the rpg rule set that I’ve been workshopping for years.
I’m super happy to see you doing these video PDM! Much love to you🤘🤘 and Deathbringer, he has some solid priorities
I've come to really enjoy the Fate system since the OGL debacle. It requires a little effort to customize to your style of game, but it's great for narrative-focused TTRPGs. The biggest hurdle, is getting people to change their perspective from more structured to more free-form play, e.g. choosing from a list of preset options vs creating their own list of options. I'm also a big fan of how Fate incentivizes players to role-play their character flaws, as this is the primary mechanic to acquire fate points during a session, it's very good at modelling the peaks and valleys of conflict/resolution that we should see in compelling story-telling. In addition, over time, characters can change... flaws can morph into strengths and strengths can morph into flaws, you can acquire new strengths/flaws via story... it's more about character development than character progression, the focus is more on the story and less on the game mechanics, but the story-elements heavily influence the mechanics.
You inspired me to get DM Scotty’s Luck Dice and they have become in integral part of our 5 Torches Deep game.
Cool!
This concept is one of the things I like most about 7th Sea and Drama Dice.
Thanks for commenting.
I remember Drama dice. They were good times. Though I do remember them allowing one character to survive a point blank cannon shot to the gut, which was wild
7th Sea is the best ttrpg! Who doesn't love throwing fists of D10s arround.
@@willmendoza8498tbf, Im pretty sure you could survive that without drama dice too 😅
7th Seas is a truly wonderful RPG
On the one hand, I love the ability to have some sort of shared resource that can compensate for bad luck, or for "bad" character stats. BUT on the other hand, I hate to replace everything with that resource, because an important function of a character sheet is to make your character unique. The stats on the sheet basically say "my character is ABOUT this, and that makes them different from the other guys".
So, what I did in my hack is introduce a concept of a "drive," which is a statement on a character sheet, like "I love birds" or "I want to help people" or something like that. It's what drives and motivates the character. And mechanically, the way it works is whenever a player does something "stupid" or "suboptimal" because of their drive - that's when they get that extra flex die (and in my hack it's not just a die but an ability to roll as if you're an expert in whatever you're doing, so it's very strong.) It works very well if I say so myself; feel free to steal it everyone.
Thanks for sharing.
Brilliant idea!
Coming from the OSR side of things, I’d argue skills and feats don’t make characters unique, the players behind the character do. I’ve had many a game where multiple players were the same class, yet each one had their own unique approach and solutions to an obstacle.
The Riddle of Steel (TRoS) uses a mechanic like that called Spiritual traits and Spiritual points. Each character chooses 5 from the possible 6 spiritual traits: conscience, destiny, anti-destiny, drive, faith, oath, passion. Conscience is pretty self-explanatory, but the other 5 are player defined.
What is your character’s destiny? What is your character’s anti-destiny? Ex: To lose to an arch-rival. What drives your character? What is your character’s faith tradition? Does your character have an oath that they must keep? What is your character passionate about?
If your character succeeds at furthering one of their spiritual traits, the DM (called a Seneschal in TRoS) awards a spiritual point (SP). Those SP can then be consumed as an extra roll during a situation relevant to the spiritual trait, or during any roll that could potentially save your character’s life.
TRoS does not use an experience system. Instead SP can be used to increase your attributes, proficiencies, earn gifts (similar to feats in 5e), or remove flaws (negative feats).
@@tasty_wind4294 Well they're certainly not THE thing that makes a character unique. But they do help it, and not just directly, but also by helping the player to define their character, to understand what they're about.
100% on point with this one. My players struggled with Dungeon World because the character sheets were so simple, and you only had a handful of "special" abilities. They were convinced they couldn't do anything other than those skills because they were so heavily invested in modern D&D style.
Cut the cord!
I feel like this can happen with new players too. Skills on a character sheet can make players feel that way. Go even simpler! 😂
I think from all the RPG videos Ive seen that ironically MORE rules based systems are more suitable for new players simply that they dont have to invent or improvise almost anything a bit like trainer wheels/stabilisers on a kids bike. I do agree that a character sheet needs to easy to understand whether you have 50 stats or a handful it doesnt really matter. Im more for minimal stats simply because of bookkeeping as such BUT I guess its a matter of finding the right balance
@@skyblazeeterno IMO the important thing is to have only a few _categories_ of stats, so long as everything within a category uses the same mechanics. Like it doesn’t matter whether you have 8 core attributes (str, con, dex, etc) or two (fighting & thinking)… so long as each attribute is basically the same mechanically, those are all just “attributes”. Likewise, it doesn’t matter if you have 10 different skills or 80, they’re all just “skills”. Then let’s say you have “savings throws”, “weapons”, and “hit points”. That might seem complicated-those categories could collectively have over a hundred individual things in them-but there are really only five mechanics that players need to learn. It might make character creation take a little longer, but it’s not going to be harder-people understand picking a set of skills like you’d pick items from a menu-and it’s probably not going to noticeably slow gameplay.
