House rules to simplify D&D

[zioth]

I think everyone can agree that the most confusing and complicated part of D&D is the big bag of dice. I propose we simplify this by dropping everything but the d20. For example:
 
Rolling base attributes is now really simple. Just roll a d20 for each one. This has the side effect of vastly improving role-playing, because you can now play a character with a 1 in an attribute.
 
For hitpoints, just do some simple math. Barbarians get d20-8 HP, and wizards get d20-16.
 
Combat is simplified. A dagger does d20/5, while a greataxe does d20*3/5. Magic is also a lot simpler. Normally, casting Disintegrate at 20th level requires you to borrow every d6 at the table until you find 40 of them (which means that, in some groups, you can't cast Disintegrate at all at higher levels!), and then roll them all at once, and painstakingly add them together. In the new system, you just roll your d20 forty times, divide each roll by 10, add them all together, and multiply the total by 3.
 
What do you think?

[Raineh Daze]

This fails to simplify, and in fact makes things more complicated.

It also means that attribute rolling is now liable to cause one person to be insanely more powerful than another. Any roll on a d20 is as likely as any other roll on a d20. It's easy to get a large bunch of rolls less than 10, basically killing the character. Unlike 3d6 or 4d6, drop the lowest (and/or reroll ones), there's no point around which scores will tend to cluster.

So, too, does HP have problems. Wizards now have 4/5 chance of gaining negative HP.

Finally? Simply rolling a d6 40 times and keeping a running total is much easier than multiplication or division of d20 results.

Hell, keep something electronic nearby, use a dice roller when you have 40 dice.

[sirpercival]

I think everyone can agree that the most confusing and complicated part of D&D is the big bag of dice. I propose we simplify this by dropping everything but the d20. For example:
 
Rolling base attributes is now really simple. Just roll a d20 for each one. This has the side effect of vastly improving role-playing, because you can now play a character with a 1 in an attribute.
 
For hitpoints, just do some simple math. Barbarians get d20-8 HP, and wizards get d20-16.
 
Combat is simplified. A dagger does d20/5, while a greataxe does d20*3/5. Magic is also a lot simpler. Normally, casting Disintegrate at 20th level requires you to borrow every d6 at the table until you find 40 of them (which means that, in some groups, you can't cast Disintegrate at all at higher levels!), and then roll them all at once, and painstakingly add them together. In the new system, you just roll your d20 forty times, divide each roll by 10, add them all together, and multiply the total by 3.
 
What do you think?

I think this is a TREMENDOUS idea, really cutting to the heart of the problem (that big dice bag, as you said).  I suggest even further simplification, though -- why go through round after round of combat, with all that rolling? Your hands can get tired, even with cutting down on the number of different shapes your hand has to conform to.  Simply resolve all encounters by having the PCs each roll a d20, and then having the DM roll an equal number of d20s.  If the players win, then they win the encounter; if the DM wins, he can select a PC at random (using another d20 roll) to die.

[Bauglir]

I think everyone can agree that the most confusing and complicated part of D&D is the big bag of dice. I propose we simplify this by dropping everything but the d20. For example:
 
Rolling base attributes is now really simple. Just roll a d20 for each one. This has the side effect of vastly improving role-playing, because you can now play a character with a 1 in an attribute.
 
For hitpoints, just do some simple math. Barbarians get d20-8 HP, and wizards get d20-16.
 
Combat is simplified. A dagger does d20/5, while a greataxe does d20*3/5. Magic is also a lot simpler. Normally, casting Disintegrate at 20th level requires you to borrow every d6 at the table until you find 40 of them (which means that, in some groups, you can't cast Disintegrate at all at higher levels!), and then roll them all at once, and painstakingly add them together. In the new system, you just roll your d20 forty times, divide each roll by 10, add them all together, and multiply the total by 3.
 
What do you think?

