Let Him Cook!

In the intervening period between when I first started putting things together for this campaign -its not #PrepAddiction I swear!- and the campaigns first session proper, has given me plenty of time to stew.

To ruminate on things.

To wake up in cold sweats because my subconscious has connected two dots and demanded my consciousness address its discoveries. Those many, many sleepless nights.

[Rules Right. Not Rules Lite]

As previously mentioned I am grafting Reaction Rolls into 5e to, hopefully, enhance the Social Pillar of the Campaign by curbing the Combat Pillar, and my own bloodthirsty bias.

But since I opened the server to the players early, I've been able to witness to all the Bards, Paladins, Sorcerers, and Warlock characters they are looking forward to playing. The issue is, BX (from which the inspiration for the 2d6 table is taken) caps Ability Modifiers at +3, while 5e goes up to +5. 

My anxiety was slowly growing.

And I'm sure you can see where my concern comes from. Each Reaction Roll would be 2d6+4 or +5. Meaning even the lowest roles would become [Indifferent, Uninterested], and an average roll becomes [Friendly]

With the +3 max from BX each roll only has the potential of being modified 1 step, but the +5 max from 5e means each roll can potentially be modified 2 steps.

I have vacillated over what to do, but after some discussion with people far more adept then myself, I have decided to scrap the 2d6 BX reaction tables in favour of the % based AD&D reaction tables.

"Definitely lean on AD&D! Those skill checks pair really, really well with d% tables for the purpose of changing table outcomes. If they beat the DC, it gets added to the roll. If they fail, it's subtracted."

"Reaction is rolled, 72 - (Uncertain (55% positive)

Bard offers to roll a performance check to distract the encounter. Rolls a 28, beating whatever DC I was even thinking of, and I add the result of 28 to the reaction of 72.

That becomes their new reaction!"

I think what was said about using the results of the skill check to shift the attitude up or down the percentage table makes a lot of sense, as the characters Cha Modifier is already factored into the skill check.

But, I don't feel this suits my purposes.

Using the Social Interaction - Conversation Reaction tables means I don't have such a 'Pass/Fail' set DC. As with a significant enough result even a Hostile creature may do as you request, while with the same level of result an already Friendly creature will go above and beyond to aid you.

What I required was a way to adjudicate the starting attitude of the creature, which was the reason I sought to use Reaction Rolls in the first place. To reduce cognitive load; give the setting a more organic feel; and minimizing my own DM bias.

[Hello, old friend]

I have settled on a simple conversion of charisma modifier to percentage value, in increments of 5%. 

Which means the +5 becomes a  +25%. 

It seems like a large number, but I feel, still somewhat manageable as Cha adjustments in AD&D can go as high as +35%. 

...I stand by none of this napkin maths, and will see how it plays at the table. I may very well return, cap in hand, for a nice large serving of humble pie as I implement the method that was offered.

[Next Poast]