But the key is to have maybe 6-10 different categories with simple, consistent rules for each. That’s easy for most people to keep track of. Once you start adding a bunch of additional niche categories (“encumbrance”, “action points”, “morale”) or categories of things with wildly different rules (“feats”, “spells”, “psionics”) _that’s_ when the complexity starts to become intimidating.
@@skyblazeeterno … I’ll add that this is something that older versions of D&D got very, very wrong. For example, AD&D 2e attributes: you determine them by rolling 3d6, but if you get an 18 str then you roll 1d100 for a str sub-attribute, but you only use attribute _bonuses_ (never your actual attribute score), except for attacks, where your attributes are used to calculate THAC0. That’s (at least!) four totally separate inconsistent mechanics tied into one stat category! THAT’S what creates confusion.
Complexity isn’t 1 set of 100 things which consistently use 1 mechanic, it’s 1 set of 6 things that inconsistently use 4 mechanics.
"Because I believe every player character has a God-given right to be able to kill an NPC with a leg of mutton." ~PDM/Deathbringer 2024!!!
If everyone can do everything, no one has individuality and everyone is the same. I like that different classes have different abilities. It makes you feel like you are contributing to the group in your own way.
As a gentle counterpoint: The Fighter who is trying to emulate his Thief buddy by using his dice to backstab while flanking with said Thief buddy is helping the Thief not take as much damage, creates a fun story of the camaraderie between these two, and still can't backstab on every single attack like a thief does, or at the same level. In these cases, it's more like borrowing the trait from a friend. If you require that tiny amount of justification for the attempt, it's narrative. Fighter attempts a Spellcraft check because he didn't completely tune out that insufferable know-it-all Wizard that used to travel with them, and remembered how someone under Charm Person's eyes look different doesn't murder a key NPC? Really cool.
This is a good point. However, this doesn't mean that the current characters are all base 0 and require the dice to do anything.
Your base character will have some things they are clearly naturally great at, and these dice can make that more efficient for those actions. But sometimes, the fighter is not available to break the door open, so someone has to pick up the slack QUICKLY! Not as efficiently, but at least not impossible now.
Thats like comparing some version of the computer games Final Fantasy with each other some had classes with unique abilities some allowed free range
Agreed. When everyone can do everything then the characters feel mechanically samey. This is my main beef with Fate btw: there is no difference between a stalwart warrior, sneaky rogue, or a holy paladin when anyone can do feats of strength, skulk around, and smite evil whenever the need arises.
It has been said that restrictions breed creativity, so in my opinion we need even more restrictive game systems to inspire genuine creativity, instead of wishy washy grey mediocrity!
@@tuomasronnberg5244 - yeah, this was my problem with 4th edition D&D. Every class felt very similar as a cleric/fighter/wizard.
I have made a system, in which a D6 Pool named "Awesome Dice" functions very similar to this (although I still use skills & abilities on top).
The Problem with limiting the Dice Pool per Session is that players won't use them much or at all, at the beginning of the the session, because the Dice are to precious to them. At the end of the session they will still have a big pool of them and spam everything on the last encounter.
Imo a better solution to this is to limit the Dice Pool per scene/encounter. That way everyone is encouraged to use their Dice and be truly awesome 😁
I also love the Banes & Boons from SotDL, great system 👌
Thanks for sharing.
This is why I like the optional rule that you can use a modifier from another stat for a check if it makes sense; i.e., the barbarian breaking/bending something, can use the strength modifier for a charisma intimidation check.🎲
Lol! That reminds me of an old 3e Feat that allowed you to “rage” any stat! My friends and I laughed and laughed at the idea of “raging” Charisma and Wisdom!!
Some systems do this all the time. I know the Serenity RPG does that. I'm doing this in the game I'm designing now. Lets me actually get away with fewer skills as well. For instance, athletics and acrobatics are one skill, you just roll with different attributes depending on the action. I even do it for persuasion. Appealing to logic? Use intelligence. Appealing to emotion? Charisma. Threatening to hurt them if they don't capitulate? Strength. No separate intimidation skill. Difficulty may be based on how smart or strong the character is, so threatening a huge muscled warrior might be harder than an emotional appeal. The cool thing is different characters might have high ranks in the same skill, but because of what attribute scores are higher, they still have their own specializations.
