Flip the Digits...

[Prime_Evil]

I've been thinking of letting players spend a Hero Point to flip the digits on a dice roll that has already been made - turning a 91 into a 19 or a 50 into 05. What do people think of this potential house rule?

 

[PeteN]

I use it all the time in my games.

 

[Prime_Evil]

I've been having evil thoughts about alternative uses for Hero Points recently

 

[Ynas Midgard]

I don't see how it could be game-breaking. It is of less utility than Second Chance which forces re-rolls of any one roll, be it made by the character or someone against him, but it compensates by producing fixed results.

So, if you'd like to give your players some more tactical options, go for it.

 

[alex_greene]

You're still royally if you roll an 88, a 96 or a 00 ...

 

[Prime_Evil]

If you roll double-digits, you are definitely still in trouble.

I like the idea of expanding the use of Hero Points to provide additional options - it's an under-utilized aspect of the game system.

 

[JP42]

Yeah, rolling doubles is just the fates way of saying "not this time" when it comes to using your points that way.

It definitely takes some of the tension out of the situation - if you roll a 91, then spending the point is a no brainer in your system. If you roll that same 91, and the option is to reroll, you might wind up with an 89 and be no better off.

 

[auyl]

I've been thinking of letting players spend a Hero Point to flip the digits on a dice roll that has already been made - turning a 91 into a 19 or a 50 into 05. What do people think of this potential house rule?

I think this is a neat idea. As was mentioned above, the Hero Points system is not really all that developed compared to other parts of the game so more options for it are nice to see.

 

[soltakss]

We've used it for a year or so and it adds spice to the game. It is not unbalancing, as a bad roll would be rerolled anyway, but this allows a bad roll to be turned into a good roll without any danger.

 

[pachristian]

I like this idea. I've seen too many cases where players had to blow 2 or 3 hero points trying to buy off one bad roll.

I'll use it.

 

[soltakss]

I have found that this is a good Hero Point soak. We play RQ3 with bits and bobs added on, so we have Specials and Criticals. Normally, someone rolling a failure might not want to reroll, especially if the skill is relatively low (50% means a reroll will fail half the time), but rolling a 90 (failure) and being able to flip to an 09 (Special) means the Hero Point will almost certainly be spent.

As a GM, anything to get the players to spend their Hero Points is good news.