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View Full Version : Dicerolling oh my!



Kabump
2008-06-03, 04:56 PM
This post is for FlyMolo wanting some non 4e posts. So, to help him out here goes. I need dice rolling help! I have had the WORST dice rolling luck my last, oh i dont know, 5 or 6 sessions? Ive had more 1s 2s and 3s than you can shake a stick at, and whats a number greater than 16? Ive never seen such a thing! So, im asking for tried and true methods to get some dice rolling luck on my side! My poor swordsage is tired of breaking his weapon, falling over, and gererally looking foolish! Although I have to admit, it has REALLY helped me add some flavor and character to my guy, he ALWAYS blames something else for what happens on his 1 rolls :smallbiggrin: "That stupid orc broke my sword!!"

nobodylovesyou4
2008-06-03, 05:04 PM
advice? what advice can be given on randomness? seriously, everyone has their days where they roll high, and eveyrone has their days when they roll low. just keep at it.

tyckspoon
2008-06-03, 05:05 PM
Well, you could try to get your DM to stop using critical fumbles.. they're not actually part of the rules. A 1 always misses, beyond that it has no official effect.

If you don't mind picking up some superstition:
Try cleansing your dice. Make a little pile of good things- character sheets with naturally high rolled stats, a pyramid of d6's with the sixes turned face up, whatever. Leave your dice in the middle of the pile for a week or so to let them soak up the good aura.

Alternately, pick up 4-6 new d20s. Roll them all twenty or thirty times while recording the results. Put away the ones that rolled too many ones- they're just rotten. Save 'em for a system where rolling low is good or in case somebody you don't like needs to borrow a die. Save the one that rolled the least ones/the most high numbers; that's your special-occasion die. The last one or two should have fairly average rolls. Those are your regular-use dice.

Alternately, use the ones that rolled a lot of ones and not very many high results in pre-testing. They have a lot of the ones already rolled out of them, so they're less likely to show another 1 when it counts. That's going on the theory that every die has a limited pool of each result, so you want to use one that has the low end partially drained and the high end mostly untapped.

Kabump
2008-06-03, 05:10 PM
advice? what advice can be given on randomness?

I know sir, this is a tounge-in-cheek post :) Its not at all serious, just trying to ease the tension on these forums with all this 4e drama! Besides, everyone has a dice rolling method they SWEAR works, come on! All the guys I play with do!

nobodylovesyou4
2008-06-03, 05:12 PM
oh, good lord, if thats what you want then i have a good one.

theres two people in our group who are in question here: piratejesus and homestar_3.14. PJ hit H_pi in the face with his character sheet to get him to shut up, then rolled his dice to attack. he got a 20. whenever he needed a high number, he hit h_pi in the face with his sheet, and he always rolled high. that became our thing.

Kabump
2008-06-03, 05:17 PM
@nobody~

Yes! Thats the kind of stuff I'm looking for :D I'm not to swift on the uptake sometimes, i should have been more clear in my original post :smallbiggrin: On another note, that sounds hilarious! Even better if homestarr doesnt seen it coming i would imagine!

:EDIT: To add my buddy's method here for the good rolls: Its too much, all im gonna say is Patrick Swaze and Dirty dancing, its a riot :)

obvious pun
2008-06-03, 05:19 PM
First, get all of your bad dice in a little pile. Then, sacrifice them in a rain of fire and hammers to the god of luck. Make sure all your other dice are watching. You'll be gettin' good rolls in no time.

nobodylovesyou4
2008-06-03, 05:19 PM
he didnt usually see it coming, but after a while he started to sit away from him. so piratejesus hit me in the face, rolled a one. i guess im bad luck :smallfrown:

Flickerdart
2008-06-03, 05:19 PM
I know sir, this is a tounge-in-cheek post :) Its not at all serious, just trying to ease the tension on these forums with all this 4e drama! Besides, everyone has a dice rolling method they SWEAR works, come on! All the guys I play with do!
Use a Magic the Gathering life counter instead. Same 20 sides, different number positions.