I love and appreciate your full-throated support and coverage of Indie RPG.
Regarding the lack of spelunking equipment, the Feng Shui RPG had a mechanic where a character had anything they need, or at least access to it.
One of my personal favorite solutions to this kind of thing is found in Blades in the Dark. Each character has "X" number of equipment slots but they don't fill them at the start of an adventure. Instead, each time the PC realizes that they need or want to have a specific item on-hand, the player can announce that they have it and then write it into one of the available slots. This way, players don't have to meticulously track and anticipate every possible piece of gear but they still have practical limits to exactly how much their PC can bring with them on a particular journey.
This also fits into the category of the Dread system. You can pull a jenga block to do something challenging or pull 2 or even 3 to do something nearly impossible. The physical anxiety of the tower as it starts to wobble takes a lot of these paper stat check mechanics & turns them inside out.
I've been using Luck + Deathbringer dice in my 5e and Knave games my players love it, it leads to some incredibly epic combat and shenanigans. I usually don't call for a roll a character's background as a sailor, acolyte, scholar should be able to do unless its under duress like combat or some kind of urgency.
As a game designer currently creating a new game I found that a very, very interesting video...thanks!
Glad it was helpful!
Excellent stuff as always! I really dislike skills and feats the older I get and appreciate Dice and also meta-currency increasingly much.
Thank you kindly.
I love how simple this is. My table is very roleplay focused and we tried it out. Loved it. Especially the players who are newer and still learning. They actually preferred the simplicity of the flex die
Cool. Great to hear!
I'm a fan of this concept in general. I've been using something kind of like a mix between deathbringer dice and drama dice from 7S: you get a few each session, and when you roll them they go to me. When I want to tempt you with one of your character's vices or character flaws, or I wanna encourage you too take certain risks or you simply invite some doom or bad luck on yourself, there will be a die or two acting as the carrot on a stick.
I've been getting into the philosophy of FKR systems lately. Super rules light systems that pretty much leave all of he rules up to the gm to decide in the moment. I like the idea of just using a D% for everything and the GM picks in the moment what feels like the most accurate percent to roll against. Adding something like Flex dice to this kind of play would be really fun. Thanks!
oh wow, I didn't know we could watch live!
Yep!
I just watched you and Seth Skorkowsky give your feedback on this topic on another video and agree on how it limits player imagination and hinders the "played as a movie" style
My preferred type of game.
I love this idea. I'm totally gonna start using it for my next campaign.
Let me know how it goes.
This is a really cool concept. I wish I had thought about this during my last session. My son’s dice had cooled off and he couldn’t hit jack.
Glad you enjoyed this vid. New video out now! th-cam.com/video/svFt_V71qjU/w-d-xo.html
Thanks Professor! I purchased DeathBringer and have started using this concept in our Shadowdark game!
As someone whose Bard stopped giving his Monk Bardic Inspiration because of one time when I rolled four 1's in a row - Luck Dice is neat.
Cool! New video out now! th-cam.com/video/svFt_V71qjU/w-d-xo.html
I’m extremely torn on this. I get what you’re trying to accomplish and I see the value in it, but I also like it when different characters have their own “thing”. The idea that anyone can, say, pick a lock reduces Bob’s character from being “The Thief” to just being the guy who’s a bit better at everyone’s thief skills.
Now, for some things this makes sense: anyone can _try_ to jump or swing a sword, but specialization is still a pretty big deal for those things because failure is often potentially lethal. But with most skills most of the time, the only likely risk is wasted in-game time. Hence _everyone_ is likely to try the skill until someone succeeds. The thief may be the best of them, but their specialty-likely a highly-guarded secret of their profession-is now just a commodity. And that’s even more pronounced in contemporary settings, where everyone is potentially a hacker and a pilot and a nuclear physicist and a surgeon, simultaneously.
Admittedly, the finite number of flex dice limits this somewhat, but it still seems like a potential problem. I don’t see how a PC would have enough flex dice to replace skills without commodifying them to the point where character builds feel very same-y.
