Too many natural 20s

[Bullgrit]

Our party:
Halfing monk 6
Half-orc cleric 4
Human druid 6
Human ranger 4
Human cleric 6
Human cleric 4

Enemies:
12 Orc fighters (or warriors) 4
2 Orc sorcerers 2?
1 Orc cleric 4?
1 Ogre


We, the adventurers, got suckered into an ambush by the orcs, but fortunately we hadn't gone so far into the mire that we couldn't get out. But the DM was rolling d20s like an avatar of luck!

In 7 rounds, the DM rolled eleven natural 20s. There were also lots and lots of 18s and 19s. With our ACs of 22-23, the orcs had to roll 14-15 to hit most of us, but we were not only being hit regularly, we were being critted far too often.

At one point, I grabbed the die from in front of the DM and threw it across the room (in jest, not anger). After we finished laughing, I went and got the die back. Guess how it had landed: on a natural 20! Taking pity on us, the DM put that d20 aside and picked up one of his others.

Our party was being creamed. There was no doubt in my mind that we were on the slippery slope to TPK. Fortunately, only my character (cleric 6) was severely surrounded. I figured he was a goner, but I saw that at least I was tying up several of the orcs in a bit of a choke point, and maybe that would buy the others the opportunity to escape. I called for a retreat, "I'll hold them!" Although I hate to loose a PC, I thought this would be a very cool way to die.

Most of the other PCs started at least taking one move action towards escape, but round 8 passed with the orcs scoring only one hit. Round 9 was similar (plus some orcs were dying by this point). So the party decided to stick out the fight instead of fleeing, and we all survived to kill the last enemies on round 14.

During rounds 8-14, the DM rolled (with a different die) only two natural 20s, and the 18s and 19s became just as rare.

The "magic" die the DM was using belongs to his girlfriend -- she used to play with our group, but now she doesn't. When she used this die in a previous campaign, she played an elven archer that never missed -- from level 1 to level 5 (when the campaign ended), she never missed an attack roll, no matter how difficult. I am not exaggerating, at all. Our whole group kept track of her attacks after we noticed she'd gone 6 hits in a row.

For the record, no one is cheating -- we've all test rolled the die and it seems to roll normally. But when rolled "for real," it is amazing.

Bullgrit
Total Bullgrit

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Ya gotta love it when the luck gods smile on your dice. Had a bit of that just this weekend. I was GMing and the PCs led a bunch of (MM standard) Orcs (12) and Gobbos (19) into an ambush (a dozen MM standard Elves plus 2 2nd level PCs in trees.) It should have been a white wash. Good guys got off first shot, had cover, bad guys had to climb trees to get at them. But I was rolling very well and the players just weren't. They won in the end but it was a tough fight. Everyone had a blast.

 

[El Mahdi]

Dude, haven't you played D&D enough to know that when you possess a powerful "Magic" item, you don't advertise it?! This is after all, a world where people kill you to take your stuff! You've got to be more carefull!

(By the way, what's your address?)

 

[Derulbaskul]

In 2E days I had one d20 that rolled a disproportionate number of 17s and 20s, so much so that I had to remember not to use it (I was the DM). It can happen.

I have another d20 now that practically always rolls 8 or lower. I try to avoid that die too.

 

[The_Warlock]

I have a vibrantly yellow plain plastic set of dice from one of my old old old Basic D&D boxed sets.

The set has been rather appropriately named the "Yellow Piss Dice", both for it's color, and how it rolls. Generally speaking, every die in the set tends toward low rolls. It is the "spare set" that players in my run get if they forgot their dice.

It was so consistently low, especially the d20, that it was only loved when we played Alternity, a system where lower is better.

Now, one friend of mine joined my D&D run about halfway through it's 13 year run, and had what could only be called the WORST die rolling luck I'd ever seen.

Thinking that two negatives could make a positive, I handed him the YPD, and they had found their master - and routinely changed their average to the high side on every die.

It was the weirdest thing I've ever seen. He went out and got himself a plain monochrome plastic set in the exact same style as the YPD, and they treat him the same, rolling on average medium to high, contrary to his prior horrible die rolling luck.

Made it damn hard to challenge him those last few years, too.

 

[Phasics]

I actually found this to happen in Fantasy grounds 2 on both extremes.

I play a SWSE game as an R2 droid who is a complete powerhouse I roll crazy high numbers most of the time in and out of combat the R2 only uses a tiny hold out blaster but still downs more than his fair share of stormies

On the flip side I also play a 3.5e D&D game as a PHB2 Druid, at level 4 with 18STR +4STR Pred +3 BAB and +1 magic on my natural attack , I fail over and over again to hit most creatures, I've often gone entire combats without landing a single hit. and I've never done a crit since I started playing that character. my DM felt sorry for me and landed me in the middle of some gobblin huts in the forest solo with 15AC and 5HP I basically could only miss on a 4 or less , sure enough had 2 full rounds of misses, fortunately there were that many gobbos that averages kicked in and I slaughtered them all, not a single 20 though.

and get this the first roll after combat to search the huts was a natural 20 OMFGHAXOR !

Heh these days I play caster with my melee shifter druid when it matters in 3.5e and I play the epic crazy droid who always goes for the hard rolls in SWSE.

