02 October 2021

Hidden Depths table - (6d4, 4d6, 3d8, 2d12, d4+d20)

I had an idea for an 'unlockable' encounter table by switching the dice rolled on it. This could also serve as some sort of chaos index. The key point is that a 2-24 table can be rolled with a bunch of different dice combos from the standard set 6d4, 4d6, 3d8, 2d12, d4+d20. Starting with 6d4, you could mostly access the core of the table, with a low chance of the edges, then as things get weirder, deeper, whatever, you change to fewer bigger dice and more of the table becomes probable.

Turning that into a table and heat mapping it we can see the table broadening from ~ 11 probable entries using 6d4 to ~22 using d4 + d20. As well as the entries brought in by reducing the dice count and the minimum possible number, there are entries where the probability changes to make them appearing more likely. Most of the 'unlocked' part of the table is towards the lower end of the scale, hence 'hidden depths' as my working name for this type of thing.

Trying to group that into five sets to go with each of the dice set shifts I came up with the following - there is a large pinch of judgement in here, those assignments could easily and plausibly be adjusted.

Maybe this is old hat, but I have only seen this type of thing suggested as an alternative to d20 rolls for success. I am going to initially test it as a 'deeper into a strange realm' encounter table, with odder things unlocked as the players press on. Something like this can be useful where the odder events get mixed in with what used to be common ones as we shift dice sets.

The tabulated numbers look like this:
Roll Probability d4,d20 2d12 3d8 4d6 6d4
2 0.014 0.007 0.000 0.000 0.000
3 0.026 0.013 0.002 0.000 0.000
4 0.037 0.022 0.006 0.001 0.000
5 0.053 0.028 0.011 0.003 0.000
6 0.050 0.039 0.021 0.008 0.000
7 0.050 0.041 0.027 0.017 0.001
8 0.051 0.048 0.037 0.027 0.005
9 0.053 0.055 0.055 0.038 0.013
10 0.052 0.060 0.072 0.065 0.029
11 0.049 0.068 0.085 0.075 0.056
12 0.050 0.080 0.092 0.097 0.078
13 0.050 0.085 0.090 0.106 0.109
14 0.047 0.074 0.095 0.119 0.138
15 0.048 0.072 0.087 0.110 0.141
16 0.050 0.061 0.081 0.096 0.131
17 0.049 0.058 0.074 0.077 0.114
18 0.053 0.046 0.055 0.064 0.084
19 0.048 0.042 0.043 0.040 0.051
20 0.051 0.033 0.031 0.032 0.030
21 0.046 0.026 0.019 0.015 0.012
22 0.038 0.021 0.010 0.006 0.005
23 0.024 0.016 0.006 0.004 0.002
24 0.012 0.007 0.002 0.001 0.000

4 comments:

  1. I have a DM who uses an unlockable encounter die for a chaos index situation, but I’ve never seen this kind of table that just shifts the probabilities towards the outer results. Neat!

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    1. Thanks - still testing it to say its worth the trouble but it is at least fun to chuck the handfuls of dice needed.

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  2. https://anydice.com/program/24d44

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    1. Ah, very neat - I have an applied version of this in draft, I will update the probability tables using this. Thanks!

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