Seraphina Blackthorn, Queen of Pirates, stands among the bodies of fallen kobold pirates. Flames spread across the deck, climbing the mast and catching the canvas sails. She glares defiantly into the cold reptilian eyes of the hulking lizardman captain. He draws back his massive cleaver, muscles rippling in his giant arm as he prepares to strike.
Seraphina’s lips pull into a primal snarl as she lunges forward with her rapier…and misses, because her player just rolled a 4.
My least favorite part of RPG combat is a failed roll. It’s boring to say “you missed”, especially if I have to say it more than once a round. I can try to make that miss sound interesting by describing the attack glancing off the enemy’s armor or getting knocked aside, but I’d like something in the rules that backs up that description.
Blades in the Dark solves this by having the player’s roll represent both sides in the fight. If a character fails a roll their opponent succeeds.1 This makes the fight faster and failure more interesting.
It’s harder to get the same effect in a d20-based game but I’m trying out something in my games that might help.
The Three Outcomes
When a player fails an attack roll I subtract the roll from 20 and that becomes their opponent’s roll. So if a character misses and the player rolled a 9, their opponent’s roll is an 11. Then I add attack modifiers as normal to see if the opponent hits.
Now instead of just “you hit” or “you miss” I have three possible outcomes:
Outcome #1: The Character’s Attack Hits
Seraphina’s lips pull into a primal snarl as she lunges forward with her rapier and the lizardman roars as the blade pierces his chest.
Nothing changes here. The character succeeded, roll damage.
Outcome #2: The Opponent’s Attack Hits
Seraphina’s lips pull into a primal snarl as she lunges forward with her rapier but the lizardman is slightly faster. His heavy blade bites into her armor as his attack swats her aside.
The character missed because their opponent succeeded. Roll damage.
Outcome #3: Both Attacks Miss
Seraphina’s lips pull into a primal snarl as she lunges forward with her rapier. The lizardman roars back and swings his heavy blade…
When both attacks miss I need to interpret why. Some options I’ve used include:
The environment interfered: “a burning sail collapses between you, roll DEX to avoid getting hit”
Both attacks hit: “your weapons connect at the same time, throwing you both off balance. Roll half damage.”
They lock blades: “your swords cross and your hilts tangle. You’ll have to pull free or find another way to attack.”
This outcome is similar to a normal miss, but the fight is still moving faster because both sides have already attacked. I also feel like I have more options for explaining the miss when both sides are moving.
The Referee’s Turn
I don’t roll for enemies anymore because their actions are resolved on the players’ turns. My turn is about changing the battlefield and controlling tension. That might mean:
A scout runs away to warn comrades.
A boss charges up or releases a special attack.
A fire spreads from the deck to the ammo barrels.
Handling Special Cases
Outnumbered Fights
I give the characters disadvantage if they’re surrounded by enemies to increase the chance they get hit. If needed I can still give extra enemies a turn of their own.
If characters outnumber enemies or have extra attacks I stop the counterattacks after the enemies run out of actions.
Ranged Combat
If the players are shooting at enemies who can’t shoot back I use the counterattack for the enemies to get closer or take cover.
Final Thoughts
I’ve only run one session this way so far but it felt faster and more interesting. I still need to improve my description of results but it’s easier for me to do when the system is supporting me.
What are some other good ways to deal with failed combat rolls? I’d like to get some more ideas.
Other Thoughts
Bob World Builder’s homebrew rules for speeding up combat in D&D:
“Double-duty Rolls”. Blades in the Dark. Retrieved May 10, 2025. https://bladesinthedark.com/action-roll#double-duty-rolls