I have a player that couldn't make every session when we first started, so we created a reason that he was cursed and would randomly phase into a parallel plane of existence when the player couldn't show.
Now , he can show up more consistently, so I want to make him roll a d100 randomly to see if he phases away now and again. I would then let him do a saving throw at the end of each turn to return to the material plane.
My question is, what is a fair percentage on his d100 roll to see if his curse sends him to another plane. 3%, 5%, 10%? How often should I make him roll, and how hard should his roll be?
*Edit*
We don't need any responses that just say "no". This is the story we've chosen as a group to tell. This character is cursed until he finds a cure. Looking for roll suggestions, not suggestions that don't answer my question.
There's no fair roll for this. It's absolutely unfair to the player to impose such an arbitrary drawback on their character. If you want, you can say that the reason that he failed a skill check was due to him phasing out while trying to do so, but don't actually have a mechanic that affects the character, it should only be fluff that happens as justification for why he failed at something after the dice have been rolled.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
There's no fair roll for this. It's absolutely unfair to the player to impose such an arbitrary drawback on their character. If you want, you can say that the reason that he failed a skill check was due to him phasing out while trying to do so, but don't actually have a mechanic that affects the character, it should only be fluff that happens as justification for why he failed at something after the dice have been rolled.
That doesn't fit the story we're telling. Having the effect end or change without an in story reason isn't our style. These are grownups, they don't complain about "fair".
There's no fair roll for this. It's absolutely unfair to the player to impose such an arbitrary drawback on their character. If you want, you can say that the reason that he failed a skill check was due to him phasing out while trying to do so, but don't actually have a mechanic that affects the character, it should only be fluff that happens as justification for why he failed at something after the dice have been rolled.
That doesn't fit the story we're telling. Having the effect end or change without an in story reason isn't our style. These are grownups, they don't complain about "fair".
The curse is artifice. It's a meta reason for why the character wasn't there. I'm of the opinion that such mechanics are both unnecessary and, as this thread indicates, counterproductive. ("The character was there, they just didn't do anything particularly notable" is perfectly fine.)
You're already changing the "curse", because having the player show up and randomly not get to play for a whole session would suck. Now it's much shorter in duration. If you can change it like that, you can change it further. Maybe they've developed enough strength of will that it doesn't happen anymore. Maybe it only happens when they're asleep.
If you made the mistake of actually working the handwave mechanism into the story, you can work the reason it's gone into the story, too. Mysterious supernatural forces are often inconsistent.
There's no fair roll for this. It's absolutely unfair to the player to impose such an arbitrary drawback on their character. If you want, you can say that the reason that he failed a skill check was due to him phasing out while trying to do so, but don't actually have a mechanic that affects the character, it should only be fluff that happens as justification for why he failed at something after the dice have been rolled.
That doesn't fit the story we're telling. Having the effect end or change without an in story reason isn't our style. These are grownups, they don't complain about "fair".
The curse is artifice. It's a meta reason for why the character wasn't there. I'm of the opinion that such mechanics are both unnecessary and, as this thread indicates, counterproductive. ("The character was there, they just didn't do anything particularly notable" is perfectly fine.)
You're already changing the "curse", because having the player show up and randomly not get to play for a whole session would suck. Now it's much shorter in duration. If you can change it like that, you can change it further. Maybe they've developed enough strength of will that it doesn't happen anymore. Maybe it only happens when they're asleep.
If you made the mistake of actually working the handwave mechanism into the story, you can work the reason it's gone into the story, too. Mysterious supernatural forces are often inconsistent.
Super unhelpful.
They're not out for the whole session, just a round. I'd do it at the start of the combat and have them roll saves each turn to return.
Not that any of that matters. I asked one question, and no one has tried answering it. Leave the RP to us.
I'm just looking for advice on often a random event should happen, not how we play our game.
They're not out for the whole session, just a round. I'd do it at the start of the combat and have them roll saves each turn to return.
Not that any of that matters. I asked one question, and no one has tried answering it. Leave the RP to us.
I'm just looking for advice on often a random event should happen, not how we play our game.
When you ask a question like this and literally everyone who replies, including some people who very much don't ever see eye-to-eye on how D&D should be played, tell you the answer is "never", you might want to reexamine your premises.
If you're dead-set on doing it, go not unto the internet for answers. Ask the player who's directly affected.
As a DM, D100 roll a 5 or lower player sits out 15min once a day, call it a blink curse that temp places them in an extra dimensional space in suspended time.
You can say a cursed item they didn’t know in some random treasure, or object they found is the cause. For the time the PC needs to actually miss a session, you and the group play it off as he rolled a 1 and is out for a bit.
There's no fair roll for this. It's absolutely unfair to the player to impose such an arbitrary drawback on their character. If you want, you can say that the reason that he failed a skill check was due to him phasing out while trying to do so, but don't actually have a mechanic that affects the character, it should only be fluff that happens as justification for why he failed at something after the dice have been rolled.
