Your Tabletop Superstitions and Rituals

[JAL_1138]

The thing is, whenever he just rolls them out of boredom, theyre fine. Its only when the rolls actually have a purpose that they end up low.

Ah. Same horrible affliction, then. My absolute sympathy.

[Lord Torath]

My superstition is that in a Mini Tabletop Wargame, I will lose the roll to both choose my deployment, and also lose the roll for first turn. It's not all the time, but it's pretty close to 90% of the time. I tend to do pretty well once the game gets going, though.

Anybody got any tips for how to recharge the luck in about four pounds of dice with good luck? Mine have all grown to hate me for some reason. But only when the roll is something I want to succeed. In test rolls, they do fine. Some even do great in tests, rarely rolling below 14. And then in game they'll never hit double digits.

They'll even screw me over at times--put me at the top of initiative only when I'm out of (or when I absolutely need to ration) no-save, save-or-die, or save-or-suck spells, only to have me miss or roll terrible damage on whatever I do, wasting a turn and mooting a great initiative.

And yes, I've gone through this with all four pounds of 'em.

I've made them angry somehow, and I don't know how to get back on their good side.

Try doing something really nice for them, rather than punishing them. Maybe give them a bubble bath?

[Kol Korran]

By group has only a few quirks:
- two of the players roll their dice pre game and choose the best set.
- 1 player has the worst tendency to roll "1"s on critical saves, no matter the save bonus. For some reason we keep saying "just don't roll... " and he replies "Don't say that! Oh hell!" Funny for us.
- Another player rolls really poorly most of the time (Under 10, for about 80% of his rolls) but when it's go time, he suddenly started critting! And he usually ends fights that way. A joke in my group is that on nearly every major battle they'll just buy time, and get weather down till his dice decide that enough is enough.

A small story: I myself don't believe in dice superstitions. My dice are fairly average. I'vettried running statistics, and on the while results are close to being utterly random.

That said... in a previous campaign, at the end battle the party was really not doing well, and on a sort of a time constraint. Watching the battle develop badly, and the party on the brink of death, I cursed inside: "so this is how the campaign will end? A TPK, on the final battle... such a let down..." But then oneplayer yells "I got a threat!" And the threat turned into a quadrouple critical, followed b y another quadruple critical by another player! Just enough to turn the rose, at the very last round! We wereally amazed, and Everyone since then I think that maybe, at times, the dice do care...

[Fri]

I've been reading this thread, and none of you ritually kill your players when their character are dead? You guys are weird.

[Lurkmoar]

I've been reading this thread, and none of you ritually kill your players when their character are dead? You guys are weird.

Ha, Dark Dungeons.

General superstition is that you suck up other people's luck when you handle their dice.
A specific one at my table is that if you eat someone else's snacks and didn't bring anything that night, you will roll at least three 1s in combat.

[JAL_1138]

I do have one custom that's not really a luck-related superstition: first-time players (not new to the group or new to the edition--new to RPGs entirely) never buy their first set of dice. Either someone in the group gives them a set, or the group pitches in and buys them one (or if the group won't, I will). They don't get loaners for a session, they get a set to keep. Sort of an effort to hook new players into the hobby.

[MrConsideration]

Rolling your dice when not attempting an action 'wastes' those numbers. The Dice Gods are only going to give you so many 20s, so don't waste them!

Most players also have a rarely-used d20 they only crank out for save-or-die situations, keeping the other ones for less important roles.

I always put my D20s '20' side up, and my D12s, and D10s....

[RayGallade]

At our table, we have "The Curse of the 4's". For some reason, we've found that once somebody rolls a four on a d20, we all seem to end up rolling fours for the next several checks. It's gotten to the point where we will exile a die if it rolls a four.

Also, we used to have a jar of safety pins that we called "The Jar of Shame" that we would use to exile dice. Still need to find it again.

[JAL_1138]

Or do what I did when that hapened... Bought new dice, and that recharged my lot. (Disclaimer: it's only worked on my d6s for any length of time. Everything else is a luck sponge.)

