DM Screen/Fixed Roll Results

One of the most essential roles as a DM is to tailor your adventure in such a way that your players are having the most fun. Sometimes, for the sake of flavor, mood, or story you need a specific result to come up on the dice. In the physical analog this was achieved by rolling behind the DM screen and speaking the desired result aloud. Unfortunately on roll20 there is no way to make a roll appear fair to your players while simultaneously displaying the desired value. This leads to some really awkward player encounters where either something story-altering happens (which is a huge pain to rewrite) or you have to come up with some strange reason why things didn't actually happen the way the dice said they should. It kind of takes you out of the game a little bit when that happens. Seems like it would be fairly trivial to add something like this (only available to DMs): /roll 1d20+9 (17) Which looks like a normal roll of 1d20+9 but always results in a 17

Interesting suggestion. Note that the GM could still roll dice at home ("behind the screen"), and that would be the same as the physical analog you talked about. Note that the newest feature, NESTED INLINE Rolls, allows you to hide a dice formula. I'm not sure if that would help with this or not, but I will demonstrate it with the seventh macro example in this message, below. Also note that you can type a "dice" and have it display a certain predetermined number. However, like you said, this may not appear to be unconstrained (the ruse may be detected). Here are 7 different macro codes to display a certain number, with various degrees of hiding and appearance of rolling: /r 17 [[17]] Rolling d20 [[17]] /r d20r1r2r3r4r5r6r7r8r9r10r11r12r13r14r15r16r18r19r20 /r d20r1r2r3r4r5r6r7r8r9r10r11r12r13r14r15r16 [[d20r1r2r3r4r5r6r7r8r9r10r11r12r13r14r15r16]] [[[[d20r1r2r3r4r5r6r7r8r9r10r11r12r13r14r15r16]]]] The third one is a "fake" that says "rolling d20" but isn't actually rolling. The fourth one is an actual d20 roll, that keeps rerolling until it lands on 17. The fifth one & sixth one are rolling an actual d20 roll, that keeps rerolling until it lands on 17, 18, 19, or 20 The seventh one is an actual d20 roll, that keeps rerolling until it lands on 17, 18, 19, or 20, and it hides the rolling formula but lists the number 17, 18, 19, or 20, so at least it may APPEAR somewhat dice-rolled since the result won't always be "17". In conclusion here is a fake-out macro that almost achieves what Mitchell requested, except it doesn't really look like a dice roll if you mouse-hover over the inline result: Rolling d20+9 [[[[d20r1r2r3r4r5r6r7r8r9r10r11r12r13r14r15r16]]]] The output looks like this if you roll it several times: Rolling d20+9 18 Rolling d20+9 19 Rolling d20+9 20 Rolling d20+9 18 Rolling d20+9 17

<a href="https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/1126174/request-" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/1126174/request-</a>... Fudged rolls aren't gonna happen. Just fyi,

Yikes that's a pretty silly stance. I don't understand why I should have to sacrifice the flow of my game for a developer preference :/

Not really. Dice rolls in chat are meant to be dice rolls on the table in the open... not behind a DM screen. Simple as that. You want to fudge, just say you rolled using GM roll and make up whatever the fudge you want to. It's disrepsectful to your players though to want to cheat "openly".

When you suddenly roll an invisible roll I promise you that your players will notice. No one wants to feel like they've been given a charity roll but sometimes its necessary.

If I find out a DM is fudging rolls for me, I'll quit the game and go start my own group. This is why rolls on the table, in the open (aka in the chat window) will not ever be fudged. It breaks trust between the DM and the players.

Not everyone plays to min/max, sometimes a cinematic experience is just as much fun. Long before D&D became an exercise in probability, fudging rolls was encouraged specifically in the DMG. The idea that there is only one right way to play is anathema to like everything D&D haha.

Whether or not someone likes fudged rolls has nothing to do with min/max at all. It's simply dishonest to cheat your players by fudging dice. Especially when you want to cheat without being caught, by using fixed dice in the open.

I am so confused why you think moderating the flow of the game is cheating. That is the express purpose of the DM... otherwise you're nothing more than an organic rulebook... Playing by the letter, every roll out in the open is a fun way to play but it is totally not suitable for all campaigns.

That's what /gmroll is for. Rolls behind the screen. As if you were at a table.

Its a whole lot easier to nonchalantly roll behind the screen in real life than it is on roll20.

Yeah because suddenly rolling behind the screen (/gmroll) is any less suspicious after you've been openly rolling (/roll) the rest of the game.

That was kind of my point... its easier to make a roll behind the screen look like nothing special in real life... but its painfully obvious in roll20

Um... no... making a roll behind the screen after you've been rolling out in the open on the table for the rest of the game will make the players suspicious. There is absolutely no difference between /roll and rolling on the table and /gmroll and rolling behind the screen.

This thread is diverging. Please be certain to follow the rules of forum when posting on suggestions. Specifically, commentary should be : In favor of the suggestion. If you don't like a suggestion, don't vote for it -- DO NOT post a comment stating how you think a suggestion is unnecessary. Respectful of the original suggestion. Designed to expand upon the original suggestion, not replace it. At the same time, please don't attempt to expand the scope of a suggestion way beyond its original intent (e.g. from "Please add this dice mechanic to support System X" to "Please add dice mechanics for Systems X, Y, Z, and R!" Take discussions to private messages or other forums.