I'm just trying to find out some other opinions on when to dismiss a dice roll. I already have my own rules/guidelines, but I want to know if and how they differ from the way other people play.
I consider a roll invalid if:
The dice leave the table
The dice hit something (i.e. the DM screen, other dice, a cup, etc.)
Or if the dice don't land flat (i.e. catching in a crack)
Are these guidelines too harsh, too light? I just started DMing a couple weeks ago. Any opinion is helpful?
We sometimes accept, sometimes not, dice that leave the table, but the decision is always made (by the DM) before anybody has seen what was rolled. I can get behind having them not count, or counting them as "1", to encourage players to be more careful when rolling, but statistically speaking, it shouldn't be a problem to count them as valid.
Dice hitting something we've always counted as valid, although we harass the roller if the roll moved minis out of place, since that's a hassle.
Dice not landing flat we tend to count as invalid, unless they're very nearly flat.
Generally speaking, you're going to want to discount rolls that are either unfair (e.g. cocked dice, which could be read multiple ways; dice that don't roll enough, and could have conceivably been manipulated (we had a player who could roll 6's on d6's on demand, but the dice never rolled on the table, they just landed on 6)), or promote bad behavior (dice that leave the table, rolls that hit and topple or shift minis, etc).
Also, rolls made before the roll was called for don't count at my table. I find it annoying as DM when players anticipate rolls. I notice that when they anticipate rolls and roll poorly, they don't want to take that roll and instead they reroll when I ask them to make the roll :)
Ugh, I hate that. We have a player who always does this. "Ok, So-and-so, it's your turn, what do you do?", So-and-so proceeds to roll, usually multiple times (we usually play on a VTT, so reaction times are slower), and then reacts to the rolls ("Yeah, that's a hit!", or "Damn, I missed."), without ever stating what they intended to do. I'm almost completely sure they're not trying to cheat by seeing what was rolled before deciding on a course of action, but it's always a hassle, especially since they don't have a great handle on all the rules yet, so they often end up rolling the wrong type/amount of dice. But every time they roll a 20, if their intended action was invalidated (say, "You can't attack them, they're too far"), they insist their roll is "honored". When I'm DMing I will sometimes do so, but usually only if the corrected action is similar enough (say, "Ok, I attack that other guy, instead, he's in range", but certainly not "I try to Persuade them to help us").
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We sometimes accept, sometimes not, dice that leave the table, but the decision is always made (by the DM) before anybody has seen what was rolled. I can get behind having them not count, or counting them as "1", to encourage players to be more careful when rolling, but statistically speaking, it shouldn't be a problem to count them as valid.
Dice hitting something we've always counted as valid, although we harass the roller if the roll moved minis out of place, since that's a hassle.
Dice not landing flat we tend to count as invalid, unless they're very nearly flat.
Generally speaking, you're going to want to discount rolls that are either unfair (e.g. cocked dice, which could be read multiple ways; dice that don't roll enough, and could have conceivably been manipulated (we had a player who could roll 6's on d6's on demand, but the dice never rolled on the table, they just landed on 6)), or promote bad behavior (dice that leave the table, rolls that hit and topple or shift minis, etc).
Ugh, I hate that. We have a player who always does this. "Ok, So-and-so, it's your turn, what do you do?", So-and-so proceeds to roll, usually multiple times (we usually play on a VTT, so reaction times are slower), and then reacts to the rolls ("Yeah, that's a hit!", or "Damn, I missed."), without ever stating what they intended to do. I'm almost completely sure they're not trying to cheat by seeing what was rolled before deciding on a course of action, but it's always a hassle, especially since they don't have a great handle on all the rules yet, so they often end up rolling the wrong type/amount of dice. But every time they roll a 20, if their intended action was invalidated (say, "You can't attack them, they're too far"), they insist their roll is "honored". When I'm DMing I will sometimes do so, but usually only if the corrected action is similar enough (say, "Ok, I attack that other guy, instead, he's in range", but certainly not "I try to Persuade them to help us").