TOPIC: What is that monster's AC OR Why does my +18 miss?

Immersion is not sought after in Nightmare. Maybe breaking "the fourth wall" doesn't matter on the high difficulty levels.

TD is a game. With set rules. Breaking the rules ruins my fun a lot more quickly than breaking a shallow immersion. (Like hitting an AC of 34 and being told that I miss)

What cheesed me off the most this year? Being told tokens that I paid good money for don't work as advertised. But,that is a parallel issue.

Mike Steele wrote:

Jason Brown wrote: Good point. We had a couple of cases of "Did that really miss?" because we knew our bonuses were high. A couple of times it really was an AC over 30, but a couple of times, it was the result of a math error, or using the wrong column or row on the party card. If we knew the AC, it would be easy to know if we'd hit or not, and a good parity check for the DM.

That happened to us a few times too, especially in the first couple of rounds of combat before the DM became more familiar with our party card, where he/she would count it as a miss before checking with the bonus to verify. But, I realize that the combat DMs are under a lot of pressure to keep things moving along to give the party enough time to succeed, and they sometimes take shortcuts to do so.

That said, I don't want the DM to share with the group the exact amount needed to hit the monster because that would in my mind break the fourth wall. Nor do I want the DM to have to take the time to add the total to hit bonus for each character and announce it, as that would take additional time, which is already short.

Doesn't the dm need to calculate the total to hit bunks already? In order to determine what hit?

bpsymington wrote: I also hit with my sliding spells on an 8. Haven't had a DM question me. I usually tell them I need the 8 when I have them mark the spell off the card. I can't remember the last time I actually slid a weapon attack - might have been a dagger of throwing.

Please be patient with the DMs. If you have a question, ask them to double-check your to-hit bonus.

And yes, giving the AC of the monster is problematic. It breaks the fourth wall, it is different based on difficulty level, and could change over the weekend if the monster is too tough or not tough enough.

I just memorize my to-hit bonus and then just state the total after the roll. I don't rely on the DM's math skills. I started doing this after one year when I slid a 19 and had +14 to hit and was told I missed... "Uhmmmm... a 33 misses?" "What?" "I slid 19 and have +14 to hit, that's 33 and you said miss." "Oh sorry. That totally hits, sorry." Never quite figured out what he thought the total was... but from then on, I just state the total after I slide and step to the side to let the next person go.... Saves time and headache.

As an extra note:

I like the Nightmare run DM's that just write the monster's AC on the board when combat starts. Saves time. And then they just write the running damage total we have inflicted on the board - they don't tell us the HP of course, but it's still nice to see our running damage total. Again, saves time. And headache.

Matthew Hayward wrote:

Mike Steele wrote:

Jason Brown wrote: Good point. We had a couple of cases of "Did that really miss?" because we knew our bonuses were high. A couple of times it really was an AC over 30, but a couple of times, it was the result of a math error, or using the wrong column or row on the party card. If we knew the AC, it would be easy to know if we'd hit or not, and a good parity check for the DM.

That happened to us a few times too, especially in the first couple of rounds of combat before the DM became more familiar with our party card, where he/she would count it as a miss before checking with the bonus to verify. But, I realize that the combat DMs are under a lot of pressure to keep things moving along to give the party enough time to succeed, and they sometimes take shortcuts to do so.

That said, I don't want the DM to share with the group the exact amount needed to hit the monster because that would in my mind break the fourth wall. Nor do I want the DM to have to take the time to add the total to hit bonus for each character and announce it, as that would take additional time, which is already short.

Doesn't the dm need to calculate the total to hit bunks already? In order to determine what hit?

Sure, but some are obvious misses or hits. And, sometimes the DM is able to cycle through the tokens pretty quickly, and if he needed to announce the total for each slid token it would take longer. And for me again, it's just like D&D, I'd rather just hear "miss" or "hit" than start hearing actual numbers, as it takes you out of the game. That's a personal preference though.

Matthew Hayward wrote: I wish DMs would just announce the totals they are calculating:

Druid... 16, Miss!
Dwarf Fighter... 33, Hit!

And so on.

Then, as a player, if you know your hit bonus and the number you slid on, you can see if the DM forgot bardsong, bless, potion bull's strength, etc., etc.

This could be done, I could try that next time I'm DM, but it seems some players don't want to hear the exact number. I do state when they almost hit.

I'd probably still sweep off the obvious misses though (I would look at the party card in advance and find the highest to-hit so that I could eliminate any definite misses without looking).

I've had AT LEAST 1 incorrect DM each year for the past 3 years fail to calculate slides on the table.

In several instances we've had players with relics missing on 15+ on Hardcore multiple times per board with level 5 Widseth's Bardsong and that's just a little suspect...

I understand if you DON'T want to know the AC.
I just wish it was a chance for those of us who want to know.
Especially with the lack of accuracy from DMs in calculations over the years.

*I've only had 1 instance I thought malicious, the other times I assume it was a math error. Shit happens, no harm no foul*