My starting players miss a lot against enemies

Question

I have a fresh campaign with new characters in my campaign, but one thing that becomes increasingly clear is how poorly they do in combat, even against simple encounters.

In 3.5, an attack roll is determined by rolling d20 and adding any attack bonuses - this usually works out to as little as +2 for the cleric (strength mod) to as much as +6 for the barbarian (4 from strength mod after rage and base of 2 after levelling).

However, even after all the bonuses, monsters usually have AC15 (goblins and kobolds), which means roughly a pathetic 30% chance to hit (1d20, success on 15 or better) or up to luck (1d20 + 6, roughly 60% chance to hit).

Is this normal? Did I get the combat rules right? Currently it is slowing down the campaign because of the immense amount of misses (combat takes up to an hour or so).

Answer 1

Yes, this is typical of low level D&D 3.5. It is usually called "swingy" for a reason - each d20 result has a high impact on the outcome of every battle. PCs rely on high d20 rolls to hit, and are often in deep trouble after as much as a single critical (or even normal!) hit from the enemies.

However, the exact numbers you quote are on the low end of what I'd expect, even at levels 1 and 2. This is primarily because the dominating factor in the low level numbers game are ability scores, and your characters have rather "low" scores in the abilities that govern attack bonus.

Review the ability score generation methods on pages 169-170 of the Dungeon Master's Guide. Consider using a more powerful generation method for your next campaign, if the current method is not generating enough hits (and other numerical results) for your taste. Based on my observations, the most common ability score generation method in balance-minded groups is the 32 point point buy.

In the meantime, make sure your players are aware of the options they have of boosting their attack rolls. Some that work regardless of level:

• Flanking - it's not just for Rogues. Anyone can use the to-hit bonus.
• Charging - you accept a penalty to your AC, but it's a +2 on your attack rolls.
• Higher ground - a very cheap +1. Usually, you get this from riding a mount.
• Knock them down - it's often easier to trip an opponent than to damage them, and it's very easy to damage someone who's down. This is especially true when the opponents are smaller than the frontline PCs, such as the goblins and kobolds you mentioned.
• Use touch attacks - characters with low strength modifiers may be better off using alternative attack methods for a while. A go-to low level option is throwing alchemist's fire.
• Buff spells - even the lowly Bless is better than nothing. Optimally, you're casting such spells before the battle begins, otherwise the turn it takes to cast the spell is likely better spent on just making a normal attack. Buff spells often become characters' biggest source of attack roll bonuses.

And in any case, if the characters survive for a few levels, the modifiers will get larger. Attack roll bonuses scale much faster with level in 3.5 than AC does.

Answer 2

If you dislike the relatively low chance a warrior-type character has of hitting those punny kobolds, consider a variant that uses a more average-weighted roll, like rolling 3d6 instead of 1d20: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/bellCurveRolls.htm

This alternate rule comes from Unearthed Arcana and is completely adapted to the game (they even changed the critical range to assure that critical hits aren't too rare).

The benefit of this method is that it favors the stronger side: if your average attack roll (10+BAB+ability+etc) is equal to or greater than you enemy's AC, this rule means you'll hit more frequently. This ensures that those low-challenge monster are really low-challenge.

However, if your enemies are "stronger" than you (or if you are a punny wizard fighting shoulder to shoulder with your fighter pal instead of slinging magic from the back row), now it is more difficult to hit your enemies, and they'll hit you more often. In other words, YOU are the punny kobold now!

Overall, it makes the combat more consistent, less random. As a GM, you must be careful not to underestimate the challenges you devise. As long as you take that extra bit of caution when preparing encounters, you'll have a much more accurate idea of how difficult a combat actually is. I recommend using the techniques in the "Knowing the PCs" section (DMG, pp 12) in addition to the Encounter Level guidelines (the EL can be quite misleading).

Answer 3

I think you are interpreting the rules correctly, but there are things that you can do to help speed combat along. As Ernrir said, there are numerous ways that PC's can gain bonuses to their attack rolls. One particular method that was not mentioned is the Aid Another action.

Aid Another Special Attack rule

Using this, a low-bonus character can grant another character a +2 bonus to attack.

Another method that may help low level characters, especially rogues, is the use of a feint. A successful feint will make an enemy effectively flat footed for the feinter's next attack.

Feint Special Attack