That said, there are ways to address this. E.g., maybe skills are just binary, and “lockpicking” is a thing you either know or don’t: knowing it allows you to use your dex bonus, while not knowing it means means you need to make a save vs botch on failures, potentially damaging the lock or injuring your hand. This would still allow PCs to attempt things they’re not proficient in, but it’d feel risky & high stakes. Another approach can be found in the game Over The Edge, where character sheets are extremely simple: players pick a broad, open-ended concept (“talking cat”), two secondary traits/abilities (“nuclear physics”, “empathy”) and then assign scores to each. When faced with a skill check, it’s easy & intuitive to know (or argue for) your skill: “I’m good at sneaking, because I’m a cat” or “can I tell if they’re lying? I am, after all, naturally empathic!” For everything else, there’s a low default score. (Equipment, similarly, is based on what such a character would plausibly have on them-in the case of a cat, not much!)
Anyway, you’ve presented an interesting concept! While I’m not totally sold on it, I’ll definitely chew on it.
It's a great mechanic. I've used Deathbringer Dice in previous and current campaigns.
Glad to hear.
Currently working on a relaunch of characters into Shadowdark with DM Scotty's luck dice mechanic as an add on item. There will be plenty of rules hacking along the way, but I dig the Shadowdark character sheets and purchased some glow in the dark d6s for luck dice. Thanks for the tips!
I like this idea, I started tying it to my player's character's alignment and their adherence to it.
Always appreciate a good mechanics video.
Simulationist here, will never bow to the narrative style. Keeping the flame of old burning since Vampire started its attack on real Pen&Paper Role Playing in the accursed 90's.
Campaigns that feel like movies are the bane of my existence.
All fun aside, to each his own of course.
My biggest problem with things like Feats is that they become a list of all the things you *can't* do *unless* you spend a character point thingy to be able to. Suddenly the DM has to remember 50 or 100 things that he has to disallow because of the off chance that Jimmy and his precious 'build' will get hosed by allowing just any old schlub to walk and chew gum at the same time. The total opposite of heroic, daring, etc.
See also: Monte Cook. 3e. “Timmy Cards” and system mastery. Yep. Feats will do that!
In DnD 3rd edition you needed 3 feats to be able to move, attack, and continue your move. In 5e it's just normal. Sure, there is tactical value to it, but requiring feats to do stuff literally anyone can do is ridiculous. You really have to carefully consider what things you lock behind abilities and what things you don't.
Really love this idea! Many thanks for all you do!
I can vouch for this idea. I ran a demo of Yarr! The Pirate ArrrPG at my FLGS and added Scotty's luck dice rules, and OMG it's THE BEST. it rachets the fun up to 11.
Cool! Thanks, Bill!
I love this concept! Similar in feel is the Deed Die mechanic in Dungeon Crawl Classics.Once I found that the idea of going back to feats seemed so boring. Game mechanics should actively reward exciting improvisation and narrative engagement, but so many make the standard attack so optimal that doing "fun" things feels frowned upon!
I adopted a designated luck stat from an indie ttrpg called Low Fantasy Gaming. My players have absolutely adored the system since I introduced it and it's seen action in our regular medieval fantasy setting, Cyberpunk (which we heavily 'dumbed down' because I also took one look at the character sheets and decided it looked too much like a tax return), and even a WW2 meets Shadowrun style one-shot. We play a heavily modified version of Knave first edition by Ben Milton but the Luck stat and its accompanying reroll pool is still part of the game. I tend to let my players build their own feats so to speak, just so they get a little more customization when making their characters. Still, you should never underestimate the power of giving your players more plain old dice to play with.
Cool idea. Nice flexible tool that's easy to use. Thanks.
Your admission of not liking character sheets reminds me of an incident last year when I was attempting to do a scaled-down D&D game with my nieces. The oldest one was totally into it, but the younger two were not as much (just as in the previous year), though the youngest kept wanting to play with the miniatures. The middle one finally came over about halfway through the game and said to me, "I would like to play Dungeons & Dragons, but I don't want to roll any dice or have one of those sheets." The way she had the most subtle spleen for "those sheets" was hilariously adorable, but that she also didn't want to roll dice was a real head-scratcher. Oh well...we'll get her there eventually! ;)
I use plastic gold coins (the ones you get at the dollar store for St Patrick’s day with the four leaf clover on them) that I hand out for luck to my players. They can be used as rerolls, to end a condition, or to add a d6 to any die roll.
I guess a luck coin is fine. What I don't like is if players start stacking bonuses. There should be a rule that you can only use one reroll/luck/whatever bonus at once. Otherwise things can get arbitrarily easy, just depending on how many resources a player (or players, what with help and other given bonuses) wants to spend.
All of my favorite RPGs over the years have had some variation of these Flex/Luck/Fate/Hero dice. One of the most recent I've come across is from the game "Black Star", in which PCs have a "Resolve" score. This acts in some capacity as their "hit points" but also as a resource to be spent to turn potential failure into "success with a cost" or to introduce some kind of narrative twist to a scene or encounter. Giving the players a resource to use in service of making the game more fun and exciting is always a great idea.
