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View Full Version : Superstitions, coincidences, and strange happenings at the table



Jarrick
2009-05-16, 08:13 PM
Ok, my 10-year-old cousin came over to my house the other day. While she was looking over my shoulder at the computer, she noticed my dice laying on the desk next to me. She picks up 4d6 and says "Hey, can you do this?" and rolls them. They all land 6s. :smalleek:

I tried to get her to do it again, but it just didn't happen again. Made me wonder if anyone else out there can share similar experiences. While we're at it though, this thread is also a good place to post dice-rolling superstitions, 20-20-20 stories, and funny events of random chance.

For example:
-I never play a character that my cat hasn't walked on. Once I make a character, the cat always walks on it for luck. This started when I used to sit on the couch and make chars and the cat would come along and want attention. I've been doing it ever since. The one time it didn't, that character died in the first session. The wrinkles are worth it.

-My friend Joe, upon making his first ever character, an elf druid, got 20-20-20ed by a goblin with a morningstar in the first round of the first battle of the first session Joe ever played in.

-My friend Dustin has a black and red d20 we call the "Devil Die". We forbid him from using it because no matter which side of the screen he's on, the die always rolls the worst possible result for the party, not him, but the party. After 3 TPKs as a direct result of using that die, we made him retire it.

gibbo88
2009-05-16, 08:26 PM
Last session one of the girls on my table rolled 5 20's out of seven rolls, using different dice. Her bf tried it and promptly got a 1....then a 3.....and a 5....so went back to his old dice.

We actually got annoyed cause those were fairly minor skill checks that she didn't need, and we could have used the crit rolls against a monster, or fort saves.......

arguskos
2009-05-16, 08:28 PM
I have a bright orange d20 with white numbers that my group calls the "DM Doom Die". Whenever I use it as the DM, it blows someone away, without fail. I only break it out when a player has been a bastard to everyone else or when the situation in-game is super-dangerous. My Doom Die never lets me down. :smallamused:

Eon
2009-05-16, 08:29 PM
It seems that every time I get targeted by that massive frost giant boulder the GM rolls a 20... luckily we don't play crits but i still went from my 56/62 or so to 20 or so.

Dogmantra
2009-05-16, 08:35 PM
Whenever I roll as a joke, like "I'm going to roll a Knowledge (The plot) check", I always get a natural 20...

Starscream
2009-05-16, 09:03 PM
I still own my first ever d20 (dark orange with black numbers). I wish I could say it always rolls 20s for me, but that would be a lie. I will say that it very rarely rolls below a 10.

Lappy9000
2009-05-16, 09:04 PM
My friends often rejoice when I can't find McCrittey. The infamous teal-speckeled d20 with a knack for rolling terrible crits (but only when used by the DM)
Rolling the 1's out of dice is a perfectly acceptable strategy.
Alignment of the party rogue is inversly proportional to the alignment on his character sheet.
Always go left.
Red means victory.

Shinizak
2009-05-16, 09:09 PM
We once had a day where no matter what we did everyone (that rolled double+ dice) always rolled a double number.

2d4s? A 4 on both.

3d8s? a 3 on each.

We even tried this power on a d20 and a d8. both dice got a 7.

We kinda just went with it and it led to the party nearly dying...

Nothing like that's ever happened since.

:smallfrown:

penbed400
2009-05-16, 09:19 PM
At one session one of our gamers called the DM a C*** Sucker...as a result he kept on fumbling, got into a blood feud and almost died twice all in one session. Of course this happened for the rest of the party too. It didn't stop happenning until 3 sessions later when he finally apologized for the insult. Note to players: Never insult a DM

Chineselegolas
2009-05-16, 09:33 PM
Currently my party is working for an epic level Vampires and she believes we are very valuable high level adventurers.
Main because my character is a scout/ranger and obviously has a low will save and there is no way I could make three DC23 will saves vs. Domination... Specially not with a +3 will save

I love that dice, rarely lets me down. Even on stuff like bluffing to pretend to be working hard while under cover. Natural 20... So did another party member. Work actually got done despite us not working.

Pie Guy
2009-05-16, 09:46 PM
I am the only person in my group to have been super critted, with three twenties. This happened three times now.

I die at least once every three sessions, leading to the phrase "[Me] doesn't walk, he respawns."

When we play Halo afterwards, I always get hit in the face with a spartan laser, so now I'm "Laserface".

BizzaroStormy
2009-05-16, 09:47 PM
One of my favorites is to hit a specific member of our group in the face with my character sheet just before rolling. It always seems to net me a 13+ unless I hit someone else in which case I only get 6 or lower.

