As a dungeon master sometimes you need to simplify. Sometimes you forget your bag of dice. Sometimes you just want to try something different. I found a way to roll fewer dice at the table while still keeping some randomness involved.
All you need is a d20 and a d6.
The d20 is for the normal ability checks, saving throws, and attack rolls.
The d6 is for everything else. Which most of the time is going to be damage. Sure you could roll it a bunch of times or you can do some simple math.
Find the average damage and subtract 3, then add your d6 roll. Subtracting 3 from the average is because 3 is the average roll of a d6.
(Average Damage – 3) + d6
For example, a thrown rock from a Hill Giant normally does 21 (3d10 + 5) bludgeoning damage. Instead of rolling 3d10 + 5, you can take the average of 21 subtract 3 and roll a d6 instead. This would make the attack d6 + 18 bludgeoning damage.
This does make the lowest possible damage skew higher by increasing the damage modifier and it also lowers the maximum possible damage. For comparison, the normal range for the thrown rock is 8 – 35 but our adjusted range is 19 – 24.
Most damage rolls can be converted like this and the math is easy to do on the fly. This is great for large tables when you need to move fast or even if you have limited space and can’t afford to have dice flying everywhere.
I’m still going to roll all the dice for the dragon’s breath weapon.
As always, good luck with your next session. I believe in you. See you in the future!
Inspired by the article Die, DM, Die! By Chris Perkins and discussions on the Sly Flourish discord server.
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