Sorceror/Donjon dice mechanic burp?

[Jesse Paulsen]

In the event of an opposed roll between two players (A and B) with Player A having only one die to roll, and Player A failing to roll higher than the highest roll of Player B, it appears to me that Player A would do better by rolling lower than the highest roll of Player B. If Player A rolls equal to the highest roll of Player B, Player B will gather successes for all other dice rolled. If Player A were to roll less than the highest roll of Player B but more than the other dice rolled by Player B, Player B would have only one success.

That is, if Player B rolls [20, 18, 12, 9, 4], Player A would do better (fail less severely) by rolling 19 than by rolling 20. Actually, in this example, Player A would do better by rolling anything from 10 to 19 rather than 20.

Correct?

Even if this is the case, I'm not sure it's really a problem for either of these games. Also, I'm guessing one-die rolls don't occur that often. It just strikes me as unexpected behavior worth mentioning. (At least, reading the mechanic didn't lead me to expect rolling lower to ever be a good thing.)

Sorry if this has been brought up before, or if I've misunderstood. I read the huge Donjon Krawl rules hash-out and didn't see this mentioned.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

In Sorcerer, there are a couple of special rules to deal with the situation when one side has only one die. Without going into details, the effect is to make sure that, if the one-die guy loses, he benefits most from rolling high. If he ties the other guy's highest die, then no, the guy's other dice are not counted as victories.

Also, if I recall correctly, Donjon and Sorcerer have slightly different rules for dealing with ties and the number of victories.

Best,
Ron

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Ron would not only be correct (Donjon's rules for dealing with ties are much different than Sorcerer's), but as I've said before - Donjon's completely re-written, and uses a completely different dice system now. And no, you can't look at it. I have to finish the damnable thorn in my side first.

[Jesse Paulsen]

Thanks guys. I was going on the Apprentice version of Sorceror, the playtest rules for Donjon, and the discussions I've read here. Next time I won't poke a hole in something already labeled "May Contain Holes".