I don't like getting mired in rolls and having to rely heavily on other websites and such. This seems fine for some media, but for MMO where I prefer action-based RP to move at a quick pace I would much rather cut through any and all minutia. The old addage 'better to ask forgiveness than permission' usually applies, and I'm happy to explain my reasoning if anything seemed excessive or whatever after the fact, but not during the RP itself unless it is of major concern to someone (to date I don't think it's been an issue, but Eva as a fighter isn't much of a powerhouse anyway).
That said, I keep a d20 near my keyboard to serve as a guideline. I have used rolz.org on occasion as well just for when others wanted to see how I was doing things during a spar. But I prefer to structure things on a sort of turn-based system. And I only focus on my character and how she reacts. Unless my character is somehow taking initiative and attacking first (the RP itself often dictates this for me) than I roll twice - the first a "reaction" to the previous emote. The second is a sort of counterattack. Back when /random in 1.0 was a thing (I miss that so much) I would just use that instead of the d20.
I also weight the die rolls based on the character's natural strengths/weaknesses as well as factoring in the opponent and any environmental variables. I'm always happy to share these numbers. For Eva, her defensive rating runs a bit higher since she's pretty overly cautious about things and quite nimble, and her offensive rating runs lower, since she lacks physical strength.
I don't care how my character's opponent(s) determine their emotes. This is important to me. When I start getting bogged down in the math or seeing things as numbers, I totally lose the sense of immersion. In my mind I'd rather see a brute highlander bearing down on a buxom elezen and envision her leaping to one side to avoid the attack rather than getting mired down in how these things came to be. It's more important to me to visualize the actions rather than understand the reasons. Flukes happen. Luck is a thing. Except in really excessive situations I don't question when a sparring opponent is fighting flawlessly. Eva loses more than she wins. Ben wins more than he loses. Both win some and lose some though, but it's more important to me to convey the actions quickly but descriptively and keep the pace of the spar moving.
Nothing annoys me more than when things get held up to question a dice roll, or the action is paused to have a conversation about why something happened. I don't mind quick little back-and-forths in /tells that take place behind the scenes (stuff a passer-by would never see), so long as the pace of the fight keeps moving.
We used to spar a lot more in Everwatch in 1.0 but we've had a few in ARR in Crystalline (and will totally be scheduling some more) and they're a lot of fun when everyone's on the same page with things and when you know the people you're sparring with could even let go dice and just sort of wing it freestyle if they wanted.
I do like the dice rolls for myself because they do make that 'random element' a bit more apparent. And just to give a quick example of how I might do a thing I'll set up a little scene between my two characters:
Ben rolls (1d20): 14, 3
Emote: Blynbhar thrusts forward with his wooden practice axe, easily parrying off the blonde elezen's strike. Quickly drawing back there is an unnaturally awkward pause as he advances again, swinging the weapon laterally but a bit unsteadily.
Eva rolls: 1, 19
Emote: Eva notes the falter and takes a step to one side in an effort to avoid the attack entirely. Her foot lands oddly, however, and she stumbles forward, the wooden weapon crashing violently into the breastplate of her armor, knocking her down backwards and off her feet. With uncanny agility though, she rolls to one side on the ground, thrusting directly at Blynbhar's midsection with her practice lance.
The first roll is a reaction and the second is an attack, and I try to incorporate both in each emote. And of course I weight things. In the latter example, the defensive roll is low and she got knocked down, but the offensive roll was high, so the counterattack from the ground might still hit the mark, depending on how Ben wants to play it.
And of course I think it's important never to actually emote a "hit" unless you are really comfortable with the person with whom you are sparring/fighting. I wouldn't mind if most of my friends that do the dice thing rolled a 20 and punched Eva in the face wanted to emote it so long as there was still room for some sort of a recovery.
More important than anything else for me though is that a) the action is realistic and doesn't feel "manufactured" as turn-based combat sometimes feels (which is why I like lumping both the reaction and counter in one emote), and b) the action moves along swiftly.