Blue Ghost
2009-05-16, 09:49 PM
I remember once when my fighter was OHKed by a rat as a result of rolling 3 20s in a row.

Llama231
2009-05-16, 10:08 PM
Strangely enough, I have never really had more than 3 20s in a row (and ven then only once, really) when playing DnD, but in other games, despite rarely rolling it, I have gotten as many as 5 or more in a row.:smalleek:
In one situation, I was DMing a game, and a weakish enemy attacked a player.
They had an extemely low chance of hitting the character, but got a natural 20 critical, nearly killing them, then another. Then another one of the same type of minion went over and double 20ed ANOTHER character. Needless to say, DM fiat ensued. (even though it was a test game.)

Another time, I was rolling for a random encounter-type thing, were a 20 got a reroll. If it was 20, then <10, it would be lucky, if it was 10-15, it would be better, if it was 20 again, it would be insane. Of course I got another 20, but I still needed to reroll, leading to a third 20. At this point, the charts did not continue, but I just tried again anyway. Another 20 came up, and another, with 5 total!


Lastly, I was testing the first encounter in the Keep on Shadowfell adventure for 4e with some slightly homebrewed characters who all had all of their defenses over 20, and at least +10 to hit. The 4 of them got slaughtered by the kobalds, but I kept the rolls for each side. The kobalds got an average of 15 on each attack and criticaled every other one. On the other hand, the best roll that the PCs got was a 12, and about an average of 4.:smallfurious:

Glyde
2009-05-16, 10:11 PM
We used to play a house rule where bonus damage dice were multiplied when you crit.

I triple crit on Soaring Raptor Strike.

We stopped using that rule.

That was the only time I ever 20-20-20-18'd something.

Also, my purple die has a bad habit of failing when it'd be best for the party, but doing really well when something strictly just benefits me. My blue die only rolls well on skill checks and my jumbo red die only rolls well for saving throws.

This of course is the rule when I'm not paying attention. Every time I recall this, the exact opposite happens.

Haven
2009-05-16, 10:24 PM
Always go left.


Playing Lone Wolf, huh? :smalltongue:

Hawriel
2009-05-16, 10:42 PM
Friend of mine who GMs most of are games had a bunch of clear dice. When ever he let some one els use them they would dominate in combat.

Another friend would curse the GMs dice when ever he used them. He would barrow the dice then give them back. The GM would roll crap all night. The curse would actualy last afew days.

I have a lucky green die. It rolls sixes alot. Yeah I know its brobly slightly weighted wrong. I dont care I rolled a 45 charisma (or what ever paladium calls it) in rifts on that die alone. You reroll sixes. It was always my force die for star wars too.

The flying elf rule.

There has been a trend for afew years that any elf who flew got messed up or killed badly. It does not matter how the elf 'flew'. It could be a fly spell, levetate, falling, jumping, in a plane, jumping a car, or motercicle. No matter what caused that elf's feet to leave the ground for more than three seconds he ended up dead. All geeking was totaly legit. It started in shadowrun and fallowed my group into D&D. The NPC who had the least chance of actualy hitting the elf was usualy the one that killed him. Always with one attack roll.

Not only did this effected elves it also spread to half elves. Then to any skinny thing with pointed ears. It was so bad my friends created the flying elf rule. NPCs had a bonus to hit any flying elf. For the first round of flight any one that sees him gets a free attack.

Alteran
2009-05-16, 10:45 PM
Our Beastmaster Ranger has a power that allows him and his beast companion to both make an attack. I don't remember the name and I don't have the book it's in, but you get the idea. The first time he decided to use it, the DM stepped out for a minute to get a drink. We waited for him to get back, and when he did one player shouter "Hey, [DM]! [Ranger] rolled two natural 20s on his attack!". The DM, of course, responded with "Yeah, nice try. Roll them now."

What did our Ranger get? Two natural 20s, of course.

shadzar
2009-05-16, 11:00 PM
Ah dice and weird rolling patterns. Some may want to check for videos with Lou Zocchi explaining how dice work, or why they dont. :smallwink:

Lunawarrior0
2009-05-17, 12:15 AM
There is one person in my group, who avoids one die like the plague, it is a orange dice with white numbers. If it touches this player then all of his rolls for the night will be low. We will sometimes have him play dodge ball by tossing this die at him. He can move really fast when he needs to.

