Anybody else just really unlucky?

[sparxmith]

Heya Guyzos,

Over the last 6 sessions I've lost 4 characters. Always to crappy stuff, like failing a save by 1 when I neglected to cast bless, or getting critted by a gigantic spider whose poison deals 30 pts. of damage first round, 29 the second, 28 the third and so on when you have an AC of 39 at 6th level.

I'm an intelligent, and tacticaly minded role-player. I'm fantastic at M:tG, Chess, Risk, etc. so I know it's not that I'm just making bad decisions. I'm just making unlucky ones.

So, I'm just wondering if anybody else has stories of characters who should have survived encounters and died because of some tragically dumb moves or phenomanaly worse luck. Maybe a little commiseration would make me feel better.

Thanx,

Sparxmith

 

[KenM]

Spells like bless are good when you know you are going into combat. You only failed roll buy 1, it happens. Let the dice fall where they may.

 

[Wolfspirit]

Heh, I've allways known that I'm unlucky in love and the 20-sided dice. (Recently found out I'm unlucky at the 10-sider too, but that's another story).

At one point I'd taken to writing down every roll I made in game with a d20. At one point it'd taken me about (I need to find that sheet somewhere), 173ish rolls to roll a 20. Definatly more than 100, which, yes, I've had plenty of statistics classes and threads to know that's within possibility, but still not fun During this time I'd also been twice knocked to a point away from Toast (we play til negative Con score on HP before "Don't Forget to Raise Me"), and had a building fall on my character.

 

[RCanning]

For 9 months I played in a campaign where characters got Max hit points. I loved it.... Why? Because any dice roll that lasts for more than a couple of hours is ALWAYS bad.

We changed to a system where you use 1/2 the maximum if you roll under 1/2 the maximum. In a total of 24 levels, I have NEVER got more than the 1/2. On 7 d8 I never rolled above a 4, on 7d10 I never rolled above a 5 and on 7d6 i never rolled above a 3.

I hate die rolling for hp.

 

[Yair]

One of my players is.

For example, recently he got hit by a spider. Alright - poison, so Fort save, which he of course fails, but that is within reason as he was low-level. Then the poison damage: MAXIMUM damage on the primary, near-maximum on the secondary. The strenth-deplected character then slides down the river along with the others, where they are shot at from ambush. There were 6 people on the boat, so I threw a d6 to determine who is hit - he got hit 4 times!
That's one dead character.

 

[fuindordm]

I had a dwarven psionicist (2nd ed.) character who failed almost every saving
throw against mind-affecting magic that came his way.

This despite having +5 to saves vs. magic due to a high Con, +2 from being a
psionicist, +3 from high Wisdom, and 20% magic resistance by the end... the
d20 would always slip in a 1 or a 2 when it came to mind-affecting spells.
It was really wierd.

--Ben

 

[Mulkhoran]

Hoo boy, are you kidding?

I have a solo character that my friend and I have been running since 3.0 came out. This guy is the very definition of bad luck. Hunted by the Twisted Rune for telling a group of powerful adventurers they were being followed by vampires, can't get on a ship without it being taken over by pirates, can't sleep one night on shore after swimming for miles after said ship was obliterated without being attacked by trolls........save...1....spot check...1....*sigh* We've come to calling him "Dead Man Walking".

Every single time it matters, my 1s are there for me, like old friends. We recently converted him using the new Expanded Psionics Handbook, and finally I have a chance. I'm a seer. Bonuses and re-rolls.

Which helps when you're accidentally tearing rifts to the positive material plane, and accidentaly releasing Divine-Rank Crimson Deaths. Whoopsie.

 

[Whisper72]

Sounds to me like you need to punish your dice!

 

[Pielorinho]

One of my players is.

For example, recently he got hit by a spider. Alright - poison, so Fort save, which he of course fails, but that is within reason as he was low-level. Then the poison damage: MAXIMUM damage on the primary, near-maximum on the secondary. The strenth-deplected character then slides down the river along with the others, where they are shot at from ambush. There were 6 people on the boat, so I threw a d6 to determine who is hit - he got hit 4 times!
That's one dead character.

Maybe I'm a softy--okay, definitely I'm a softy. But I would've decided that the ambushers would shoot at the standing-up characters, not at the one who was already disabled.

If I can find a plausible way to give a break to a character whose luck has been awful, I'll do it. I just have more fun that way.

On the other hand, I like low-mortality games; if you're playing in a game with high mortality, that kind of thing could be pretty hilarious .

Daniel

 

[Particle_Man]

It is almost a joke, how often I roll below 4 on a d20. I have taken to looking for "take 10 on the attack roll and saving throw rolls" type of feats. So far, no luck. I was guest playing another character who had a wand of Melf's Acid Arrows and a wand of Magic Missles. I didn't even look at the former, as I knew I would miss. So some obvious advice: If you are a magic-using type, don't take spells that require you to make any rolls.

There is the rogue special ability (duplicated in a few characters (like swashbuckler) for a few skills)that lets you take 10 on some skill rolls even when distracted, but only at highish level and it does not work on use magic device.

Other than that, I suggest "forgetting" your dice when you play, and using other people's. You usually get 2-3 good rolls before your bad luck takes over, at which time you switch to another of your friend's dice. (Ok, it is superstitious, but it has worked for me).