Kabump
2008-06-03, 05:22 PM
he didnt usually see it coming, but after a while he started to sit away from him. so piratejesus hit me in the face, rolled a one. i guess im bad luck :smallfrown:

Maybe he needs to make his char sheet into a paper airplane and throw it across the room? :D

Prophaniti
2008-06-03, 05:23 PM
I have a wonderfully clandestine trick that I'll use occasionally when the luck is down. I have a darkly-colored set of dice that most of the paint in the number grooves has rubbed out on. This means that when I roll it, its impossible to be certain what number its showing without close examination... I'll leave the rest up to your imagination.

I thought about explaining why and when I do this, but I realize that's simply trying to justify it. There's really no excuse, but it is fun to do sometimes...

BizzaroStormy
2008-06-03, 05:25 PM
Maybe he needs to make his char sheet into a paper airplane and throw it across the room? :D

Of I can just start shooting him with a crossbow until he starts sitting closer. Or maybe lure him with a hunny pot. ((Inside joke, don't even try to comprehend))

Kabump
2008-06-03, 05:30 PM
Or maybe lure him with a hunny pot. ((Inside joke, don't even try to comprehend))

Is your friend Winney the Pooh? :)

Illiterate Scribe
2008-06-03, 05:30 PM
If you level up your psychic skill, you can get a +1 per dice OR a reroll. That's useful.

Xsjado
2008-06-03, 05:32 PM
I always roll abysmally on initiative causing me to pretty much dump dex unless I really need it. It never helps.

As to improving your rolls, you could always buy some expensive dice which are supposedly "better balanced". Then if you still fail at least you know its the universe conspiring against you :smalltongue:

JaxGaret
2008-06-03, 08:47 PM
Step 1: Be a Dice Jesus

Step 2: Profit

Works for me.

Trizap
2008-06-03, 08:53 PM
While I roll I go "Come On.... Come On......Come On....." while rolling it for a few seconds longer than needed.

Szilard
2008-06-03, 09:01 PM
Try the info on the bottom, also known as rinsing your dice. (http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0099.html)

Kabump
2008-06-03, 09:05 PM
Try the info on the bottom, also known as rinsing your dice. (http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0099.html)

And I switched d20s after rolling two 1s in a row... later in our next encounter, the new d20 rolled two 1s in a row >.< Now at least I remember which dice those were :smallbiggrin:

UglyPanda
2008-06-03, 09:06 PM
My preferred method of avoiding long streaks of bad luck is yelling that it didn't count and threatening violence on anyone who says otherwise.

Kabump
2008-06-03, 09:12 PM
Im finding this link (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RandomNumberGod) very entertaining! Must... Appease... the Random Number Gods....

Pie Guy
2008-06-03, 09:29 PM
My winning dice stratagy!
a 6
a /
aaaaa ____/
aaaaa l l
aa l l
aaaaaaaaa -------------------
aaaaaaaaa /
aaaaaaaaa floor



Edit: wow my editing skills suck.:smallsmile:

Gralamin
2008-06-03, 09:37 PM
Use a dice cup.

Emperor Tippy
2008-06-03, 09:44 PM
Use weighted dice.

tyckspoon
2008-06-03, 09:46 PM
Or consider this dedicatedinsane person's story, from the TvTropes article on Random Number Gods and how to appease them..


This troper destroys dice. Every one he has ever laid hand upon has had all the luck leached out of them. He knows this because one game session, he literally borrowed everyones dice, only for every one of them to roll consistently poorly forever more. Solution? He hunted down every game of Frustration he could lay his hands on, carefully sawed out the dice rolling mechanism, purchased all new dice and transferred them to the bubbles with forceps taking excessive care not to touch them - including a dust mask so he didn't accidentally breathe on them - and epoxied all the reassembled poppers onto a board. Results were good.

JaxGaret
2008-06-03, 09:57 PM
Or consider this dedicatedinsane person's story, from the TvTropes article on Random Number Gods and how to appease them..

Wow. Even if apocryphal, that's a funny story.

Nohwl
2008-06-03, 10:02 PM
i seem to have the same problem. whenever i roll stats for a character, they are great. and then i do pretty poorly when it comes to combat, saves, and skill checks.

i solve it by having someone else roll for me when its important.