Zergrusheddie
2009-05-17, 12:59 AM
Our last campaign had Sargeras the Lucky (Me) and Egad the Cursed (my friend):

In the first session, Sargeras did a 20-20-20 on 3 separate 'painted leads' and was almost to the point of being an Encounter Smasher. If it every came down to a "Roll well and you win", it was over. Second session, the DM banned the 20-20-20 rule; this new rule ended saving me the very first encounter of the session when a bowman got a 20-20-20 on me. Sargeras the Lucky.

Egad the Cursed is proof of Yin and Yang in the universe. Egad is attacked by a giant spider. Spider attacks him with web. Egad rolls his saving throw and of course it is a 1. We use a system that let's you go negative, so he rolled again which lead to a 20, forcing another roll. This one turns out to be a 17. Egad nets a -35 on his Reflex and gets hit in the face with a web. The DM's words: "This genius was snorting the damn web. He ain't moving and one of you may want to help him."

Egad attempts to tumble into a giant and whack him. Egad fails his save miserably. The giant takes his AoO and nets a natural crit with his great club. Egad now has a single digit for his HP, and uses his standard action to Tumble away from the giant. He failed his save again, but the giant did not have Combat Reflexes. The DM's statement: "The giant was playing baseball with you; you were the ball!" It wasn't the player because this same kind of stuff happened even when someone else was playing Egad. The player has completely retired that name in fear of it happening again.

I've also had a DM give me one of his dice from his collection and steal one of my dice. This dice could do anything 100% of the time but just barely. I would roll any number and make any save perfectly on the dot. If the BBEG was planning on doing something bad, it would 20-20 and end up dropping him. I liked that dice. The DM stole it from me and put it in the oven. NEVER do this: the smell will fill your house and last for a week. At least the DM replaced the 'Melted One.'

Best of luck
-Eddie

BobVosh
2009-05-17, 01:07 AM
Hmm. I had a bad DM who really, really wanted a robed wizard (dragonlance campaign) and we had a guy roll in who liked playing wizards, as does Eto and I. Mysteriously that session, when he went behind the screen, the new guys character dies, along with Eto's. When we fought a sea titan, or something like that, next session he rolled 3 20s on me. As revenge we all came in on various druid types, so plenty of casting but no mages of the order.

Oh, wait, you don't mean accusing DMs of cheating :smallbiggrin:

I have my "puke-colored D20" that always rolls well for me. I dislike using it as it is hard to read.

Grant's 4D6 made of brass are the best stat rolls, we have had characters whos dump stat was 15 with those dice.

We used to have the "Cup of shame" at the gaming table. SW, LoTR, Puns, other such references cost 50 cents. At the end of the session we would buy liquor/beer/etc to forget the shame of the horrid jokes that went on. Usually this amount never really went above 8 bucks or so, meaning we always had to make a rash of horrid jokes or end up McCormicks.

A few others, like if you borrow dice from another player you have to cup thier sack (dice bag) in order to take any from it.

raitalin
2009-05-17, 02:36 AM
I was playing an epic Bard/Exemplar in one game, and I took 10 on everything. All the time. Why roll when every skill you want to use is maxed out and buffed? My DM got tired of my instant Diplomacy 70 on every NPC we ran across, so he insisted I roll once just to humor him. I rolled a 10.

Quietus
2009-05-17, 05:13 AM
A few others, like if you borrow dice from another player you have to cup thier sack (dice bag) in order to take any from it.

Fair enough, but if you ever want to borrow MY dice, you instead need to finger my box.

Zhirax
2009-05-17, 07:01 AM
things happen when i play high-level-necromancer types...

First event.. a pal and me was playing two badass evil guys in a goody world killing and coursing mayhem. han finally the dm had enogh and sent a highpowered rouge/shadow dancer/assasin after us..when he finally cought us i just looked at the DM and said "FINGER OF DEATH!!!" and capow our DM's chair collapses and the dm rolls on the floor just before he could make a saving throw:P

another time was when i again used "FINGER OF DEATH" just for fun on the dm his dungeonmaster screen collapses and spreads his dice everywhere:P

now thats funny:p

Skyserpent
2009-05-17, 07:19 AM
Oversized black d20 that pretty much never rolls under a 10, except on perception checks when there's nothing to see.

I offer it to the players every time they ask for a dice and they always give me the same look: "Bitch, you crazy!?"

V'icternus
2009-05-17, 08:17 AM
Alright, my turn. I went to my very first D&D session (3.5). I was introduced to the rules, etc. I then rolled up my character.

*Direct quotes*

DM: Alright, now you just roll these four, and take away the lowest one, and that's your first score.

