We instituted a house rule in a campaign I am currently running where you rolled for your parry or dodge value rather than having a static number modified by certain intangibles.
Basically instead of adding the bonus to a base of 10 a d20 is rolled and the bonus is added to it.
I proposed this because when d20 debuted the omision of a parry opttion of some kind was my biggest compaint. Being able to roll against being hit made me feel more in control of my own characters defence rather than hoping the adversday did not roll higher than my AC.
My group of 4 players loved it immediatly following the first combat and it has been a house rule since.
Some of the things we liked:
Being more in control of defence as stated above.
As a DM I loved it because the players who were not attacking at the time had their attentions held more closely.
We usually stay pretty focused be jokes pop out from time to time or when its not someones turn in combat they may get unfocused particullary if its a long combat but having to roll for your dodge or parry gave them something to do rather than just wait for the DM to dole out the result.
Another interesting aspect is that even the highest of attack roles could be repelled by a high defence roll or a poor attack roll may hit. It add a variable to the game which we thought added to the excitement.
We also decided that when you are considered flat footed you would roll a straight up d20 no bonus rather than going with the static 10.
Has anyone else tried this out and what does your group think?
Basically instead of adding the bonus to a base of 10 a d20 is rolled and the bonus is added to it.
I proposed this because when d20 debuted the omision of a parry opttion of some kind was my biggest compaint. Being able to roll against being hit made me feel more in control of my own characters defence rather than hoping the adversday did not roll higher than my AC.
My group of 4 players loved it immediatly following the first combat and it has been a house rule since.
Some of the things we liked:
Being more in control of defence as stated above.
As a DM I loved it because the players who were not attacking at the time had their attentions held more closely.
We usually stay pretty focused be jokes pop out from time to time or when its not someones turn in combat they may get unfocused particullary if its a long combat but having to roll for your dodge or parry gave them something to do rather than just wait for the DM to dole out the result.
Another interesting aspect is that even the highest of attack roles could be repelled by a high defence roll or a poor attack roll may hit. It add a variable to the game which we thought added to the excitement.
We also decided that when you are considered flat footed you would roll a straight up d20 no bonus rather than going with the static 10.
Has anyone else tried this out and what does your group think?