They don't feel very random and their deadly if you step on one. I was thinking of ways to keep from having to roll them, if at all possible.
When I'm running a game, if the bad guy wields a Scythe or Spiked Chain, I usually just roll a d8. I'm giving up a half a point of damage, on average, but that's okay. Then I thought, I've seen blank dice before, maybe I could make my own statistically accurate dice and never roll a d4 again.
2d4: Number a d8 with 2-3-4-5-5-6-7-8
Has the same Range as 2d4 and the same Mean and Mode. It flattens the probability curve a little, but I think that's a good thing.
3d4: Number a d12 with 3-4-5-6-7-7-8-8-9-10-11-12
Again, same Range, Mean and Mode, just a flatter probability.
5d4: Number a blank d20 with 5-6-7-8-9-10-11-11-12-12-13-13-14-14-15-16-17-18-19-20
Skews the Mode, but the Range and Mean are the same.
How about a 1d[9th level Magic Missle]
Renumbered blank d20 10-11-12-13-14-15-16-16-17-17-18-18-19-19-20-21-22-23-24-25
Anybody else ever done this or thought about this?
This would be fun, but tough to deal with at the table... How would you know what dice you were rolling when you just scoop up some 20 sided die?
It could become very confusing
How would you know what dice you were rolling when you just scoop up some 20 sided die?
If I were a college professor or a textbook, I would say, "I leave that as an exercise for the reader." :)
Anybody else ever done this or thought about this?
d4: roll a d6, and just reroll a 5 or 6.
or, Arazyr's method.2d4: roll a d8 and just reroll a 1.
3d4: roll a d12 and just reroll a 1 or 2.
Way easier than renumbering dice.
Skews the numbers away from a bell curve to a straight linear plot, but that's not something I really care about.
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there are some sweet d12 with 3 sets of 1-4 printed on them - pretty sure i bought them here at paizo but my search-fu is failing me...
doh! found them HERE
I like the Crystal Dice d4: leftmost.
There is always the D-Total
Thanks DitheringFool and Wynforth for the dice links. I love odd dice. Wynforth, do you happen to know how big the D-Total is?
I once went to every game shop in town to try and find alternative d4s, but no one had ever even heard of such a thing. I may have to get the d12-shaped d4s. I never use d12s anyway.
Doug's Workshop: I actually use this method all the time when I need weird dice like a d5, d7 or d9. The thing is, it ends up taking more time from all the re-rolling.
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Yeah 4's pretty much blow Here is a link to a site that supposedly has some of the best dice in the world, he has some weird dice like 3 and 5 sided and other odd numbered dice.
A couple videos of the guy talking about his dice. They are shameless promotions for his dice but they are a interesting watch none the less.
d12 as a d4
1-3 = 1
4-6 = 2
7-9 = 3
10-12 = 4
d12 also work as d3
1-4 = 1
5-8 = 2
9-12 = 3
keep in mind with things like magic missile you might not be firing all of them at the same target, so you may need to calculate each one individually and not just the total.
I own some d4s that work great.
http://www.gamestation.net/Chessex-Speckled-Roman-d4-Urban-Camo/M/B001G0M1G Y.htm?traffic_src=froogle&utm_medium=organic&utm_source=froogle
Or here you can find sets with a cubic d4: http://crystalcaste.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=CC& Category_Code=CD
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5d4: Number a blank d20 with 5-6-7-8-9-10-11-11-12-12-13-13-14-14-15-16-17-18-19-20Skews the Mode, but the Range and Mean are the same.
How about a 1d[9th level Magic Missle]
Renumbered blank d20 10-11-12-13-14-15-16-16-17-17-18-18-19-19-20-21-22-23-24-25
Anybody else ever done this or thought about this?
Hey Kelso,
I am about to play a Force Missile Mage PrC from the Dragon Compendium, and I will get 7d4 magic missiles at 10th character level.
And I already bought my extra caltrop dice to throw at your feet.
I think I am doomed to rolling a ton of d4's now. Kinda gives me the feeling of a good fireball. Cant wait to empower the spell too. :D
Having the same range, mean, and mode, are pretty much irrelevant when the distribution itself is entirely different. The term dropping looks like it's meant to lend erroneous weight to those facts. You can match any normal curve's range, mean, and mode by simply drawing a straight line and putting a tiny bump in the middle, or by making a truly monumental peak, etc... kurtosis won't affect those measurements, but it obviously seriously affects the overall interpretation.
What you need to ask yourself is whether you feel dice rolling has always been an imperfect method of rolling within a given range, or whether the uneven distribution is an important part of rolls that use multiple dice. Certainly for stat generation the distribution is intentional, but for damage? It isn't hard to make a case that games in general (especially computer games) list damage in terms of range, and rarely use anything but a straight random value from inside the range with equal probabilities for each.
For what it's worth, my wizards don't bother getting out the d4s at all. I always just roll d6s and re-roll fives and sixes. It's mathematically identical to rolling d4s but I find it much easier to find 4 or 5 d6s than d4s (plus they roll better).
Having the same range, mean, and mode, are pretty much irrelevant when the distribution itself is entirely different. The term dropping looks like it's meant to lend erroneous weight to those facts. You can match any normal curve's range, mean, and mode by simply drawing a straight line and putting a tiny bump in the middle, or by making a truly monumental peak, etc... kurtosis won't affect those measurements, but it obviously seriously affects the overall interpretation.
What's your point? I get the impression you think I'm trying to pull a fast one on someone, or that I don't realize the probability curve has changed. Like I said, it's flattened a little, and I think that's a good thing. It splits the difference between the normal probability curve and a completely flat one like you might have in a video game.
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Yeah 4's pretty much blow Here is a link to a site that supposedly has some of the best dice in the world, he has some weird dice like 3 and 5 sided and other odd numbered dice.
A couple videos of the guy talking about his dice. They are shameless promotions for his dice but they are a interesting watch none the less.
i never get tired of watching those =)
Yeah 4's pretty much blow Here is a link to a site that supposedly has some of the best dice in the world, he has some weird dice like 3 and 5 sided and other odd numbered dice.
A couple videos of the guy talking about his dice. They are shameless promotions for his dice but they are a interesting watch none the less.
Those videos are pretty awesome! I'm suddenly dissatisfied with my dice.