Rizban
2008-06-03, 10:19 PM
If I ever have a die that rolls a 1 three or more times in a row, I lock it away in a box that keeps it from moving and save it for a day when I need a massively good roll to survive. Statistically, rolling a 1 on a d20 is 1:20. Rolling two ones is 1:400, three 1s is 1:1200, and four 1s is 1:24000. Statistically speaking, if you've rolled such low numbers on those dice, you should be saving them as your lucky dice, cause they have to hit hot or break the laws of probability.

Kabump
2008-06-03, 10:56 PM
Or consider this dedicatedinsane person's story, from the TvTropes article on Random Number Gods and how to appease them..

I was | | close to posting that exact story myself before my brother called for a ride. Not sure what that game is, but Id imagine its close to the pop-o-matic bubble in the US game Trouble :)

FlyMolo
2008-06-03, 11:04 PM
This post is for FlyMolo wanting some non 4e posts. So, to help him out here goes. I need dice rolling help! I have had the WORST dice rolling luck my last, oh i dont know, 5 or 6 sessions? Ive had more 1s 2s and 3s than you can shake a stick at, and whats a number greater than 16? Ive never seen such a thing! So, im asking for tried and true methods to get some dice rolling luck on my side! My poor swordsage is tired of breaking his weapon, falling over, and gererally looking foolish! Although I have to admit, it has REALLY helped me add some flavor and character to my guy, he ALWAYS blames something else for what happens on his 1 rolls :smallbiggrin: "That stupid orc broke my sword!!"Yay, I am loved! Enlong has also posted a series of fun threads.

I recommend buying a metric buttload of crappy dice. Really really cheap ones. Then roll all of them a bunch of times, and track the averages. The cheap dice will sometimes be accidentally weighted wrong or offcenter, so there'll be a die out there that'll roll more 20s than statistically warranted. Find it. Use it. Watch out for its friend, that rolls more ones than warranted.

Note: This will actually work.

Revanmal
2008-06-03, 11:14 PM
If I ever have a die that rolls a 1 three or more times in a row, I lock it away in a box that keeps it from moving and save it for a day when I need a massively good roll to survive. Statistically, rolling a 1 on a d20 is 1:20. Rolling two ones is 1:400, three 1s is 1:1200, and four 1s is 1:24000. Statistically speaking, if you've rolled such low numbers on those dice, you should be saving them as your lucky dice, cause they have to hit hot or break the laws of probability.

...............That strategy is so wrong in a statistical sense, but I'd rather not discuss it.

Anyway, there's no solution to bad luck, but cleaning the dice, givign them a cushy spot to sleep and back-rubs may aid in the process.

Patashu
2008-06-03, 11:41 PM
Make a one-to-one mapping of all the dice roll possibilities chaotically so that 1 is a 20, 2 is a 10, 3 is 17, 4 is 5, et cetera. Hopefully that'll fool the dice until they realize what you're trying to get again.

Fhaolan
2008-06-03, 11:51 PM
My best friend has a simple way of dealing with this. He buys d20's in large job lots. He uses them normally, but if any roll consistantly low over several gaming sessions, he borrows a hammer, smashes them, and puts the largest piece in his dice bag as a warning to the others. In the ten years I've known him, I've only seen him do this twice, which means it does in fact work. :smallamused:

Edea
2008-06-03, 11:55 PM
If it's a dicebot, though, you can do naughty things to it >:3. That always helps.

Kabump
2008-06-04, 02:53 PM
Ive seperated out the nasty d20s from last week into their own container, lets see if they behave tonite! :smallsmile: If not, well, they might just be hammer food...

Irreverent Fool
2008-06-04, 04:14 PM
Acquire a homebrewed feat or magic item which alters all of your die rolls in the following fashion

New roll = (number of sides +1) - original roll

This has the effect of reversing your luck! A natural 1 is now a natural 20 (and vice versa).

AslanCross
2008-06-04, 04:19 PM
I noticed that when I (or my players) just "drop" the dice, they tend to come up with low results. Rolling the dice (as if I were using them for bowling) tends to produce better results more. Of course, one needs a box or tray to prevent the dice from falling all over the place.