Re: [DL] Bigger dice or more of them?

[Allan Seyberth <darious@darious.com>]

 >From a purely statistical standpoint it takes about 2 points in the
 >coordination to make up for a drop in one die type.  Allen was right on that
 >count.

I can't take credit for that.  I've just accumulated the work of 
others.  Some stats were generated via Monte Carlo, others were 
statistically calculated.

 >However, as someone has pointed out, there are fewer rolls that use the
 >stats coordination.  Most will use the "skill" coordination number.   So
 >from a practical standpoint, it is better to have a high die type for any
 >trait where you will buy more than one or two skills.
 >
 >As far as going bust is concerned, well, its complicated ;-)  Suffice to say
 >- lower die type = higher chance of going bust.  On coordination, an even
 >coodination has a LOWER chance of going bust than the next higher odd
 >coordination, but above a coordination of 5 it really doesn't matter a hill
 >of beans anyway.  (it is a difference of less than 1/100 of a percent)

Yup - while people like to point out that the lower the die type, the 
greater the chance that an ace is achieved, it also means the greater 
chance to go bust.  The average values for dice are straightforward - even 
given aces you are better off rolling higher die types for average value.

Also, given the average range of TN's and raises, a d12 stat has a massive 
advantage over other die types.  Looking for a hit and a raise (10), the 
d12 has a 25% chance of achieving this.  The nearest is the d8 with 
10.9%.  And this is an effect that is increased with more dice 
rolled.  5d12 has a 76% compared to 43% for 5d8.  If there is one thing I 
don't like about the DL dice mechanics is the overpowering effect of d12 stats.


-------------------
Allan Seyberth
darious@darious.com
Deadlands fan site - http://www.darious.com/

I made a wrong mistake.
                 -Yogi Berra