Me: Alright. My luck sucks, though... *Rolls all sixes*

Me:...

DM:...

Rest of group:...

Me: That's good, right?

DM: I've been DMing for years, and that's the first time I've ever seen that happen.

Me: Well, looks like I've blown all my luck on the first roll.


And, seeing as I wound up as dungeon wallpaper in that particular campaign... looks like I was right.

Graymayre
2009-05-17, 08:20 AM
My group still believes in the idea that dice somehow accrue, and arbitrarily expel, luck.

It's peculiar, they are high logic players. Yet, when the dice are rolling, they always try to appease whatever ancient deity that will help them get 'teh ma0rz rolls'.

ocato
2009-05-17, 08:27 AM
Back in high school, my friend had three d20, a red one, a white one, and a blue one. When he DM'd, he'd sometimes roll all three, get 3 20s (this happened fairly regularly) and then yell AMERICA F*** YEAH and our character(s) would be dead.

In my current group, one player got tired of a d20 that never performed. The DM scooped it up and since then, he uses it to turn the tides back in his favor. It is his fallen demon die and it serves its master willingly.

Lord Herman
2009-05-17, 08:55 AM
I have this gold-coloured metallic d20. It always rolls high, unless the person who rolled it somehow offended the dice gods. I sometimes lend it to a player who really needs a good roll, and it tends to come up twenty at exactly the right moment. However, if someone rolls it in vain, or otherwise offends the dice gods, it rolls very poorly at critical moments.

For example, two sessions ago, the party rogue was dueling the BBEG while the rest of the party was holding off a horde of skeletal minions. He decided to try a very risky all-out attack, using a daily power with sneak attack and all the other damage-enhancing things he could possibly activate. I gave him the golden d20, figuring he needed all the luck he could get. Lo and behold, it came up 20. The BBEG took an obscene amount of damage and died instantly.

The session after that, that same player had a new set of opal-coloured dice (and as we all know, newly bought opal is terrible bad luck). He waded into battle, and got seperated from the rest of the party. His new d20 almost never rolled higher than a 5, but even as he lay bleeding on the ground, he refused to use the golden d20 for his death saves, insisting his new die would save him. Needless to say, he failed three saves in a row, and died.

cody.burton
2009-05-17, 09:08 AM
The session after that, that same player had a new set of opal-coloured dice (and as we all know, newly bought opal is terrible bad luck). He waded into battle, and got seperated from the rest of the party. His new d20 almost never rolled higher than a 5, but even as he lay bleeding on the ground, he refused to use the golden d20 for his death saves, insisting his new die would save him. Needless to say, he failed three saves in a row, and died.

An honest and honorable death. Never give up on your dice. If you toss them aside because they are temporarily rolling low, that is all they will remember, and you will be punished for your faithlessness.

AslanCross
2009-05-17, 09:10 AM
Just last session, the psion used energy bolt, firing an electric version of it, while a thunderstorm was raging outside. Just as she called out the name of the psionic power, a huge lightning bolt struck nearby.

-merely dropping the d20 always results in a bad roll. Actually bowling it works much better.
-I have a Chessex set of 36 tiny purple d6s with red dots. They always roll high; great for ability scores, and absolute murder when I use them when monsters and NPCs nuke the PCs.

Tar Palantir
2009-05-17, 10:11 AM
I have a set of five "classic" d6s, white with black dots and everything. They brutalize stat rolls. I have never had to worry about MAD, since the lowest I've ever rolled on them was a 14, and my average roll is 16-17. I also have a blue d20 from Magic the Gathering, where the 20 is the set logo for my favorite set, Coldsnap. I am not allowed to use that d20 anymore since the fateful battle inside the Hypercube, a demiplane with rooms which traveled through time as well as space. The party found the corpse of the party sorcerer in the first room, with a red-tipped spear sticking out of him. A few hours later, they're fleeing a hobgoblin warchief using that same spear. He throws it at the sorcerer, double crits, and the sorc fails his save for massive damage (despite his 22 Con) and dies.

Garian
2009-05-17, 10:17 AM
first character my friend created, a dwarfish fighter, got three 18's in a row for his ability scores. It was epic.

That character goes on to die for the fist time at 14th level from a sphere of annihilation.

The Mentalist
2009-05-17, 10:33 AM
I had one while I was DMing, first encounter with the boss in a solo game I was running.
Player "I attack."
Me "Roll to hit"
20
"Roll to confirm"
20 *Swearing, I run roll over criticals*
Roll
20

This goes on until he gets 7 twenties in a row...