I think this is a TREMENDOUS idea, really cutting to the heart of the problem (that big dice bag, as you said).  I suggest even further simplification, though -- why go through round after round of combat, with all that rolling? Your hands can get tired, even with cutting down on the number of different shapes your hand has to conform to.  Simply resolve all encounters by having the PCs each roll a d20, and then having the DM roll an equal number of d20s.  If the players win, then they win the encounter; if the DM wins, he can select a PC at random (using another d20 roll) to die.

I think your idea doesn't go too far enough! The players should first make opposed d20 rolls to find out which of them rolls the d20 to determine the combat. This way, the DM only needs to make one roll. Saves net rolls for party sizes greater than 2, and has no effect on total number of rolls for parties of 2 or fewer players.

[zioth]

I like the way you think, Bauglir and Sirpercival! The great thing about Sirpercival's idea is that it encourages games with twenty players. I always thought my sixteen player game felt small. You can't really roleplay properly if your character is getting the spotlight for seven or even eight minutes an hour. Five minutes an hour really is ideal.
 
Raineh Daze, I like some of your ideas, but this one might just not be practical:
 

I, Raineh Daze, hereby declare that switching to a d20-only system will completely solve all balance issues in the game. I suggest, however, continuing to be Raineh Daze, that instead of a d20, a d19 is used, with pictures of small, fuzzy animals instead of numbers. This will make the math easier, and speed up the game.

I agree with your premise, but the manufacturing costs might be too high. If only we lived in an ideal world!

[wotmaniac]

(click to show/hide)

Is this parody? 

This has the side effect of vastly improving role-playing, because you can now play a character with a 1 in an attribute.

This has got to be the strangest instance of Stormwind that I've ever seen.
 

For hitpoints, just do some simple math. Barbarians get d20-8 HP, and wizards get d20-16.

So ..... negative HP is desired as a potential outcome? (wizards would be losing, on average, 3 levels worth of HP per level)
Either divide the die; or (perhaps you meant to add this) ignore results >"x".
 

Combat is simplified. A dagger does d20/5, while a greataxe does d20*3/5.

Wait ... multiplying fractions on the fly (as opposed to adding whole #s) is simpler how?

Magic is also a lot simpler. Normally, casting Disintegrate at 20th level requires you to borrow every d6 at the table until you find 40 of them (which means that, in some groups, you can't cast Disintegrate at all at higher levels!), and then roll them all at once, and painstakingly add them together. In the new system, you just roll your d20 forty times, divide each roll by 10, add them all together, and multiply the total by 3.

 
If simplification is desired, wouldn't just "taking the mean" be simpler?  30+ dice invokes the Law of Large Numbers; so taking the average is empirically and objectively justified.  Hell, a threshold of 10+ can be perfectly justified
 

What do you think?

That I've just been trolled.

[zioth]

I plan on using your system for all my future games. Rolling a d20 forty times has the added advantage of slowly rounding the edges of the die, making it easier to roll in the future.

Exactly! And thanks!

[wotmaniac]

I plan on using your system for all my future games. Rolling a d20 forty times has the added advantage of slowly rounding the edges of the die, making it easier to roll in the future.

Exactly! And thanks!

Well played, sir.  Well played.

[Nanshork]

 

[kitep]

I've heard that one definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.  So if you roll the die once, you'd be insane to think you'd get a different result by rolling it a second time.  So you can simplify the game even more by rolling once at the start and just using the same result for the rest of the night.  Easy, peasy 

[Nytemare3701]

I've heard that one definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.  So if you roll the die once, you'd be insane to think you'd get a different result by rolling it a second time.  So you can simplify the game even more by rolling once at the start and just using the same result for the rest of the night.  Easy, peasy 

Sometimes my nights feel like that. Stupid 2s...

[bobthe6th]

I mean, just taking out all spells shaves down the phb to what? 50 pages?
Just take out all spellcasting/spell casting related material. Will vastly simplify the game. Socket in a warlocks for arcane, and make lay on hands worthwhile to do healing... bam, your down to what? 40 pages?