A Base plus Die system

I was thinking earlier of an alternative way to handle damage from weapons and such and come up with an idea that could be used as a resolution system or some other system.

Mechanically it isn't really any different than rolling a die (say, a d20) and adding a modifier (say, +10) to it. You just reverse the way you think of it. Instead you start with a base (say, 10) and add a random variable to it that you arrive via rolling a die (say, a d20).

But thinking of it this way you could have weapons that simply list a base damage value. For example, maybe a "sword" does 10 damage, and an "axe" does 12 damage. Then, when you deal damage, you deal the damage listed for the weapon plus a roll of the 1d10 or some other die.

When you use a die as a base you come upon a problem when you want damage over 1d12. You have to start doing 2d6, 2d8, etc. The progression isn't linear. However, with this alternate system, the progression can be very linear, making weapon balance much easier.

Just a thought.