For the past five sessions, I've suffered from really rotten dice rolls. It wasn't too noticeable at first; a few low rolls here and there at critical times. It happens to the best of us, right? But then it got worse. Despite have some of the best bonuses on my attack rolls, saving throws, and initiative, I was becoming the least effective in the party. I discovered an awful truth near the end of the second session: there are fates worse than death. In this case, constantly being unconscious/stunned/sickened/etc.
By the third session, it had become clear that I was cursed. My poor paladin could not make an attack roll to save his life; even low AC critters requiring only a 13 to hit danced around my poor holy knight of Shelyn; what's significant about this is that due to an absurdly high strength and magic weapon, I had a +9 attack bonus; not bad for a 3rd level character. Even so, I missed each and every attack that fight.
The final straw happened in the fifth session, just two days ago. That entire session, I couldn't roll anything higher than a 4. The whole night. After spending the first fight suffering the effects of a stinking cloud cast by a dretch (whose lowly DC 13 fortitude save confounded my mighty champion, despite the fact that I had a +10 to my fortitude saves), we encountered the big bad of that portion of the AP. Determined to actually be useful beyond detecting evil, I used my cool 1/day True Strike spell-like ability. I rushed the Big Bad and Power Attacked.
And rolled a one on my d20.
Cackling with glee, the DM produced some nifty (dreadful) critical fumble cards and asked me to draw. I did so, and cringed at what ill fortune had brought me. My poor paladin at managed to critically strike his right leg from his body, dealing lots of damage to himself.
Mercifully, he died on the spot.
I've been gaming for close to 16 years, and I've never had such an unlucky streak before. Honestly, it was a relief when that character bit it.
Maybe you're dice are flawed? Though I imagined you must have switched them.
I have never had such rotten luck (in general), but my damage tends to roll low. I'm playing a magus, and my spellstrike dice tend to roll low. As in 8d6<10... It's sad really. But not as bad as you.
...My lord, that's..wow. You should definitely go out and buy new dice, expensive ones perhaps the second you can man!
I know those feels, I used a set of emerald-looking dice for the longest time, and they were cursed to always roll under 10 generally (funny thing is, if you watch the PAX Acquisitions Incorporated Game, Jerry ALWAYS rolls low, and he uses the exact same set as me)
Perhaps though, it's how you're rolling them/where you're rolling them. Unfortunately for my group, we don't have a gaming table big enough, so we roll our dice on a tiled floor
Best of luck to you with further games though dude.
...and don't play with rules that mean every attack roll of 1 involves some horrible fumble. That is too many fumbles.
At our table, we had a player roll 6 "1"s in a row using different dice. We were all suitably impressed/spooked.
He always had Beeshaba's own luck at dice and is now playing games where survival is not at the whim of a polyhedral piece of plastic.
My current GM LOVES fumbles. He always makes us "confirm" the fumble at least. If above 15, nothing happens, 13-14, light penalty (varies)10-12 moderate penalty (your weapon gets stuck in the floor, your bowstring gets loose), under 10 is where stuff gets "interesting"... In our first game, a friend rolled several ones (with poor confirms) and almost murdered another player...
The worst I've ever seen was when my buddy's high-level Wizard cast a fireball. I believe he rolled 10d6. Total of 13 damage (Reflex for half).
I'm having a similar issue with my Magus in a game I'm playing in. Though only in combat. Outside of combat I roll fairly well.
My GM went insane and gave me a magic sword that attacks Touch AC, we're about level 4, so Touch AC is averaging 12 or so (with many of our opponents being really dexterous and having a 14), and regular AC is something like 16-18, sometimes a little higher.
Since I've gotten that sword, I can't seem to roll higher than a 6 on my d20 for attack rolls. It's shenanigans.
Edit: Yet I use the same dice when I GM, and they really want to kill the party!
At our table, we had a player roll 6 "1"s in a row using different dice. We were all suitably impressed/spooked.
He always had Beeshaba's own luck at dice and is now playing games where survival is not at the whim of a polyhedral piece of plastic.
Wow, that tops my personal record of five "1s" in a row. I'm impressed.
In 4e I had a daily power that let me roll up to five attacks so long as no attack missed. The attack ended with the first missed attack. My ranger had ridiculous attack bonuses and usually needed no more than a 4 or so to hit. The first three times I tried to use the power, I rolled a 1 on my first attack.