My baddie died.

Totally Guy
2009-05-17, 10:40 AM
This goes on until he gets 7 twenties in a row...

My baddie died.

That guy should be playing the lottery, not d&d. He's probably used up his lifetime's luck quota just to pull that off.

The Mentalist
2009-05-17, 10:45 AM
He's done similar things since.

He can't play lotto yet though, he's eleven.

The day he turns eighteen I'm buying him a ticket or ten.

Alcopop
2009-05-17, 11:00 AM
Here's some.
It was an arena campaign and all but the druid was down, we were all new and the druid was particularly useless. The player was depressed with the situation and saying that he couldn't do anything and tried to skip his turn. The GM said then gave him a lecture about always trying and that he might get lucky, so the druid rolls for his sling and what do you know, 20... 20... 20. insta gibed badie all over the ground.

It was uncanny as hell, especially after the GMs "just attack it, you might get lucky" speech...

Rhiannon87
2009-05-17, 11:23 AM
Ah, yes, the strange and mystical powers of the dice.

I always have to arrange my sets of dice in order from d4 to d20, with the highest number face up on each. I have two main sets, a metal copper set and a plastic grey rune set. Neither of them seem to have particularly good or bad luck... I've had trouble with the metal dice, but I think that's more a result of my character having terrible, terrible saves up until recently. (Thanks, vest of resistance!) I also get neurotic about other people using each other's dice. No one borrows mine (unless it's a one-turn "hey I need d8's" situation), especially not without asking, but there are a couple players who will just grab other people's dice and roll them. Makes me twitchy.

We're convinced that the new set of hematite dice that our DM got as a birthday present from his wife (who also plays D&D) are out to get us, though. He's murdered characters with repeated critical hits from enemies in the same full attack. They roll amazingly pretty consistently... unless he's using them as a player, when they seem to roll normally. Not especially good or bad, just... average. Which I guess is good for me as the other DM.

I think one of our players has the best philosophy on dice, though: "The dice aren't always on my team. They're not always on the DM's team, either. Sometimes they're on their own team."

Zhalath
2009-05-17, 11:38 AM
Any d20 that rolls two or more 20s in a row is referred to as a "Jimmy Scythe" in my group, after a party member, who named his character "James", got 4 crits in a row with a scythe. Incidentally, a "Jimmy Scythe" is also an accusation of cheating.

I always roll dice with similarly-colored dice, if possible. I have two silver d6, that are reserved for rolling greatsword damage, because they get 1s or 2s when not a greatsword, and 5s and 6s when it is.

Malificus
2009-05-17, 04:08 PM
I generally have horrible luck with dice, especially d6s. My worst incident with a d20 ended up with me retiring a d20 from melee combat forever. I rolled a natural 1 four times in a row. However, I kept it for skills, cause just before the combat, I rolled above 16 every single time on my search and disable device checks, with a solid chain of 3 20s in a row.

Teeka
2009-05-17, 05:49 PM
I have ten or so ordinary white six sided dice. I call them my darlings. They like to be rolled in groups and they always roll higher than average when used all together despite their fondness for rolling ones. When I use them to make characters the result is very good stats. If they are given to someone else to make a character my darlings are very unkind.

My twenty sided die on the other hand is evil. It rolls fours far more than it should. I let everyone in our little group roll it and for all of them it rolled a four. Then, when they all rolled their own dice they all rolled fours. We attributed this to some form of the 'Lorik Factor'.

The Lorik Factor is something we discovered having to do with the way certain members of our group tend to attract certain results. One fellow had terrible luck when making noncombat related rolls. He would always get ones. We named this the Lorik Factor after his character. He could also pass it on to other people by touching their dice.

GoC
2009-05-17, 06:01 PM
There is one person in my group, who avoids one die like the plague, it is a orange dice with white numbers. If it touches this player then all of his rolls for the night will be low. We will sometimes have him play dodge ball by tossing this die at him. He can move really fast when he needs to.

You should really test this claim. Make him touch the die and then record his rolls. Take the weighted (roll die, subtract 1, divide result by number of faces add to running total) average and find the probability that he'd have rolled better. Conduct this experiment multiple times. Either his unlucky streak disappears (a good thing) or you've discovered a fascinating new phenomenon (also a good thing)!

AslanCross
2009-05-17, 06:10 PM
My best and worst d20s are both from Wizards. Both are blue. The worst came as part of the War Drums D&D miniatures starter set. It always rolls horribly, so I avoid using it whether I'm a player or the DM.