Buying a new set didn't fully do the trick, but did seem to help considerably. I only rolled slightly under par. I believe I'll pick up a couple more sets now that Gamescience is offering some again. Only opaques (and very expensive ones) at the moment, but better than them being entirely out of production.

[DataNinja]

I always put my D20s '20' side up, and my D12s, and D10s....

Wait? How do you put your d12s and d10s '20' side up?

[YossarianLives]

Our group has one d20 with a weird stars and planets pattern. We don't know where we got it, but it has been dubbed "The Power of the Cosmos." If a situation is particularly dire we roll The Power of the Cosmos. If it comes up even we use it, if not we decide that the situation is not worthy of the use of The Power of the Cosmos.

The Power of the Cosmos, besides looking cool usually rolls quite high.

[Totema]

Oh, I have a bunch of rituals. They're mostly to keep me entertained during dull roleplay, but I like to think they also help my rolls.

• First off, before gameplay starts, I pick out a set of dice from the bag for use in the session. No using dice directly from the bag, all willy-nilly. This rule is suspended if I find that I unexpectedly need more of a particular kind of die, but after that point I keep those in my set as well.
• On that note, I avoid using dice of the same color in my set if at all possible. They need to be a diverse bunch. I have a favorite d20, so that one is generally the same across sessions.
• When at rest, the dice in my set must lie with their maximum value face up. This is valuable training for them.
• In this state, I also arrange them in a line in ascending order, with the d4 on the extreme left, and the d20 on the extreme right. The singles digit d10 is to the left of the tens digit d10.
• If my d20 rolls well (particularly when I need it badly), I give it a little kiss before setting it down again. Other dice might get this treatment too, if I really need a high value from one of them.
• If I roll a 1 on my d20, I just rotate it out for the session. No need for extreme punishment, it's just tired or sick and needs some rest.
• Nearly forgot this one: Sometimes if I'm about to make a particularly important roll, I roll the d20 repeatedly until I get a 1, and then make the actual roll. I call this "rolling out the 1". The idea is to ensure that I don't get the 1 when I'm rolling for real. Statistically this shouldn't work, but it has yet to fail me.
• No one else may touch the dice in my set. My other dice are free though, and in fact they enjoy being used by other players and should be shared whenever necessary.
• At some point between sessions, I like to jumble around the dice bag, to make sure that all the dice get roughly equal play. I usually put my favorite d20 back on top before putting the bag away, though.

[Fri]

Our group has one d20 with a weird stars and planets pattern. We don't know where we got it, but it has been dubbed "The Power of the Cosmos." If a situation is particularly dire we roll The Power of the Cosmos. If it comes up even we use it, if not we decide that the situation is not worthy of the use of The Power of the Cosmos.

The Power of the Cosmos, besides looking cool usually rolls quite high.

I'm curious. What do your group say when the situation calls for the Power of the Cosmos but it rolls badly?

[WrittenInBlood]

While waiting to be rolled, my dice sit with their highest number up. They need the practice.

When at rest, the dice in my set must lie with their maximum value face up. This is valuable training for them.

No, no, no. You're doing it completely wrong. Dice get tired of standing on their lowest number, and will never land on it after roll, so you won't get highest score on them. High - maybe, but crit - rather not. Didn't you know that?

[LooseCannoneer]

I roll a special D20 like a bowling ball on important rolls.

[goto124]

I'm curious. What do your group say when the situation calls for the Power of the Cosmos but it rolls badly?

That the Dice Gods have decided to be especially cruel... :P

[Tiri]

One of the people I play with always has to roll the dice around his hands while going 'Mmmm' softly before he makes an important roll. For at least 15 seconds. It gets really annoying sometimes.

[YossarianLives]

I'm curious. What do your group say when the situation calls for the Power of the Cosmos but it rolls badly?

Generally it means that the person who rolled poorly has temporarily lost favour with The Power of the Cosmos.

[JAL_1138]

Our group has one d20 with a weird stars and planets pattern. We don't know where we got it, but it has been dubbed "The Power of the Cosmos." If a situation is particularly dire we roll The Power of the Cosmos. If it comes up even we use it, if not we decide that the situation is not worthy of the use of The Power of the Cosmos.

The Power of the Cosmos, besides looking cool usually rolls quite high.