Sigh.
...and don't play with rules that mean every attack roll of 1 involves some horrible fumble. That is too many fumbles.
Well to be fair, that fumble deck has worked in our favor; the enemies are excluded from the random doom that deck can bestow.
I once ran a whole campaign without ever rolling above a 2. Those dice are no longer allowed to exist and no longer do. I avoid fumbles for a good reason.
I can usually get the hit, then I roll low for damage. That's OK. I have more trouble making skill checks. Worse still are my saving throw rolls. i've kind of gotten away from the trend, but all my 3.5 characters were built around having good saving throws. This due to first ed. experiences of failing crucial saving throws.
Critical fumbles are not a good rule, IMO.
Well to be fair, that fumble deck has worked in our favor; the enemies are excluded from the random doom that deck can bestow.
Especially if the NPCs and monsters are not subject to the same deal. That reeks of cheating, there.
Well to be fair, that fumble deck has worked in our favor; the enemies are excluded from the random doom that deck can bestow.Especially if the NPCs and monsters are not subject to the same deal. That reeks of cheating, there.
Oops. I meant to type "included." The enemies have to use the same fumble deck that we do when they roll a 1.
Yes, but consider: in a 'normal' game the enemies are the underdogs in every battle. If there was even a 5% chance of them winning, the average game would end in a TPK after 20 encounters or so. For the PCs to get through the campaign, they have to survive battle after battle.
Frequent fumbles (where you don't even roll to confirm) add a huge random element. If there's a 5% chance of a fumble per attack, and fumbles can be lethal, and you're attacking ten times per battle, the cumulative chance of it killing you over the course of a campaign is very high. It's particularly bad for high level martial characters who might be attacking five times in a round - meaning the greatest warrior in the world is fumbling every twenty seconds or so, while his wizard buddy can throw meteor swarms around without the slightest chance of a mishap.
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Look... I had hoped you newbies knew some of the important stuff about dice. Apparently not. Here goes:
You can't expect dice to consistently roll good, or even to roll average. Luck is a finite resource. Push your dice too far, and they will abandon you. Once a die has "rolled out", you need to give it a chance to recuperate. Make a little shrine, put it in, and keep it near the TV, in any case a good distance from the RPG books.
Dice need attention, or they will punish you. Don't do things like rolling damage at the same time you roll to hit - that won't go over well. Don't roll several dice for simplifying iterative attacks - they really hate that.
You can't two-time. If you don't show your loyalty to the die, it won't care about you. That is why you must never have more than 1d4, 3d6, 1d8, 2d10, 1d12 and 1d20 in your dice bag. They tolerate other types of dice, but you'll never get a d12 to like another d12 enough to share you with its counterpart. By the same token, CERTAINLY don't touch another's dice. Die roller apps are right out, y'hear?
There is more, but follow the above, and you will have as good luck as you can. These data were brought to you as a result of countless sacrificed PCs in the halcyon days of the hobby. That it has gone so far as to this information being lost is... a tragedy.
We have an unlucky player at the table who is not allowed to touch anybody else's dice just incase he curses our dice.
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If you can get it the Hackmaster 4th editon players guide had an entire chapter on luck and dice. It had ways to test new dice for luck, cleanse bad luck from dice, "fame rubs" (rubbing your dice over a signature of someone like Gygax for extra luck), and a lot about dice ediquite (sp?).
The book is out of print now but it was pretty hilarious...and actually a fun system (modified 2nd ed rules)
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Yeah, the Hackmaster dice-cleansing is classic! I had some players who swore by it.
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For the past five sessions, I've suffered from really rotten dice rolls. It wasn't too noticeable at first; a few low rolls here and there at critical times. It happens to the best of us, right? But then it got worse. Despite have some of the best bonuses on my attack rolls, saving throws, and initiative, I was becoming the least effective in the party. I discovered an awful truth near the end of the second session: there are fates worse than death. In this case, constantly being unconscious/stunned/sickened/etc.
By the third session, it had become clear that I was cursed. My poor paladin could not make an attack roll to save his life; even low AC critters requiring only a 13 to hit danced around my poor holy knight of Shelyn; what's significant about this is that due to an absurdly high strength and magic weapon, I had a +9 attack bonus; not bad for a 3rd level character. Even so, I missed each and every attack that fight.