The number of sub-systems people promote to make sure you can't fail is staggering.
Another great video, Professor! This kind of streamlined mechanic really speaks to me.
I liked the idea so much, I'm going to ignore that you said Flex Dice help the game move "more faster." 😂
Glad you enjoyed it. New video out now! th-cam.com/video/svFt_V71qjU/w-d-xo.html
Oh boy. This is gunna be a long comment, because I really like this topic and I REALLY like the concept of luck dice.
We play two systems consistently at my table. One is a custom system that's basically BX without any ability scores and the second is a heavily modified AD&D.
In the first, I include a system called 'EX points'. Essentially each session the players roll 1d20. This number goes into a pool of points shared amongst the party while the remaining number goes to the DM for use. The cap on either side is 20. These points are worth a re-roll of any dice, 1d6 added or subtracted from a roll, as well as several abilities depending on the setting. (For instance you can use a point to instantly kill something like a kobold and heal for 1d4 points.) You can earn EX points by rolling a natural 20, but the Dungeon Master earns an EX point if they roll a natural 1.
In the second, one that ends up being pretty popular, I lean pretty heavily on skills... BUT each skill is custom. Every character starts with NO skills. Then when they roll a natural 20 doing a specific task (like fishing, acrobatics, etc.) they gain a +1 to future rolls surrounding that skill and add it to their character sheet. This means if they want to be really good at sleight of hand, they can keep trying in game until they get better. Each skill maxes out at +10 and the DM can reward points for players as well.
This method ends up being a fun way to look at your character sheet as sort of list or badges of achievements each character has accomplished during their adventures. It seems to be popular with both old school and new school players because playing more, being more interactive and specific, gets you advantages. It also heightens the tension each roll.
Additionally I have an option for every player to roll 1d6 for plus one to five and 2d6 for plus four to ten bonus. Why? Because you have a chance to roll big at low levels and I like to reward risk.
Removing feats and replacing them with such a mechanic is my first step towards fixing 4th edition. It really helps since the 4e feats are spectacularly lackluster.
I use a "Favor System" to help players. At the start of each game day the players get to roll a 20 sided die and add their level. That total becomes the number of favor points the players have that they can add to any roll they make. If we play and someone has had a birthday, they get max favor points (20 plus their characters level).
Example: Players each roll a d20 at the start of each session and add their level. They notate the number on the favor block of their character sheet. They use those points to bump up important rolls as they choose and as they use the points the subtract them from their pool. Easy and fun. (rolls 20 and gets 13, the character is 4th level, 13+4=17 favor for the session)
4:35 - I was going to say that this sounded a lot like Luck Dice. I use this in my games and it is a lot of fun.
I’ve always been a fan of proficiency dice and I’ve been considering using the hero dice mechanic for a while now, would definitely use it for in person games but all of my games lately have been remote for a while now so I’ll have to do a dry run with players to see if they’ll even remember to use them
I guess equity of abilities is a positive in 2023. 😅. Assuming the quantity of dice fairly limited, this sounds good. You're allowing your characters to be heroic when they really need to be. As I thought don't let them know but maybe toss them an extra couple of these is when the Uber boss fight begins. That should warn them they are in for it.😮
Love the dice idea. Good work. Especially dice for Sailor things if you are a Sailor.
Interesting that more and more rule systems develop this similar mechanism. I used in my homedevelopped ruleset fatepoints, developped originally by WFRP, who the players can use in a similar way as your Flex Dice. Thanks for this insight. Cheers. 🍻
Love WFRP!
Professor- this is a great, easy to use mechanic. It would work well with our campaign too. I’ll give it a go.
The homebrew RPG system I've been working on for awhile now uses "Flex Dice" as a concept directly tied to character creation - though it's a tad more integrated by replacing "Hit Dice" with "Grit Dice" - basically used in the same way Flex Dice are used, but with the flavor of Grit Dice being you "Grit your teeth and push through."
In base 5e, casters would have less grit than say, the Barbarian, but in my new system I've been toying with the old D&D concept of characters of different classes leveling up at different times.
Basically, all 13 classes are broken up into their "Grit Die" sizes, and in order to level up, you need to acquire XP = to 10* your Grit Die maximum (From 40 to 120; d4 to d12), with the added benefit of any time you expend any number of grit dice, if you roll the maximum result - the die explodes (add it to the total & roll it again.)