The best one is from the recent 4E miniatures starter set (the one with a Large Green Dragon). It sometimes rolls lousy, but I've seen it roll more 20s than any other d20, much to the chagrin of my players.

Arbitrarity
2009-05-17, 06:16 PM
I roll a bardic knowledge check.
2.
3.
1.
2.

Later, I rebuilt my character with Bardic Knack.

Hadrian_Emrys
2009-05-17, 06:21 PM
What is this 20/20/20 "super crit" noise? :smallconfused:

Glyde
2009-05-17, 06:36 PM
What is this 20/20/20 "super crit" noise? :smallconfused:

It's when you roll a 20, backed up by a 20, backed up by a 20, which is then backed up by a confirmation. This sends your critical hit multiplier into the stratosphere.

We can use a good ol pick or scythe for this example. You start with x4, the second confirmed crit brings that up to x7 (4+4-1), which is then risen to either x10 (7+4-1) or x13 (7+7-1), I can't remember exactly how it works in this case. But it's something big.

tyckspoon
2009-05-17, 06:42 PM
What is this 20/20/20 "super crit" noise? :smallconfused:

An apparently popular houserule that I don't understand the attraction of. People just like to assign significance to a 20, I guess, so they do this thing where if you nat 20 your confirmation roll, you get extra effects (often involving a further roll to see just how extreme.) If you throw another 20 on your what-did-I-do roll, you get.. well, depends on the house. An instant kill is popular. Increasing the crit multiplier is a little more sane but still tends to be a pretty similar result.

Jarrick
2009-05-17, 06:50 PM
What is this 20/20/20 "super crit" noise? :smallconfused:

DnD rule. Natural 20 is a critical threat. A second roll is needed to confirm the crit, DC = target's AC. If this roll is also a 20, the crit turns into an instant death threat. A third and final confirmation roll is needed to confirm instant death. If this succeeds, the target is slain instantly. Our group rules that this functions whether the target is immune to crits or not. Oh, and I suspect the noise to be a resounding "Crakow!!!".

*edit* Ninja'd!

Glyde
2009-05-17, 06:52 PM
The 'instant death' rule and 'multiplier stacking' rules are both optional variants, I think. The instant death one is generally more dangerous for PCs then the other way around.

Archangel Yuki
2009-05-17, 06:53 PM
I have a bright orange d20 with white numbers that my group calls the "DM Doom Die". Whenever I use it as the DM, it blows someone away, without fail. I only break it out when a player has been a bastard to everyone else or when the situation in-game is super-dangerous. My Doom Die never lets me down. :smallamused:

This.
I have a " Doom dice " thats seprate for each perosn. Each one, if rolled against that peticular player, will always win. I have actually rolled 5 20's in a row on grapple checks agains one player with his "Doom Dice".

Accersitus
2009-05-17, 08:25 PM
If the DM pulls out a religious NPC with real style,
the deity of said NPC will either curse the players
with hideous rolls, or bless the NPC with amazing
rolls. Never underestimate the power of a deity,
even if the only believers are groups of nerds
sitting around tables having fun.

Zain
2009-05-17, 09:48 PM
I my gameing group, the dice that are given as gifts are allways super lucky, but if the roller bought the dice the suck, sop we allsay use eachothers dice:smallconfused:

The_JJ
2009-05-17, 09:55 PM
You should really test this claim. Make him touch the die and then record his rolls. Take the weighted (roll die, subtract 1, divide result by number of faces add to running total) average and find the probability that he'd have rolled better. Conduct this experiment multiple times. Either his unlucky streak disappears (a good thing) or you've discovered a fascinating new phenomenon (also a good thing)!

You fool! You think the dice don't know when we are watching? Give them an opportunity like that, and they'll go out of their way to act normal. But then...

... then they wait until you reach a critical point. Careless, the friend brushes the die as he gathers his D20 for an important save. Tick, tick, tick, it skitters across the table, tick, tick, bounces off the Mountain Dew bottle tick... tick... duh.

A natural one. You friend stares in horror as his charactor dies an unholy and permanent death, a sacrifice to the Dice Gods!

*ahem* That said, in my group it is a running joke that I should never use grenades, in video games or modern type settings. I just kill myself. Oddly, rarely teamates, except indirectly, e.g. when my presense is needed.

chiasaur11
2009-05-17, 10:03 PM
You fool! You think the dice don't know when we are watching? Give them an opportunity like that, and they'll go out of their way to act normal. But then...