Gotta love what fate deals ya and how it changes how your characters develop. Its a good thing my droid can't earn darkside points he's becoming quite the sadistic little bugger trying to get the jedi he's with to bend the rules wherever possible.

 

[Derro]

There are two coppery d20s in my buddy's collection that rarely roll over a 5. We give them to people that don't bring their own dice.

I have a magic d20 that never fails if it has been coated in the blood of a virgin on a full moon.

Praise, hail d20!!!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The dice giveth and the dice taketh away- In 30 years of gaming, I've been on both sides of extremely unlikely strings of rolls, and on both sides of the screen. Enjoy the ride when its in your favor.

The Good (Player): My 1Ed/2Ed Human Ftr/Cleric of Tyr (essentially "epic" level campaign) had 2 weapons, a Vorpal Longsword and a Mace of Disruption. She routinely received Nat20s at least once per combat, beheading or disrupting a major foe. The best was when the party was on an Evil demi-plane, being attacked by a Lich and several Deathknights. She waded in and popped a Nat20 on the Lich on round 1. The DM ruled that- due to our location- the disruption would only be successful with a second Nat20...which I rolled. The Lich was destroyed.

I asked what were the odds that Tyr had noticed this improbable occurrence, he responded "1 in 100"...so I rolled a 1 on my percentile dice. Rolling his eyes, the DM said, "Tyr will reward you, and there is a 1 in 100 chance that he will do so personally."

The DM rolled a 1- exasperated, he said "Tyr appears in a shaft of light, grants you an additional Ftr level and dissappears."

The Bad (Player): A DarkSun campaign, I'm running a Dwarf Warrior (Wild Talent Psi) with a maxed out Con. A mage he and his partner were fighting tried an AE poison cloud spell to keep the Dwarf off of him while he concentrated on the Dwarf's ally. The Dwarf, trusting in his racial bonuses versus magic and poison charged right in...failing his save vs magic (1% chance) & his subsequent save vs poison (1% chance). The mage, capitalizing on this, targeted the Dwarf with a polymorph spell- again the Dwarf failed vs magic. As he morphed into a toad, he tried to make his system shock roll (1% chance) and failed, dying instantly.

Do the math on THAT!

The Bad (DM): My players planned (without my knowledge) an ambush of the campaign's BBEG in a marketplace.

Round 1- The Paladin (the statistical and philosophical analog to my Ftr/Clc of Tyr above) walked up talking to to the BBEG politely...and just stabbed at him. He failed his surprise roll, his bodyguards failed theirs. The BBEG rolled a 4 for init, his bodyguards a 5. No PC rolled under a 14.

The Paladin struck 2 times, critted both, maxed one and nearly maxed the other, dropping the BBEG down to about 3HP, whereafter the BBEG failed his save vs massive damage and died. The party got similarly lucky virtually wiping out the guards, and the druid cast a spell turning the party into a flock of ravens that then flew away.

Round 2- I gawp.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

One of the players in my group is reknown for his poor dice rolling. Switching dice doesn't seem to help him either. He seems to have the ability to roll low with any die! There are times when he does manage to roll ok. However, it seems that whenever there is a critical dice roll to be made he will fail.

He is also the player that cops some of the best (or worst, depending on your perspective) of my rolls as DM. His PC has the highest AC in the group by a reasonable margin, yet I still seem to hit him about as often as the rest of the PC's.

In one combat I managed to take him from full hit points to negatives in the surprise round! He copped a critical hit from a rapier from one baddie, while the other one hit him with a sneak attack. Just 2 sessions ago I managed to confirm a halberd attack on his PC with a 20 to hit and a 19 to confirm. Luckily for him I rolled low on my damage as he could have gone from full hit points to dead due to the 3d10+18 damage he was dealt.

The player in question takes it all in his stride though. He never seems to get frustrated with his rolls. He just laughs at his horrible luck. I think the other players get more frustrated than he does. Despite his bad luck I am still to kill his character in the 2 years we have been playing. He has come close quite a few times though.

Olaf the Stout

 

[benjamin]

Round 1- The Paladin (the statistical and philosophical analog to my Ftr/Clc of Tyr above) walked up talking to to the BBEG politely...and just stabbed at him. He failed his surprise roll, his bodyguards failed theirs. The BBEG rolled a 4 for init, his bodyguards a 5. No PC rolled under a 14.

The Paladin struck 2 times, critted both, maxed one and nearly maxed the other, dropping the BBEG down to about 3HP, whereafter the BBEG failed his save vs massive damage and died. The party got similarly lucky virtually wiping out the guards, and the druid cast a spell turning the party into a flock of ravens that then flew away.

Round 2- I gawp.

I LOVE THIS STORY!!!!

SO COOL!!!

That's what DnD is about... creating memories that players and DM alike will NEVER forget...

I've had dozens of well balanced (fair) encounters that will slowly fade away, but it's the freakish chances, the disasters that strike the party out of the blue (like beheading my best friend's long time PC - with the Paizo Critical Hit Deck), or the party taking out the big bad guy by dropping a chest on his head from above, that will endure as long as I live.

I love this game!

Ben

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