Fighter, Barbarians, & Monks = d4 Grit
Rangers & Paladins = d6 Grit
Artificers, Bards, & Rogues = d8 Grit
Druids & Warlocks = d10 Grit
Clerics, Sorcerers, and Wizards = d12 Grit
Thus, while the "martial" characters have less Grit potential overall, they have a 25% chance per die to have their die explode - giving them some much needed power bumps compared to the casters. Additionally, they require less XP to level up, so they get to reach those higher levels a lot sooner! (I looked to the Professor for a number of mechanical inspirations regarding this system, and they've turned out pretty well NGL).
Sounds cool! New video out now! th-cam.com/video/svFt_V71qjU/w-d-xo.html
Again, brilliant, i will for sure add the idea to my game
I just ordered the Merry Mushmen's Black Sword Hack and I'm in love with the Doomdie innovation in the same idea!
This is a great idea! Those skull dice are badda$$$! Thanks professor!!!
Wow superior idea, I am absolutely going to figure out a way to incorporate this into my campaign.
I've been GMing Mork Borg and the omens are very similar. As an idea, I recently bought a wooden disk at the dollar store. It's about the size of a coaster so it would be easily viewable at the game table. Whoever has it would be able to use it like a omen, or a luck die. They could even use it for an extra action in combat. But I like to keep tension high at my table, so the idea would be if you spend it, you hand it back over to me, the GM. I get to use it as well. Not in the same offensive ways mind you, like being able to increase the chance of hitting. More like tripping and grappling the players as an extra action. Knock them prone to make them lose a turn while they stand back up and find their weapon. A zombie that gets a guaranteed chance of grappling you, and holding you down while biting at your face like something out of the Walking Dead is what I'm aiming for. And, Once I use it, I gift it back out to one of the players. Maybe at random, maybe someone that is really getting into the spirit of the role playing.
I came up with something similar after trying to recreate the Conan 2D20 systems Doom dice. Ended up with a pack of skull dice that go into a skull chalice called the Cup of Wrath. Players can use any number of the D6’s and add it to any roll. But once the cup is emptied, there’s a complication that arises. The cup is refilled after it’s emptied. I need to refine it a little more, but it’s a simple way to inject some risk vs reward type play.
I'd say anyone who thinks people would never forget torches going to a dungeon doesn't have a lot of experience organizing grous of people going on trips. 😊
Lol. True. New video out now! th-cam.com/video/svFt_V71qjU/w-d-xo.html
I use something similar. Fate. You roll a 1, you get a fate die. You do something heroic that would bring an inspiration? You get a fate die. All fate dice are d6s and you can accumulate 1 per level + proficiency bonus. So far, it works quite fine. You can only add fate dice to rolls that fails that are not "one". Skill, Attack and Saves. They do encourage players to try things that they are not proficient with on their character sheet as it will not boost a success to stratospherical levels. They are there to transform a failure into a success.
It’s one of the reasons that I loved Boot Hill just simple combat rules and a understanding that you can try anything that fit the story/ character
I don't agree with what the professor says. But I like the way he says it.
The Deathbringer Dice was one of the features I highlighted about your game in my review of it for Independent TTRPG Month.
I took Ironsworn’s momentum to provide players with a resource they can spend together to land those special moments. Each point is +1 to roll, it caps at 10 and when they spend it, they spend it all.
Its rewarded for pushing narrative forward, achiving goals, conducting research or doing recon.
It also can be diminished to when failing forward - when that str check failed to break down the door, when party has to pay a fine, but pinching their hundereds wont make a dent - as in they got to deal with bad rep and red tape.
Cool idea!
Holey Kowz, brilliant video. You built-in 'push this through' button. More than one, in fact. Excellent!
"Like I would go spelunking without a light source..." This is why I always give players an unmodified Wisdom check to see if their character remembered to pack the thing even though the player somehow forgot. If they fail the check, woopsie doodles, time to find an alternative solution. If they succeed, huzzah.
Good idea. I've been considering something similar for Deathbringer.
Interesting concept PDM. I will give this a try. I will add it as an SAR (Special Adventure Rule) to my next adventure.
Great DM advice!
Super interesting... I've been working on my own TTRPG to play with my friends... And I came up with a very similar mechanic based on the 3 stats in my game. Each point in one of these 3 stats (Might, Avoidance and Willpower) Grants one of their corresponding D6s to be used in a very similar but slightly more distinct way.
Might Dice: extra damage when you hit.
Avoidance: to block damage.
Willpower: for saving throws / resist conditions
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@@DUNGEONCRAFT1 I'd be mad if I shared something personal to me, got a niche internet microcelebrity I follow to respond, but then see his response is just an impersonal ad for a new video.