... then they wait until you reach a critical point. Careless, the friend brushes the die as he gathers his D20 for an important save. Tick, tick, tick, it skitters across the table, tick, tick, bounces off the Mountain Dew bottle tick... tick... duh.

A natural one. You friend stares in horror as his charactor dies an unholy and permanent death, a sacrifice to the Dice Gods!

*ahem* That said, in my group it is a running joke that I should never use grenades, in video games or modern type settings. I just kill myself. Oddly, rarely teamates, except indirectly, e.g. when my presense is needed.

It's a well known fact that at least some dice gods can be placated by sacrifices of characters, even ones of low emotional value.

Do a few Tomb of Horrors one shots until they're satisfied.

The_JJ
2009-05-17, 10:16 PM
You've obviously been graced with far kinder, gentler gods than I.

chiasaur11
2009-05-17, 10:26 PM
You've obviously been graced with far kinder, gentler gods than I.

No, just more patience.

You need, in the best case, a month straight of sending fifty man parties into the Tomb to even get the kindest dice to start showing mercy.

It's not work for the faint of heart.

daa18
2009-05-17, 10:34 PM
My orc barbarian has a habit of rolling 19 or 20 whenever he's supposed to fail. Wis checks, int checks, you name it.

Now if only he would stop rolling 7's for his attack rolls.:smallannoyed:

Coidzor
2009-05-18, 12:59 AM
I've always wondered if it were possible to learn how to roll a dice to control it enough that one actually influences the outcome towards landing on one half or a third of the possible rolls...

As it stands, we seem to all have different dice rolling techniques in my group. one girl always just flicks her dice so that they hop up, another uses a different hand for each dice, rolling them two handed, one die in each hand, until all the dice are rolled; and one of my friends does a sort of craps-style roll with both hands above his head and bringing it down to release the dice.

The_Werebear
2009-05-18, 02:42 AM
We have one unfortunate player who is the only one to be critted by people with x3 weapons. I recall him being one shotted at least twice (once by a battleaxe, once by a spear), and he has been sent to negatives multiple times by them.

One of our DM's rolls impossible 50% odds. Our success rate on hitting them is somewhere around 10%. Our method is to call high or low while he rolls, and no matter what we do, we never guess right. In one situation, a foe used Mirror Image against us producing something like six copies. We hit him every other attack roll until he got to him and one image, at which point we missed him for five or six attacks in a row.

When I am DMing, 15% chances that screw the PC's happen frequently. I adjudicated two major battles for the PC's where this cropped up. The first was a group of angry druids ambushing an opposed militia formation in a forest. Druids vs Experts in equal numbers, no expert over level one, some druid's as high as three. 15% chance of survival. I got a 94, and the Militia held off the druids and made an orderly retreat with minimal casualties. The other was an assault on a boatyard, beautifully planned. 15% chance the allies boats get too close to the preplanned spell barrage and take hits. 87 is rolled, and they have to abort when their amphibious force is accidentally hit by their own Storm of Vengeance.

I always use three full sets of dice, laid out in three parallel rows. I have two primaries, and one fallback set for if the first two decide that they aren't in the mood to roll well.

One of my friends has a die named Jeremiah, which rolls below a 5 70% of the time, and above a 16 the other 30%. It's rare to see it get anything in the middle.

I have witnessed 5 nat 20's in a row. In a Zombie apocalypse campaign, our elven commoner with a crossbow lined up a shot from the belltower, and proceeded to roll absolutely crazily. The DM ruled that the bolt penetrated five skulls in a row, getting stuck in the sixth.

Rapidwhirl
2009-05-18, 09:10 AM
When I was ten I first started roleplaying. I was as green as could be, and didn't quite understand the concept that I was supposed to be someone else. There was only one thing that saved me from my merciless GM; an incredible luck that netted me good roles when I needed them. Stats, saving throws, skill checks, etc. Now, I didn't say the best rolls, there were a few natural 20's, but they were good.

It seems to have died down a little, now that I know what I'm doing. Though some people still complain that my guys have better rolls.

All elven warriors named Kile or Kyle force their way to level 5, then die doing some crazy stunt that seemed like a good idea at the time, but really wasn't.

Saying any number less then half the die's sides is a very bad thing, because now there is a fifty percent chance that you will roll that number. Saying the highest number that die can roll doesn't work.

Blowing on your dice helps...

After purchasing a new set of dice, I wash, carefully dry, and roll them. I keep them separate from all my older dice, and allow them to assist in decisions outside of the game.