That doesn't fit the story we're telling. Having the effect end or change without an in story reason isn't our style. These are grownups, they don't complain about "fair".
The title of this thread is, "A fair roll for a random event due to a curse." The first post says "My question is, what is a fair percentage on his d100 roll to see if his curse sends him to another plane." If you don't actually care about fairness, then you can choose whatever number you want because it doesn't matter, but the objective truth is that there is no fair number on a random die roll to stop a character from being able to act due to a "curse" that was applied as a meta explanation for why they did nothing during sessions when the player running that character couldn't make it.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Start with 5% and then add 5% after each check until he phases out. Since it was a "per session" thing before, I'd probably do it at the start of each session and maybe after the party takes a long rest. So for Session one he has to roll 5 or lower to phase. After the party's long rest it's 10 or lower. Start of next session 15 or lower. (This allows a side game where players can bet on how high the number will get before he phases.) When he finally triggers it then the next roll is back to 5 or lower to phase.
If you want to make it a combat thing, at the start of each of his turns, but when it triggers even if he can't do anything it's going to be a free Blink so that's one round where he can't help the party but he also can't be targeted.
I have a player that couldn't make every session when we first started, so we created a reason that he was cursed and would randomly phase into a parallel plane of existence when the player couldn't show.
Now , he can show up more consistently, so I want to make him roll a d100 randomly to see if he phases away now and again. I would then let him do a saving throw at the end of each turn to return to the material plane.
My question is, what is a fair percentage on his d100 roll to see if his curse sends him to another plane. 3%, 5%, 10%? How often should I make him roll, and how hard should his roll be?
*Edit*
We don't need any responses that just say "no". This is the story we've chosen as a group to tell. This character is cursed until he finds a cure. Looking for roll suggestions, not suggestions that don't answer my question.
There's no fair roll for this. It's absolutely unfair to the player to impose such an arbitrary drawback on their character. If you want, you can say that the reason that he failed a skill check was due to him phasing out while trying to do so, but don't actually have a mechanic that affects the character, it should only be fluff that happens as justification for why he failed at something after the dice have been rolled.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
That doesn't fit the story we're telling. Having the effect end or change without an in story reason isn't our style. These are grownups, they don't complain about "fair".
The curse is artifice. It's a meta reason for why the character wasn't there. I'm of the opinion that such mechanics are both unnecessary and, as this thread indicates, counterproductive. ("The character was there, they just didn't do anything particularly notable" is perfectly fine.)
You're already changing the "curse", because having the player show up and randomly not get to play for a whole session would suck. Now it's much shorter in duration. If you can change it like that, you can change it further. Maybe they've developed enough strength of will that it doesn't happen anymore. Maybe it only happens when they're asleep.
If you made the mistake of actually working the handwave mechanism into the story, you can work the reason it's gone into the story, too. Mysterious supernatural forces are often inconsistent.
Super unhelpful.
They're not out for the whole session, just a round. I'd do it at the start of the combat and have them roll saves each turn to return.
Not that any of that matters. I asked one question, and no one has tried answering it. Leave the RP to us.
I'm just looking for advice on often a random event should happen, not how we play our game.
When you ask a question like this and literally everyone who replies, including some people who very much don't ever see eye-to-eye on how D&D should be played, tell you the answer is "never", you might want to reexamine your premises.
If you're dead-set on doing it, go not unto the internet for answers. Ask the player who's directly affected.
As a DM, D100 roll a 5 or lower player sits out 15min once a day, call it a blink curse that temp places them in an extra dimensional space in suspended time.
You can say a cursed item they didn’t know in some random treasure, or object they found is the cause. For the time the PC needs to actually miss a session, you and the group play it off as he rolled a 1 and is out for a bit.
The title of this thread is, "A fair roll for a random event due to a curse." The first post says "My question is, what is a fair percentage on his d100 roll to see if his curse sends him to another plane." If you don't actually care about fairness, then you can choose whatever number you want because it doesn't matter, but the objective truth is that there is no fair number on a random die roll to stop a character from being able to act due to a "curse" that was applied as a meta explanation for why they did nothing during sessions when the player running that character couldn't make it.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Start with 5% and then add 5% after each check until he phases out. Since it was a "per session" thing before, I'd probably do it at the start of each session and maybe after the party takes a long rest. So for Session one he has to roll 5 or lower to phase. After the party's long rest it's 10 or lower. Start of next session 15 or lower. (This allows a side game where players can bet on how high the number will get before he phases.) When he finally triggers it then the next roll is back to 5 or lower to phase.
If you want to make it a combat thing, at the start of each of his turns, but when it triggers even if he can't do anything it's going to be a free Blink so that's one round where he can't help the party but he also can't be targeted.
Maybe say that he made a deal with a powerful entity on the other plane, so he shows up but he has an obligation