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Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Dice-Neutral Attack/Saving Throw Table, Adjusted

Almost immediately after I posted the Saving Throw table last Thursday, I realized I screwed up. Oh, sure, the table entries are correct and the table is usable – if you use the table a specific way. A non-intuitive way. But it can be improved.

The way I was expecting the table to be used:
  1. Use the header to equate a saving throw category to an armor type, if necessary.
  2. Find your dice rating or level title in the columns on the left.
  3. Read across the row until you find the armor class you are attacking/saving against.
  4. Move down the column to find the target number for the dice you are rolling.
This all works, but the headers are barely getting any use, and aren’t being used in the traditional way. Plus, you have to do some weird math adjustments if you are attacking a weaker armor class at higher levels. I made several attempts at explaining how to make the adjustments, but none of them sounded very clear, and I was not satisfied.

Simply reversing the entries on each row and changing the way you read the table fixes that. So, I made a new table. Here’s how to use it:
  1. Look in the header for the column for your target armor type or saving throw category.
  2. Move down the column to the row for your dice rating or level title.
  3. Read the adjusted armor type (for example, Heroes attack opponents in Medium armor as if they were wearing Light armor.)
  4. Find the adjusted armor type in the Suggested Dice Rolls section and use the listed target number.
If the adjusted armor type in Step 3 is blank, count how many columns you have to move to the right to get to an adjusted armor type of None. Subtract that from the target number for Armor Type None, if rolling 1d6 or 2d6. Double this modifier if rolling 1d20 or 4d6-4. This is easier to explain than the adjustments for the previous version of this table.

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