(Un)Lucky with the dice - How can it happen?

[ichabod]

In my game last night a player was incredibly unlucky with her rolls. No matter what dice she used, she always rolled incredibly low. When just testing her luck she managed to roll below 10 nine out of ten tries, and when it mattered - in game - she rolled 5 and 4s five or six times in a row, then maybe an 8, then more 4 and 5s. In the end she managed a couple of 18s and 19s, but not before she sat down on the floor and rolled the dice across the whole room.

That's not incredibly bad luck. I mean, nine rolls out of ten below 10 on a d20 has a probability 0.42%. That's about 1 in 250. Rare, but not that rare. Odd strings of dice rolls happen, it's just a consequence of lots of people rolling dice. The only thing to watch out for is not shaking the die or not rolling it far. If you aren't shaking it up and rolling it a good distance (or into a tray with a wall), one roll is more likely to be correllated with the last roll. But even then you're going to get weird strings of rolls.

 

[fett527]

One of the players in our group in our last gaming session rolled 1-6 on his first 6 attack rolls. They weren't consecutive, but hit every number bewteen 1 and 6.

I was in a lengthy combat once in which I rolled 13 1's.

 

[MarauderX]

Merely coincidence.

I consider myself pretty unlucky with dice, which leaves me pleasantly surprised whenever I do roll well. It is all just random chance, and the law of averages says that your chances of rolling two 1's in a row are pretty slim. But that's exactly what happened to me as a PC and I lost a wizard I was just starting to like. Of course I rolled really well on a few 'tests' right afterward, so although not vidicated at least I knew the dice I bought are not out to get me. yet.

 

[ThorneMD]

Yes this does happen. When I usually game, I can roll 15 and above one the rolls that don't matter, like when I can't fail, and roll a 3 on a fort save to survive a coup-the-grace. I died like this once.

 

[Umbran]

It is perhaps important to realize that, with dice, all particular combinations are equally likely. You are equally likely to have a run of good or bad luck. Equally likely to have a string of mediocre rolls. Equally likely to roll two ones in a row as two twenties, and just as likely to specifically roll an 11 and a 12.

Also, with dice, it is important to realize that statistics only hold in the long term. In the short term, no particular string of numbers is terribly unusual. If you roll dice long enough, eventually you will see every combination you can think of as a string. That includes combinations that has unfortunate results within the rules

 

[dave_o]

I come from a gambling family, so from a young age I've been taught, among the trick dealing and card counting, to roll dice with much skill. d6's are easy. I can roll whatever number I want, on a d6, whenever I want.

It's all about what number is facing up, and your wrist.

Now, d4's are impossible to rig. d8's, d10's, d12's, and d20's are progressively harder to rig, due to the increasing similarity to a sphere.

So, needless to say, I'm an evil bastard when rolling.

 

[Angcuru]

Well, I DO have this one D20 that seems to never roll less than a 15, yet only in dire situations. Otherwise it never rolls more than a 5. Good for dragon battles, bad for orc skirmishes.

Also, in reply to the first post, did you allow her to use her own specialized stat-rolling dice? You know, the "bath in your own blood while reciting pagan rituals" sorta deal? I know I have my own set(NOT bathed in blood) that never lets me down. Ironically they came in an old backgammon set. Oh well.

 

[Black Omega]

My trick is one of my players gave me a custom dice bag with the kanji for good fortune stiched on it. It looks very sharp and has certainly helped my luck.

On the other hand one my players also has bad luck rolling dice, and he knows it. I insistuted the 'You miss' rule because I was spending too much time in combats when he's roll and just say "I miss." and I'd ask him what the roll was. Often he actually hit but was assuming the roll was too low. So now anytime someone rolls and says "I miss." I simply agree.

 

[SonOfLilith]

One night i had an incredibly bad string of luck, nothin over 8 and the whole nine yards. And you know what turned my luck arround? I went under the table (it was glass0 to see what number came up. From then on, all above 12's, at least!

 

[Angcuru]

Anyone else ever have such a streak of rolling awesomeness that you actually WANT to fail a reflex save, just for some variety?