The main advantage of rolls is what makes it fun for players involved, which is surprise. People have fun because they don't know exactly what the outcome is, and even if there is a strong chance for it to be that way instead of this way, there is still the little possibility something screws everything up.
Rolls are by definition game elements and thus bring a more gamey feel to what they touch. It's the exact same thing that people arguing for or against full story games like Quantic Dream games or Telltales, and whether or not they are games and whatever asinine argument it is always about. It's basically just a matter of taste, and in our online case, of context. Some events will require the smallest amount of rules by necessity, and some at the contrary, a mandatory base for various reasons.
That being said a system I usually find acceptable and always easy to implement in most situations when people want to create differences in what characters specializations are and their respective level of power, is asking players to make me a list of their skills/abilities and rate them from 1 to 9. The higher the most potent.
Then it's a simple matter of roll/check. If your character rates 6 at a specific skill, if they roll under 600 they are good, above, they fail.
In case of opposing rolls like for combat, people roll their dices, check if they aimed correctly, and if so for example for a character with a skill of 6, they have to roll under 600 to pass. It doesn't mean the enemy is hit however. The other player will also roll their opposing skill and if only one succeeds, then they hit automatically, and if both succeed, then the one being higher than the other hits and cause damage. It means someone with a higher skill rating will always get a certain advantage over the other since they can roll way higher while still passing their ability check.
To take an example, the Warrior of Light having a swordsmanship skill of 9 versus a lvl1 mite having a melee skill of 1, the WoL can roll between 1 and 900 to pass, while the mite will only be able to pass between 1 and 100. Which leaves 100 to 900 for the WoL to win even if the mite passes its 1-100 check.
A variant can also include a dodging skill instead if you want to keep a strong difference between attacker and defender, or if you think it works best for ranged combat for example.
You can of course makes things more complex if you like as a GM by adding your standard bonus or malus to rolls depending on the context (a short sword vs a lance, etc).
I find that system overall to be pretty simple and elegant and works most of the time for rules light contexts like MMO RP.
Edit: you ask me, but what about a ranged fighter versus a melee fighter? Good question, and you have several ways to deal with it, for example, Melee can't attack as long as they are not in melee range and can only roll an evasion skill instead. Once they are at range, the ranged attacker will suffer malus to their rolls.
Rolls are by definition game elements and thus bring a more gamey feel to what they touch. It's the exact same thing that people arguing for or against full story games like Quantic Dream games or Telltales, and whether or not they are games and whatever asinine argument it is always about. It's basically just a matter of taste, and in our online case, of context. Some events will require the smallest amount of rules by necessity, and some at the contrary, a mandatory base for various reasons.
That being said a system I usually find acceptable and always easy to implement in most situations when people want to create differences in what characters specializations are and their respective level of power, is asking players to make me a list of their skills/abilities and rate them from 1 to 9. The higher the most potent.
Then it's a simple matter of roll/check. If your character rates 6 at a specific skill, if they roll under 600 they are good, above, they fail.
In case of opposing rolls like for combat, people roll their dices, check if they aimed correctly, and if so for example for a character with a skill of 6, they have to roll under 600 to pass. It doesn't mean the enemy is hit however. The other player will also roll their opposing skill and if only one succeeds, then they hit automatically, and if both succeed, then the one being higher than the other hits and cause damage. It means someone with a higher skill rating will always get a certain advantage over the other since they can roll way higher while still passing their ability check.
To take an example, the Warrior of Light having a swordsmanship skill of 9 versus a lvl1 mite having a melee skill of 1, the WoL can roll between 1 and 900 to pass, while the mite will only be able to pass between 1 and 100. Which leaves 100 to 900 for the WoL to win even if the mite passes its 1-100 check.
A variant can also include a dodging skill instead if you want to keep a strong difference between attacker and defender, or if you think it works best for ranged combat for example.
You can of course makes things more complex if you like as a GM by adding your standard bonus or malus to rolls depending on the context (a short sword vs a lance, etc).
I find that system overall to be pretty simple and elegant and works most of the time for rules light contexts like MMO RP.
Edit: you ask me, but what about a ranged fighter versus a melee fighter? Good question, and you have several ways to deal with it, for example, Melee can't attack as long as they are not in melee range and can only roll an evasion skill instead. Once they are at range, the ranged attacker will suffer malus to their rolls.
Balmung:Â Suen Shyu
