D&D 5E Clearly the biggest design flaw of 5e

[Mistwell]

I bought Barrel d4s a couple years ago and have never looked back.

Looks like you can get packs of 10 now from Crystal Caste.

Yeah barrel d4s have become my favorite die. I love handing them out when I cast Bless on someone. Those, and giant d20s from inspiration.

 

[Ranes]

I'm the opposite. the d12 is my favorite dice.

Well, if we're going there, my favourite is a d20 numbered 0-9 twice. Unsurprisingly, I consider the contemporary d10 an abomination. At least you have the the good taste to choose a platonic solid.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Hiya!

[MENTION=15700]Sacrosanct[/MENTION], if you want to potentially roll a lot of d4's...go pick up Hackmaster 4th Edition (the "first" Hackmaster). There is a mechanic called "Penetration Damage" (hehe...penetration...hehe...). Ahem...yeah, well, you get to roll the d4 again, at -1, and keep rolling as long as you keep getting 4's. So if you roll, 4, 4, 4, 4, 2, you would have a total of 4 + 3 + 3 + 3 + 1 = 14. This works with other dice too (for damage). If you roll 2d6, and get 2 6's, you can roll them both again, with -1 to each. Keep rolling 6's. The thing is, though, that some 'big' weapons (like a giant sized battle axe, for example) has damage that is like "4d4". Your chance of getting at least 1 4 is almost guaranteed. My wife's half-ogre fighter killed herself that way (*extremely* flukey rolling!; fumble, very rare fumble result, critical on damage to self, then 4 fours, followed by some more 4's, then a few more of them).

Hackmaster 4th has had some of the most memorable gaming I've had in decades, to be honest. We pretty much play it as "AD&D 1.5e", ignoring or otherwise changing some of the silliness....but only some. Use humor when it needs to be used to lighten the mood from all the horrible, horrible death and dismemberment.

PS: For those of you who, like me, love d12's... check out Dominion Rules RPG. It uses only a d12 for it's mechanics. http://dominionrules.org/

^_^

Paul L. Ming

Penetrating die rolls also feature in the new edition of HackMaster, where things are made fantastically devastating by such details as a battle axe rolling 4d3p (p for penetrating) as damage... though I still favor the two-handed sword and it's 2d12p because while I can get damage results in the 20s pretty commonly with 4d3, I'd rather give up ~half of those for the few big 50+ damage hits I've pulled off with a pair of d12.

As for d12 and their "rolls weirdly" quality, that is because of the tumble polishing process most dice go through during manufacture (injection molded > covered entirely in paint > tumble polished until only the paint in the number grooves remains) has the side effect of rounding off the corners of each die face to a degree that makes them noticeably less able to do their job of halting the motion of the die.

"precision edged" d12s don't roll nearly as weirdly - I mean, I haven't even accidentally rolled any "hook shots" with them where I throw the die in a direction clearly toward the middle of the table and it decides to take a couple of quick left turns before darting directly onto the floor.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

Well, if we're going there, my favourite is a d20 numbered 0-9 twice. Unsurprisingly, I consider the contemporary d10 an abomination. At least you have the the good taste to choose a platonic solid.

I've rolled with d10s long enough to consider the pentagonal trapezohedron an honorary Platonic.

 

[Ranes]

I've rolled with d10s long enough to consider the pentagonal trapezohedron an honorary Platonic.

For some reason, that reminds me of an old comedy sketch set ancient Rome.

"Have you got the scrolls?"

"No. It's just the way I walk."

I realise this isn't helpful to the discussion but it's all my mind has left after trying to process 'honorary Platonic'.

 

[The Human Target]

I'm the opposite. the d12 is my favorite dice.

We shall be enemies when the Great Dice Wars break out.

 

[The Human Target]

Dice porn can be a problem. That is why I prefer rules like maximum damage for critical hits, or static modifiers for bonuses over advantage/disadvantage, or keeping hits points reasonable so you don't have to break out the dice bag to kill someone. It is also a matter of frequency on how often multiple dice rolls come into play.

Yeah agreed.

What's everyone's dice maximum= the amount of dice rolled at once that feels cool, but anymore gets to be a pain.

Mine's 4.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

I have two d4s, one rolls with the apex and one rolls with the bottom edge.

It's making my eyes hurt.

 

[Lanliss]

Well, I freaking hate d4s, and have since AD&D when you had to roll handfuls of them for black dragon's breath weapon. So not really a joke, I guess WotC should not keep putting in abilities/spells that require a bunch of them, IMO

What made me think it was a joke was the slightly humorous over exaggeration of the plague that is the d4. I really hope I am properly reading the tone there, and not misinterpreting actual seriousness.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

If you don't like rolling tetrahedra but do not wish to sully the elegance of the Platonic solids, you can create a d4 by rolling d8 or even d12, modulo 4. (Or divided by 2 or 3 and rounded up, if you must.)