The final straw happened in the fifth session, just two days ago. That entire session, I couldn't roll anything higher than a 4. The whole night. After spending the first fight suffering the effects of a stinking cloud cast by a dretch (whose lowly DC 13 fortitude save confounded my mighty champion, despite the fact that I had a +10 to my fortitude saves), we encountered the big bad of that portion of the AP. Determined to actually be useful beyond detecting evil, I used my cool 1/day True Strike spell-like ability. I rushed the Big Bad and Power Attacked.
And rolled a one on my d20.
Cackling with glee, the DM produced some nifty (dreadful) critical fumble cards and asked me to draw. I did so, and cringed at what ill fortune had brought me. My poor paladin at managed to critically strike his right leg from his body, dealing lots of damage to himself.
Mercifully, he died on the spot.
I've been gaming for close to 16 years, and I've never had such an unlucky streak before. Honestly, it was a relief when that character bit it.
Don't feel bad, I've been rolling like this for at least the past 12 years. My die rolls are so consistently bad, it's shaped how I roll up characters, choose feats, skills, everything. I have to munchkin and min/max my characters, just to balance out and play "normal."
Most nights, I might roll higher than a 5 once or twice.
According to modern quantum chromo-dynamics whenever you roll dice you generate a new universe for every possible outcome. Which universe you find yourself in is the universe your consciousness chose to collapse the wave function to inhabit.
So in the end, it's all your fault.
The same is true for buying lotto tickets.
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"chromo-dynamics"??? Colour transformations??? =)
When I GM I usually roll consistently bad on NPC and monster attack rolls, making encounters even though i usually settle them at at least APL+1 completely unchallenging. Until last session when the pcs (5 level 10) went against 2 bodaks and 2 baykoks, and one of the baykoks scored a crit and two additional hits with his bow against the Inquisitor almost killing them, and one of the bodaks drains four levels from the barbarian followed by the second baykok taking down another 20 hit points (the barbarian player apparently decided it was a good idea to enter a dungeon at half HP without telling any one of the many healing magic capable party members (Ninja with UMD, Druid, Witch, Inquisitor) about it), then everyone except for the brbarian fails their will against a baykok's howl, and I find myself hard pressed to spread all the damage i'm dealing out amonst the PCs so I don't have to murder any of them.
Another such time was when i had the party fight an aboleth with four levels of wizard. I admit the CR on that thing might have been a little too high, but it didn't even use te wizard levels for anything other than some extra HP it didn't cast a single wizard spell. It was enough to have it dominate the archer ranger and the druid's roc companion successfully and have those two and a few tentacle attacks do all the work.
I killed three PCs until i decided to pull a deus ex machina. Two of them were resurrected by my plot macguffin because it was their first session, the player of the third took it as an opportunity to try a different class (switched from fighter to inquisitor).
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When I GM i roll high a lot. 20 after 20 after 20. This is bothersome as it turns an easy encounter into a bloodbath and a near TPK. So i have to cheat and have a monster miss or not confirm a crit for the game to be fun. The number of times I rolled a double 20 when I GM is beyond count.
When i play, i rarely roll above 10.
@Hama: I am having that experience in the 2 IRL Campaigns I am involved in...
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I've got to ask - have you tried just rolling the dice over and over on your own to see if bad numbers consistently come up (instead of waiting for real rolls in-game where they matter)?
Do that - even if it does happen during a game - and if they consistently come up bad, switch dice.
You didn't mention in your post if you did anything like this, but it's a good rule of thumb.
I've got to ask - have you tried just rolling the dice over and over on your own to see if bad numbers consistently come up (instead of waiting for real rolls in-game where they matter)?
Do that - even if it does happen during a game - and if they consistently come up bad, switch dice.
You didn't mention in your post if you did anything like this, but it's a good rule of thumb.
I have enough dice to fill up a lunchbox. Switching dice doesn't seem to help.
Try dice roller apps.
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Yeah, I am the one in my area who other players hide their dice from, for fear my attention will cause them to inherit my utterly desolate dice-rolling luck
My solution?
Concentrate on builds with redundancy built into them through reroll mechanics or builds that do not rely on a huge amount of single attack rolls.
Witches with Fortune, Preacher Inquisitors, Dual-cursed Oracles with Misfortune, Buffing/Controlling casters, ranged characters with lots of shots, touch-ac-hitting martials, etc.