Any chance at a pic on the off chance someone here can identify it (edit: as in, which set by which manufacturer)?

[Totema]

No, no, no. You're doing it completely wrong. Dice get tired of standing on their lowest number, and will never land on it after roll, so you won't get highest score on them. High - maybe, but crit - rather not. Didn't you know that?

A curious theory. I should try it out sometime!

[Strigon]

Nearly forgot this one: Sometimes if I'm about to make a particularly important roll, I roll the d20 repeatedly until I get a 1, and then make the actual roll. I call this "rolling out the 1". The idea is to ensure that I don't get the 1 when I'm rolling for real. Statistically this shouldn't work, but it has yet to fail me.

Don't feel silly; 'tis a prestigious method of training, with a long and glorious tradition.

Our group has one d20 with a weird stars and planets pattern. We don't know where we got it, but it has been dubbed "The Power of the Cosmos." If a situation is particularly dire we roll The Power of the Cosmos. If it comes up even we use it, if not we decide that the situation is not worthy of the use of The Power of the Cosmos.

YOU FOOL! BY DOING SO YOU SUBMIT YOUR MOST POWERFUL DIE TO THRICE THE STRESS CALLED FOR!
Clearly you need a second die, The Herald of the Cosmos, to decide if the time is right to call upon The Power of the Cosmos.

[Templarkommando]

These are my personal superstitions. If I get a die that seems to roll poorly during the course of one session (say 5-6 rolls), I will switch to one of about 4-5 substitute dice that I have.

When I roll damage, I want to use the oldest dice that I have. The old ones have sharp edges that make them roll more reliably. Since I have typically played a long sword wielding fighter, I have some d8s that my dad used back in the early 80s.

Not a dice related one, but the party generally has had bad experiences with left paths.

Also, one player, we shall call him E, has cursed dice. Nobody can roll anything other than consistently poorly with them.

That's funny, my party always take the left path. Once we decided to go right, only to find that our DM was looking nervous. He had designed the dungeon under the assumption that we always go left, which, in his defense was a pretty safe assumption.

[JAL_1138]

Water is always bad. Always. Every puddle, pool, fountain, pond, stream, river, lake, sea, ocean, whatever is full of monsters, is a monster, or is connected to demons, devils, yugoloths, eldritch abominations, and/or angry gods in some fashion. Avoid at all costs.

[Strigon]

Water is always bad. Always. Every puddle, pool, fountain, pond, stream, river, lake, sea, ocean, whatever is full of monsters, is a monster, or is connected to demons, devils, yugoloths, eldritch abominations, and/or angry gods in some fashion. Avoid at all costs.

I'm sorry, this is a fact, not a superstition. I have yet to find anybody to disagree with this.

[Telonius]

The only superstition I have is with my dice. Whenever I really want to roll well on an attack, I bring out my bright red D20 DM Die o' Doom. The weird thing is, it seems to be some kind Barbarian die, because it only rolls well for hitting things. Saves or skill checks? If I use the red one, it'll be a 4, max. Instead, I pull out my green d20. That thing can't hit the broad side of a barn, but is excellent on saves or skills.

I try to keep these dice from touching each other.

[Knaight]

I'm sorry, this is a fact, not a superstition. I have yet to find anybody to disagree with this.

You now have one. On the other hand, there are other things that get that reaction in our games. The word "nanobots" is roughly synonymous with doom.

[xroads]

We have one player who likes to put dice that are rolling bad for him in a "dice urn" (i.e. dice graveyard). Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to do him much good. His dice rolls still seem to be bad on average.

[Vercingex]

I try not to roll a single d20 more than 2 or 3 times in a row. Eventually, all dice turn on me.

[Gamgee]

Never roll this one set of metal dice that is clearly rigged. The highest its ever rolled is 11. Naturally one player always wants to use them.

[Vercingex]

Our local game store has a tradition on permanent character deaths. When a character dies, we write the cause of death on the front of the character sheet in marker, and add it to a stack on the bulletin board. After a particularly lethal D&D Basic series of games resulted in a sheaf of dead characters, we had to tone it down. But we still write our character's epitaphs on our sheets when we die.