I know it's not roleplaying, but has anyone here played a turn-based strategy game called RISK? I have a few funny stories about that one. The most famous is when someone amassed a force consisting of maybe thirty-forty armies, and marched off to attack Australia. The guy in Australia was weak, only having a handful of men. When the attacker came to India, which only had two armies, he lost twenty of his armies before capturing it. That made the fight survivable to the little guy in the Land of Venomous Animals, and solidified India as the Alamo of the gameboard. Never since has a string of rolls been so one-sided. Saying "Remember the India" before defending the country guarantees that you will kill several of your attackers before biting the dust.

In a different game after one of my friends won, and everyone else was dead, he confessed that he had prayed to win the game. No one was particularly happy, and declared that he cheated.

AslanCross
2009-05-18, 09:34 AM
I once played a warforged warblade named Two. Guess what number his dice liked landing on.

Krytha
2009-05-18, 09:43 AM
Girls always roll well. Guys fail their rolls left right and centre. Unless it's a useless check. Then the natural 20s show their faces in spades.

Nai_Calus
2009-05-18, 02:49 PM
I once rolled a joke 'Failure' check.

I got a 1.

We never did figure out what exactly that meant.

Dogmantra
2009-05-18, 02:54 PM
I once rolled a joke 'Failure' check.

I got a 1.

We never did figure out what exactly that meant.
That you fail so badly... that you actually succeed?

Zhalath
2009-05-18, 04:21 PM
That you fail so badly... that you actually succeed?

That, friend, is a win.
Just like that time I rolled 20, then 1 5 times. My GM called the last one as another reroll (why? I don't know), and I got another 20.

TheThan
2009-05-18, 05:04 PM
I’ve called dice rolls before.

Duskblade:
“Watch me crit that troll”
Result: critical hit with max damage

Sorcerer:
“Watch me bomb this knowledge: arcane check”
Result: rolled a 1, with a +0 modifier… yeah apparently this spell caster knows nothing about magic.


We also have a theory that beautiful dice roll badly, and ugly dice roll super well. So far its true. I have these beautiful blue D6s with white speckles and pips; they never roll more than three when I use them. While a friend has really ugly black and pink D6s that rarely roll less than 5.

ondonaflash
2009-05-18, 06:17 PM
So I've got a sparkly green d20 which happens to be blessed with titluck (don't ask, its sordid and sad) it is my most dependable die of all. I use it for my skill checks and attack rolls and it never fails me, its my favorite.

Inversely I have my "Monster Die" which is a clear turquoise D20 which I use to roll for monsters since it has a habit of landing low.

Sir_Mopalot
2009-05-18, 07:45 PM
ONce upon a time, I had a group in a D20 Modern game who split up and had gotten destroyed by a group of skeletons. All of the players are at negative hit points except for the tech specialist, who is worse than useless with his gun. The techie had 0 hit points, and so rolled his single attack action. The atmosphere was tense. In an attempt to roll higher, the player of the techie tried to scare the 1 on his d20 by rubbing it on his nipple. He then rolled 2 20s in a row, dropping the necromancer (and thus all the necromancer's skeletons). Now this is a fairly common practice among my group, although it has never worked quite as well.

Oracle_Hunter
2009-05-18, 10:15 PM
First, a semi-RPG story.

It happened while playing Necromunda (Kids, ask your parents :smalltongue:). In Necromunda, you run a gang which holds territory, gains experience and basically rolls like the original Warhammer Fantasy RPG. The lowest level character in a gang is known as a Juvie and there was one Juvie of mine that always suffered terrible injuries in the course of battle (falling off buildings, getting multiple wounds from a Heavy Weapon, etc.) but never died. You see, at the end of a battle you make a Death Save for every character who is down by the end; usually you end up with some sort of permanent injury or mental scarring, but you can end up dead on a bad roll. This Juvie, even though he rolled at the end of every battle, never suffered more than minor injuries.

I renamed him "Lucky the Juvie" :smallbiggrin:

He actually survived long enough to level up. Of course, in the subsequent game of the Fantasy version of Necromunda, my Leader - a pimped out Witch Hunter - takes a wound at the start of the first battle and flat out dies when he rolls his Death Save :smallmad:

Secondly, Tycho from this Podcast. (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/4pod/20090408) It must be heard to be believed :smallcool:

PnP Fan
2009-05-18, 11:09 PM
Whenever I need a good roll, or a little luck, I'll turn to one of the ladies at the table and have them blow on my dice, like at Vegas.
Most of the time it seems to work.