Has anyone ever played with a DM that has the players roll for enemy attacks?  As in “the skeleton attacks you Dave. Steve, roll a d20. Steve rolled a 16.  Dave, does a 16 hit you?”

i went along with it for a session or two,  but after the first time i rolled a nat 20 against our spellcaster and brought them down to zero, i refused to do it again and the DM has stopped asking me to do it.  The thing is that the rest of the table will do as the DM asks and make all the creatures attack rolls.

I am no novice at this game, and have never seen this before, but maybe it is something new that i am unaware of.  Am i just out of the loop?

I've never seen a GM run a game that way. Doesn't seem like a great way to do things.  Honestly, it seems like it could cause problems with players blaming other players if their character gets killed.

The closest I’ve come to that is my regular DM has the players roll for pretty much anything that an NPC isn’t doing. So like weather, what time of day it, how much gold is in the chest, that sort of thing. If he needs a random number, he tells us what dice to roll without telling us what we’re rolling for but if it’s an attack, skill check, saving throw etc. that “belongs” to an NPC, he rolls that stuff. 

No, in fact my table has an almost inverse rule where once per session each player can ask the GM to roll for them. (Admittedly that’s because our main GM is the luckiest SoB when it comes to dice, I’ve never seen anyone else ever roll that many 20s in a single session.)

Quote from IamSposta >>

No, in fact my table has an almost inverse rule where once per session each player can ask the GM to roll for them. (Admittedly that’s because our main GM is the luckiest SoB when it comes to dice, I’ve never seen anyone else ever roll that many 20s in a single session.)

 Have you checked his dice to make sure they're not weighted?

Quote from Cls2Edg >>

 Am i just out of the loop?

 I first started playing D&D in 1986. The DM did all the rolls behind a screen. I Came back to D&D in 1999, the DM rolled behind the Screen. I played many campaigns from 2002 ~ 2007 all those DMs rolled behind a screen. 

In 2009 I was forced to become the DM, I started by using a normal DMs screen to roll behind. I moved to using dice rollers on my Laptop shortly afterwards. I now play on Discord and online and use a mix of Dice and digital dice all behind my Screen in online play. 

I have heard of DMs using the base numbers for to hit & damage ie the old take a ten. This is just to keep the game flowing faster. But what you describe is very very odd. 1st time I've heard of it. 

Example of take the ten DMing. 

"The Demogorgon" (top of the list of monsters) +8 to hit, you would take the 10 10+8 = 18. Does an 18 hit yes no?  Damage is listed as 14 (2d8+5) instead of rolling the 2d10+5... use the 14.  

18 to  hit every turn, 14 damage no matter what. Fast and easy. (and way too boring for me.) 

Quote from 6thLyranGuard >>

Quote from IamSposta >>

No, in fact my table has an almost inverse rule where once per session each player can ask the GM to roll for them. (Admittedly that’s because our main GM is the luckiest SoB when it comes to dice, I’ve never seen anyone else ever roll that many 20s in a single session.)

 Have you checked his dice to make sure they're not weighted?

 
Sadly weighted is not needed. If you learn how to do  it, you can guarantee high rolls with just how you roll the dice. It's why I use digital dice a lot, because I found I could 70% roll exactly the number I wanted just by how I rolled them. 

I do not see it as a bad way to do things. As long as the players accept the roles are random and not the fault of the player rolling the die.

I have had a Dm roll everything behind the screen and NEVER used the roll given. They gust made up the numbers to keep the story going.

I have heard of this and have on occasion done it. The party has to understand they why of it though.

Quote from Cls2Edg >>

I am no novice at this game, and have never seen this before, but maybe it is something new that i am unaware of.  Am i just out of the loop?

 I've heard of DMs being strict about them doing combat rolls for the players, but definitely not the other way around like you're describing. 

Maybe they're thinking it helps keep other players engaged in the combat if they have something to do while it isn't their turn?  I could see it working if the players agree with the system and enjoy getting to do some extra clickety clacks, but that's a weird way to go about it

What's the DM's stated reason for using this rule? As a DM it seems like it would be less fun for me and would potentially slow things down.

I've never done it or had it done this way before. The nearest I've had is, like someone else said, using a player as an RNG for an event or something. "We go to the hideout in Deadman's Marsh" "Someone roll a d100 for me" "23" "Oh dear...".

I can't say I'm enthused by the idea of players rolling for combat, however I think there's no real harm in it either. You'd have to be pretty immature to blame someone else for how the dice rolled, dice are dice - and I'd hate to be the DM in that game. I can see some DMs doing it - I think it's Gamma that walks around while DMing, I could see it being easier for them to just get someone to roll - but I prefer the separation of DM character rolls from PC rolls.

A table I was playing at did that for a while because there wasn’t enough room for the 4-5 players and the DM to sit at one table with all the stuff. For a time I would roll for the DM most of the time. I was stopped because I was rolling to good and the others didn’t like that. 😈😂

s DM i will often ask my players to roll a die that affect the characters or result from their action, like for random encounter, treasure or the damage for a fall they caused, but not for monsters attack rolls, these i usually roll myself.

Quote from 6thLyranGuard >>

Quote from IamSposta >>

No, in fact my table has an almost inverse rule where once per session each player can ask the GM to roll for them. (Admittedly that’s because our main GM is the luckiest SoB when it comes to dice, I’ve never seen anyone else ever roll that many 20s in a single session.)

 Have you checked his dice to make sure they're not weighted?

 
He’s not the type to cheat. Besides, when we were playing WoD he rolled lots of 10s, does it in Cyberpunk too. The man’s just got the best dice luck of anyone we’ve seen. (As opposed to me. 🙄)

Quote from IamSposta >>

Quote from 6thLyranGuard >>

Quote from IamSposta >>

No, in fact my table has an almost inverse rule where once per session each player can ask the GM to roll for them. (Admittedly that’s because our main GM is the luckiest SoB when it comes to dice, I’ve never seen anyone else ever roll that many 20s in a single session.)

 Have you checked his dice to make sure they're not weighted?

 
He’s not the type to cheat. Besides, when we were playing WoD he rolled lots of 10s, does it in Cyberpunk too. The man’s just got the best dice luck of anyone we’ve seen. (As opposed to me. 🙄)

 Every table has a Wil Wheaton and every table has a Golden Goose. A shame that your DM ended up with the gift from the dice gods. :P

It's unusual, but it seems harmless enough to me. I imagine the goal is to give the players more to do when it's not their turn, yeah, and I'm not sure it's the best idea for that (ideally they should be spending that time planning their next turn, which will make things run faster for everybody, and this distracts them from doing that). But it's the same roll no matter who does it, so I don't think I'd object if I were playing with a DM who did it.

Quote from Linklite >>

I can't say I'm enthused by the idea of players rolling for combat, however I think there's no real harm in it either. You'd have to be pretty immature to blame someone else for how the dice rolled, dice are dice - and I'd hate to be the DM in that game.

I'm sure you've seen the degree to which gamers can become superstitious about dice?