That's how I roll

Everyone likes to see the chunks of plastic bouncing across the table anticipating success or failure, begging the dice gods; "just this one time!" As GM though you'll frequently want to hold back on letting the dice run free.

The TL;DR

• Time to Roll - don't let player's roll the dice, then tell you what its for

• Called roll - don't allow rolls because the players ask for them

• Roll call - don't call for a roll unless it changes the outcome

• Rolling with the Rules - Use the point buy system for character gen and don't roll hit points.

Time to Roll

Its a simple enough thing, but get your players into the habit of rolling when you ask for the roll. It sets you up to be in control of the game, not constantly chasing players telling you what their character (in there heads at least) have already done.

It also avoids one of the clumsiest cheats out there, often one a GM will miss as they're focusing on other things, but it can be a real annoyance for other players on the table. The player will sit rolling a d20, then when it comes up high they'll suddenly announce they've just taken an action and point you at the dice showing a 20.

Called Roll

Just because a player asks for a roll on something don't feel obliged to give it to them. Sometimes a roll is just inappropriate and these typically fall into two different camps; things they simply can't succeed at because it destroys the story and nonsensical attempts

The first includes things like knowing all about Dol Alten, the fallen elven city that has been abandoned for over 6,000 years. A high history skill shouldn't allow you to know about the secret rituals that took place to destroy it or who exactly orchestrated its demise, especially when the next adventure leads you into its unquiet ruins...

Conversely there isn't a Persuasion roll high enough to convince the king to hand over his kingdom to the adventurer he met ten minutes ago or an Athletics roll high enough to clear the 400 ft gap between two mountains with a single leap.

Be very careful about casually allowing these and just setting a 'very high' DC in your head. If you allow the roll it should be possible for the player to succeed, otherwise when they roll a natural 20 they're going to feel cheated when you still say no.

Roll Call

Its the vital moment, a deadly assassin is sneaking closer, preparing for that one strike that will kill the king. The characters are meant to rescue him at the last possible moment and and gain his support against the Lord of the Dead.

Time for a perception roll, right? Wrong!

We get a little keyed into rolling dice at times, but in every case if you're going to ask for a roll, first ask this question:

What changes if this roll succeeds or fails?

We've all done it, called for a roll where we're expecting the characters to succeed and then scrambled because the player rolls a 1.

In the best case version of this a Half Orc Barbarian is left standing outside the door of an empty cottage with no other lifeforms in twenty miles looking a bit confused that their axe somehow failed to break the lock. They just need to roll again; its a bit awkward, you've wasted time, but the game continues.

If you're unlucky though you've pre-loaded this roll with expectations and outcomes if the players fail, all the while assuming they wont. That can leave you truly flummoxed, with the king dead on the floor, the arguments about succession already begun and a horde of the dead heading towards the lifestone...

Rolling with the Rules

I’ve always been happy to take my chances on dice rolls for stats - I have a well established reputation for doing well with dice - and so I’d stuck to dice rolled stats in games I’d run as well, but I’ve been thinking about it for a while and I've changed my mind.

Here's why from now on I’ll always be asking players to use the point buy and standard hit points for D&D characters.

What you get from stat rolls is a chance for greatness; a character set up to be awesome from the get go. For that to be true though the reverse must be as well, and someone will end up with a sub-par character.

A good player can take a low stat and manage to play a moronic character that somehow accidentally does the right thing, or a character with such poor physical stats that a stiff breeze might blow them over, but whose honeyed tongue nonetheless wins over the roughest of bar room bullies.

A good player can do this, but it can be a lot more work. Put multiple low stats on a character sheet though, and even great players will know that their character is going to have a tough time.

The other end of the scale creates its own problems; its rare for a player who has the best stats to understand when to step back and let another player get some spotlight.

Basic stats are such a key element in D&D that having one or more that are very low can be a long term handicap. You'll either have to live with the handicap for the life of the character, or give up what should be significant improvements in your character's capabilities to fix them. Hit point rolls come up with the same problem in that rolling a couple of 1s can result in a long term challenge that's almost impossible to mitigate.

The most important reason I've changed my mine though is that players who roll poorly at the start of a game begin disappointed and discouraged and I do my very best to keep both of those off the table.