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Alternative macro for rolling against Target Number

If this option already exists in Roll20, I'm unable to find it. My suggestion is to provide a different way for doing macros able to account for margin of success against a Target Number -the current macro accounting for successes against a Target Number for individual dice works only for certain RPG systems. For instance, GURPS handles margin of success against a Target Number in this way: - You have a skill at level 12 (the target number). - Then you have to roll 3d6 and get 12 or less for a success in that skill/attribute roll/self-control roll/whatever. - If you roll less than 12, the difference is your *margin of success*; and if you roll more than 12, the excess is your *margin of failure.* I'd like to see a way of handling this rolling against a Target Number, displaying the success or failure of dice rolls (along with their margin of success or failure) in Roll20. This would work for other systems too, like the AD&D 2ed way of rolling against "Non-weapon Proficiencies" (roll the Target Number of less in a d20), for instance. This could be addressed by means of a sort of variation of the current macro formula involving the > and < characters. The following screenshot of how the Fantasy Grounds II GURPS ruleset handles rolling against Target Numbers is an example of what I'm suggesting:
That will work for many systems based on percentile rolls as well.
Sounds good to me! I'm just looking over Roll20 today, and as far as I can tell I wouldn't be able to use it for my GURPS game (well - I *could*, of course - but auto-calcing success/failure would be a really nice feature). I'm definitely keeping an eye on things, this looks like an awesome project.
Hi The Mook, A further comment is that this sort of macro could be able to make online game play easier -not just for automation, but also for keeping dynamics in tune with F2F gaming, since it's easier for all the participants to just see the roll results in the screen (success, failure, margin), without the GM always *needing* to specifically comment the results of each dice roll to the players via text chat or voice chat.
Well, if you are prepared to interpret a positive or zero number as a success and a negative number as a failure, then "/r 3d6 - " followed by your target number will do the job for 3d6 roll over. And "/r " followed by your target number followed by " 1d20" will handle the d20-roll-under case. Examples: A success at roll-over Brett (GM): r/ 3d6 - 12 rolling 3d6 -12 (6+1+4)-12 = -1 A failure at roll-over Brett (GM): r/ 3d6 - 12 rolling 3d6-12 (1+1+4)-12 = -6 A success at d20 roll-under Brett (GM): r/ 13 - 1d20 rolling 13 - 1d20 13-(13) = 0 A failure at d20 roll-under Brett (GM): r/ 13 - 1d20 rolling 13 - 1d20 13-(17) = -4
If you want to set it up as a macro, the interpreter can handle "/r -1d20 + " followed by the target number. Brett (GM): r/ - 1d20 + 13 rolling -1d20 + 13 -(19)+13 = -6
That's -- not a bad workaround, actually. Thanks for helping me see around my failed Applied Math roll. I grow more and more intrigued! Unless I just missed it, I'd add that to the FAQ - there's a lot of games that use a simple "target number roll under/over".
Here is a variation. If for instance, Jump skill is at 12 and you need to roll under that skill value --a default GURPS skill roll--, I use the following macro syntax: /r 12-3d6 Jump rolling 12-3d6 Jump 12-(5+2+2) = 3 which is a clear success by 3, while: /r 12-3d6 Jump rolling 12-3d6 Jump 12-(5+3+5) = -1 is a clear failure by 1. Typing /r -3d6+12 (Agemegos' proposal) works in the same way, but the screen displays the results a bit differently: /r -3d6+12 Jump rolling -3d6+12 Jump -(4+2+4)+12 = 2 What I'd like is to add the text "Success by" or "Failure by" to successful or failed roll results, as can be seen in the earlier Fantasy Grounds II GURPS ruleset screenshot, but so far I haven't found any available commands for doing it.
Yes! MapTools did something similar. I know it's not a radical difference, but when your elbow-deep in a game and the chatlog is whizzing by, it really can be nice. At any rate - I have renewed vigor for really giving this a shakedown next month when I'm gonna finally have some free time. I can hardly wait.
To be clear, there's no way to prompt a single macro for the target number, right? I would need, say, 8 different macros to cover the 8 most common target numbers? Label: 3d6-10, Macro: /r 3d6-10 Label: 3d6-11, Macro: /r 3d6-11 etc, I thought it was working last night, but I may have messed something up - whenever I try a macro like "/r - 3d6 +" or any variation, I get a bunch of "SyntaxError: Unexpected end of input" message.
The Mook, I've been testing and my macros are working --I just created more. For instance, this way of putting them works ATM:
(continuation) On the other hand, if I put your /r 3d6-10 in a macro, it just shows: "#The Mook's Macro" (the name of the macro) in the chat box, but no actual roll result. It makes a die roll, however, if I put /r 3d6-10 directly in the chat box and hit enter. Also, macros like /r -3d6+14 are working (to me) as well. I don't get any "SyntaxError: Unexpected end of input" message. So I have no idea why it's not working for you . . .
1339606796
Keith
Pro
Marketplace Creator
Macro's cannot have spaces in the names. It messes up the parsing. Try "TheMooksMacro".
Keith, If I do as you say --removing the spaces in the macro's name-- it works, as the Edit Macro window says. Thank you. Again, no idea why The Mook is getting such "SyntaxError: Unexpected end of input" message.
To be clear, there's no way to prompt a single macro for the target number, right? I would need, say, 8 different macros to cover the 8 most common target numbers? No, one macro ought to do for all. If you arrange the algebra so that the target number is at the end of the expression and leave it out of the macro, then typing the name of the macro followed by any target number ought to perform the check against that target number. I just trying creating a macro named "test" with text "/roll 3d6 - ". Typing "#test 12" gave me: Brett (GM): rolling 3d6 - 12 (2+6+2)-12 = -2 So not being able to append the difficulty number is not the problem. Then I edited #test to "/roll - 3d6 + ". Typing "#test 12" gave me: rolling - 3d6 + 12 -(3+4+3)+12 = 2 So leading with a minus sign isn't the problem. I guessed that the problem might be that the parser doesn't like the "/r" notation inside a macro. I edited "test" to "/r - 3d6 + ". Then typing "#test 12" gave me: rolling - 3d6 + 12 -(5+3+3)+12 = 1 So I don't know what to say. It works for me using Firefox 13.0 under OS 10.6.8
For what is worth, my tests were done running Roll20 with Chrome 19.0.1084.56 / Win7
Ah, I see. If I make a macro called "3d", defined as "/roll 3d6 - ", and type "#3d 12" in the chat window (or "#3d 15", or whatever), it works fine. My problem was that I added the macro to the bar (so I can just click-click-click instead of type-type-type) ... when I click it that way is when I get the syntax error message. Thanks for the quick and helpful replies folks! If all goes according to plan, I may actually be able to game again with my "Golden Age Dream Team," who of course now as adults are scattered to the four winds.
Ah! Interesting. I would guess that that might be because when you invoke a macro by clicking a button the system appends a character, so that you don't get to put the target number on the same line where it has to be for the parser.
(. . .) If all goes according to plan, I may actually be able to game again with my "Golden Age Dream Team," who of course now as adults are scattered to the four winds. Good luck with that!
Good luck with that! Lol, yeah, I know. But we've all talked about doing it before,just never really found the right tool ... and the right *time*. I appreciate this program for assisting with one of those.