@@youcantbeatk7006 Consider this a big virtual hug.
I have not had this experience with any of my players over the 27+ years I have been running games. If they needed to get across a cavern and a character had no skill in doing so, they would come up with some other way of getting across. Which is more interesting, someone falling to their doom due to a low stat or coming up with a clever idea to bypass the test?
I agree. I LIKE when character dont do things because they are bad at it. Because then they do something more clever instead. It also defines that character. Why would the low charisma barbarian who has had possibly many bad experiences talking to people want to talk to people?
Mostly the things he described can be handled by the DM.
You ask for actions and someone is referring to their inventory on their character sheet, now they’re digging through their pack.
Wizard looking at the spells on their character sheet flipping through their spell book.
Low charisma and refuses to talk? They awkwardly turn away leaving the npc confused and insulted.
Skills and feats are a little hard to hammer down but lots of things can be smoothed over with DM narrative.
I’d also make it take time. In combat. Looking through your bag or spell book loses you a turn.
Just got back from vacation. Got a lot of Dungeon Craft to catch up on.
I don't agree that the pasty mage can fight as well as the warrior by throwing spare dice, or be as stealthy as a rogue by throwing some extra dice. But if your focus is narrative and it works for your table then more power to you. Long live the difference.
I did this exact same thing back in the 80's and also called them luck dice. The small problem came up when people would abuse this. How you say? Well they would do things that didn't really matter and hold on to those luck dice, or in my case luck points. So they would meta game a bit to create a future advantage. I still like the system you came up with though, but I have modified it a bit. One shot of bourbon gets you a 1d4. You cannot stack it but other players can help. It adds to the fun and that is what the game is about for me.
If we're talking about numbers, mechanics, complexity, etc getting in the way of the narrative, why not just place one of the simplest forms of chance between you and that narrative and flip a coin?
[Answer] Because people love rolling dice(?)
I'm not being snarky - I've been thinking about it lately and might try a game this way. No rules, sheets, or anything. Just you, your friends and some coins.
Anyways, another great video - love the July initiative!
It's going to sound disingenuous but I truly believe that a lot of people want to feel like they're playing a game without actually doing so. Yes, there is a point where mechanics can get in the way of enjoyment, and D&D has some, but a large subset of players I think just want the rp without the g, and are simply embarrassed about the idea of collective theater.
I'm loving this idea
Thanks. To see how it works in actual play, watch this: th-cam.com/video/MGeXZcuI3No/w-d-xo.html
Great concept!
Rules-light games can be fun, but I personally prefer crunchier mechanics akin to Pathfinder 1E. Gotta love me those +1 bonuses and -1 penalties!
To each their own! Game on!
1000% agree, after playing Deathbringer with some folks not only did we not miss skills management the game moves so much faster. I do however give them back a dice when they roll a natural 1. So if they are having a "cursed dice" night they do not feel like the fates are against them.
Glad you enjoy it!
Two recommendations :
1. Ability scores as Approaches allow players to use their strengths for skills. How would this work? I want to intimidate someone. I could roll vs. Charisma. Or... I could look at the person and press an iron bar into a pretzel.
2. One of my favorites is to borrow from 13th Age and use an Escalation Dice. Every missed roll increases a d6 by one. While 13th Age uses it for combat; I've used it for all rolls. Now... do you want to cash in and take that +3 to succeed, or is it not that important anymore?
Change skills to bonus to preferred category of action when the player does that action enough times (you can include flex dice in this). Skills are made up at GM discretion - player get up to 10. That way, players still feel unique if they want some crunch.
I call them Buff dice. This is from my game "Gods Gold and Glory" a d6 dice pool system:
The following activities (outside of combat) can earn you up to 5 Endurance buffs (Pink Dice). This pink dice can be used once and consumed to add to any roll for success. But use them or lose them as they vanish after each play session.
Must have NO Endurance buffs to get the following buffs.
Sleep in uncomfortable conditions (on the floor or in very unsafe area) = 1 buff.
Sleep in semi-comfortable conditions (bed roll or dirty or broken or cold bed) = 50% 1 or 2 buffs.
Sleep in comfortable conditions (Warm clean pleasant bed indoors) = 2 buffs.
Must have at least 1 but no more than 2 endurance buffs to get the following.
Drink water 1 Buff.
Must have 1 but no more than 3 endurance buffs to get the following.
Eat low quality food 1 Buff
Eat high quality food 2 Buff
Must have at least three but no more than 4 endurance buffs to get the following buff.