Sorry if this got a bit longwinded, but sparring is fun!!
That said, I keep a d20 near my keyboard to serve as a guideline. I have used rolz.org on occasion as well just for when others wanted to see how I was doing things during a spar. But I prefer to structure things on a sort of turn-based system. And I only focus on my character and how she reacts. Unless my character is somehow taking initiative and attacking first (the RP itself often dictates this for me) than I roll twice - the first a "reaction" to the previous emote. The second is a sort of counterattack. Back when /random in 1.0 was a thing (I miss that so much) I would just use that instead of the d20.
I also weight the die rolls based on the character's natural strengths/weaknesses as well as factoring in the opponent and any environmental variables. I'm always happy to share these numbers. For Eva, her defensive rating runs a bit higher since she's pretty overly cautious about things and quite nimble, and her offensive rating runs lower, since she lacks physical strength.
I don't care how my character's opponent(s) determine their emotes. This is important to me. When I start getting bogged down in the math or seeing things as numbers, I totally lose the sense of immersion. In my mind I'd rather see a brute highlander bearing down on a buxom elezen and envision her leaping to one side to avoid the attack rather than getting mired down in how these things came to be. It's more important to me to visualize the actions rather than understand the reasons. Flukes happen. Luck is a thing. Except in really excessive situations I don't question when a sparring opponent is fighting flawlessly. Eva loses more than she wins. Ben wins more than he loses. Both win some and lose some though, but it's more important to me to convey the actions quickly but descriptively and keep the pace of the spar moving.
Nothing annoys me more than when things get held up to question a dice roll, or the action is paused to have a conversation about why something happened. I don't mind quick little back-and-forths in /tells that take place behind the scenes (stuff a passer-by would never see), so long as the pace of the fight keeps moving.
We used to spar a lot more in Everwatch in 1.0 but we've had a few in ARR in Crystalline (and will totally be scheduling some more) and they're a lot of fun when everyone's on the same page with things and when you know the people you're sparring with could even let go dice and just sort of wing it freestyle if they wanted.
I do like the dice rolls for myself because they do make that 'random element' a bit more apparent. And just to give a quick example of how I might do a thing I'll set up a little scene between my two characters:
Ben rolls (1d20): 14, 3
Emote: Blynbhar thrusts forward with his wooden practice axe, easily parrying off the blonde elezen's strike. Quickly drawing back there is an unnaturally awkward pause as he advances again, swinging the weapon laterally but a bit unsteadily.
Eva rolls: 1, 19
Emote: Eva notes the falter and takes a step to one side in an effort to avoid the attack entirely. Her foot lands oddly, however, and she stumbles forward, the wooden weapon crashing violently into the breastplate of her armor, knocking her down backwards and off her feet. With uncanny agility though, she rolls to one side on the ground, thrusting directly at Blynbhar's midsection with her practice lance.
The first roll is a reaction and the second is an attack, and I try to incorporate both in each emote. And of course I weight things. In the latter example, the defensive roll is low and she got knocked down, but the offensive roll was high, so the counterattack from the ground might still hit the mark, depending on how Ben wants to play it.
And of course I think it's important never to actually emote a "hit" unless you are really comfortable with the person with whom you are sparring/fighting. I wouldn't mind if most of my friends that do the dice thing rolled a 20 and punched Eva in the face wanted to emote it so long as there was still room for some sort of a recovery.
More important than anything else for me though is that a) the action is realistic and doesn't feel "manufactured" as turn-based combat sometimes feels (which is why I like lumping both the reaction and counter in one emote), and b) the action moves along swiftly.
Sorry if this got a bit longwinded, but sparring is fun!!
"One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing is what we do for others." Â ~ Lewis Carol
Eva's Journals  |  Eva's Wiki Page (coming soon)  |  RP Handbook
Eva's Journals  |  Eva's Wiki Page (coming soon)  |  RP Handbook