Active defense anyone?

[sacerd]

Has anyone ever tried to drop the assumed base 10 to their defense/AC score and replaced it with a d20 roll as an active defense.
I know that it creates more rolling in combat but I wonder if it is more "fun" for the defender as it might make them feel like there is a little more control on their part (even if it is a still a roll of the dice) in their survivability. (Besides it would give a player something to do before getting smacked in the head with a "heavy thing")
Has anyone tried it?
Was it fun?

 

[flatscan]

Supplement Four uses it, you can see his thread on Active Defense here.

 

[Sutek]

For Conan it's far too deadly to change to using active defense. Massive Damage would be one big reason, but a more detailed reason would be that weapon damage is geared towards the Armor DR system and so DV should be a static value augmented by leveling-up.

 

[Krushnak]

I use active defense but only when its a one on one fight between a pc and a named npc just to add a bit more dramatic tension to the fight. pretty much every attack is an opposed roll in this situation in my game. all other times in combat i use static defense.

 

[Supplement Four]

Supplement Four uses it, you can see his thread on Active Defenese here.

Yep, we use it, and we think it's great fun. Combat is never boring, I'll tell you that!

Oh crap, I rolled a 5 on my attack. Oh-bigger-crap! He rolled a 4 on his defense! It's a hit.

Sometimes, important fights can be a roller coaster.

I wouldn't switch for anything--Active Defense is too much fun.

 

[thulsa]

Has anyone tried it?
Was it fun?

Try this variant:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/playersRollAllTheDice.htm

It saves the DM a ton of work and involves the players even when it's not their turn.

I use this method and like it a lot.

- thulsa

 

[Clovenhoof]

I also use Players Roll All The Dice and can confirm thulsa's statement. Apart from the aforementioned advantages, it also gives players the feeling that they have an influence on their defense, which they like, without the increased drag of an additional die roll.