Relaxation activity 1 Buff
If not drunk, you may try the following all you want. If you get drunk add 1 red dice (penalty dice) for all your actions.
Drink Beer and wine 1 Buff unless you roll a backfire, all buffs are gone and you are drunk until you sleep.
1 health can be recovered at the cost of 4 Pink Dice.
Warm Fire
A close by fire will turn a semi-comfortable sleep into a comfortable sleep. You will need a fire as well as the cooking skill and spices to turn low quality food into high quality food.
I got deathbringer and love the idea of the dice.
The cyberpunk game our group plays... Shatterpunk for the Shatter6 system... has a dice mechanic like this called Shatter Dice. First level PCs start with 4 SD and can gain more ever so many levels. You can burn as many as you want on any roll to help increase your chances of success. While PCs have "tags"... things they are good at... the SD mean that even the Netrunner, who might not be particularly good at combat, can get in a lucky shot when needed or take a solid hit from a chromed up ganger and still live to talk about it. SD are regained at roughly 1 die per 8 hours, or whenever the GM says you gain them all back. I tend to have the PCs gain them all back each "day" for long campaigns, but for one shot games PCs just get them all back at the start of the new game.
YES!! OMG I LOVE THIS IDEA!!!
This is an interesting mechanic I'm debating trying to incorporate into a Dungeon World campaign. This version of the idea would involve giving the players a choice when they roll a failure. Everyone would start out with a certain number of flex dice at the start of each session. Maybe 3, and that's the maximum they can have at any time. Everytime they fail on a roll (6 or less) I would give the player a choice of either marking EXP or taking an extra flex die, as long as they have less than 3, to use on a later failure to potentially bring it up to at least a mixed success. They would just reroll the lesser result, but they have to take the second sum, even if it's worse, and only one flex die can be used per attempt. A natural 2 cannot be rerolled using flex dice. They mark EXP and the GM gets a hard move.
The point of the choice between extra flex dice and marking EXP would be to prevent the players from accidentally power-levelling their characters into an early retirement at max level.
Professor Dungeon Master, what do you think of this idea? Are there better ways of making this mechanic work in Dungeon World? Also, if it's a stupid idea in general, you can tell me. I just wanna make sure the game runs the best it can for my group.
Great stuff friend 👏 👍
Did I hear that professor DM’s table brings burritos? Hook me up with some of that! 😁
Cypher System does something similar with their stat pools, where you can spend stat pool points (Might, Speed, or Intellect) to lower the task difficulty and/or increase damage dealt, along with special ability activation. The higher your tier, the more stat pool points you can spend to perform truly heroic feats.
Supers! also uses this concept in order to balance out a team of members with varying power levels by providing the lower-powered heroes with Competency Dice.
All in all, I'm down for flex dice over fiddly gimmicks that clog up a character sheet.
I love this idea!
this is what I love about solo systems. you get used to having to do things on your own, whether or not it'll be easy to pass tests or not lol
Thanks for commenting. New video out now! th-cam.com/video/svFt_V71qjU/w-d-xo.html
I couldn't agree with you more, Professor. I added Deathbringer/Luck dice to my home brew about a year ago. It's been a big hit. PCs get one die per level and they reset after every session. My players tend to save their luck dice for the final boss battle, where they can unload piles of damage or save themselves from certain death.
"If everyone's super, no one will be."
I get the notion that many feats are absurd in their application. (Needing a feat to strike someone with a shield in 5e was peak bad game design), and some skills can grind the game to a halt. But characters being constrained or liberated in certain way's by their abilities is a big part of the Role side of Role Playing. An Agile Swashbuckler should feel like an Agile Swashbuckler, and a Mighty Warrior, should feel like a Mighty Warrior. (Though I do often feel like Feats and Skills are redundant, and not everything needs a unique skill/feat. I.E. If I am proficient with a Shield I should be able to block or strike with the shield, and should be able to forgo my Shields AC bonus to give it to an adjacent ally. Something like "Phalanx Fighting" could require a Feat and grants a slight AC bonus to adjacent allies automatically so long as you have a shield equipped.)
That being said a dice mechanic like this is not entirely a bad idea. I just feel like dismissing the notion of skills and special abilties is going down a road to the grey goo effect. Which I'm not a fan of. Especially sense Luck Dice really don't feel like a replacement for that, but rather a useful tool to allow players to gain more agency within the narrative. Not a replacement, but an addition.
It's so crazy to me that we're promoting this idea that every character should be an expert in every skill but if you suggest that maybe characters shouldn't instantly perma die at 0HP, you're making the game a babified power fantasy.