d5 uses?

[crazy_cat]

D5 - used to randomly determine which point of the pentagram fails (either through being drawn wrongly, or because the flickering candle mounted on a human skull goes out at a key moment) whilst the PC's are attempting to summon and then bind and question a very angry archfiend of some variety.

 

[Zander]

When Lou Zocchi came out with his True d5 a few years ago, there was a competition in Dragon in which you had to devise lists of 5 things that might be selected at random. I don't think Dragon printed the winning entries. I really ought to know though because I was one of the winners. IIRC they printed our names but not our lists. Mr Zocchi may have printed the lists.

 

[Herobizkit]

You can use it when you need to roll a 20% for anything... miss chance, concealment, treasure, cloaks of displacement...

 

[Tarodin]

Here's something interesting. It's the original press release the D5's inventor, Louis Zocchi, sent out for the D5!

"Gamescience News Release - July 2003

New 5 Sided Die Used For Alzheimers Research

Louis Zocchi, President of Gamescience Inc., invented a true 5 sided die, which rolls each of its faces 20% of the time. To assure that the shape would perform as designed, Zocchi made 10 prototypes, each of which was 1mm thicker than the next.

The dice were sent off for testing in a machine created by Dr. Dan Murray in Canada. After each die had been given more than 10,000 rolls, Dr. Murray informed Zocchi that the ideal shape had to be 13.85mm thick. Dr. Murray had plotted the performance changes as one milimeter of thickness was added to each succeeding die, and predicted that a die which was 13.85mm thick would provide ideal performance.

Veterans Administration Medical Center Research Assistant, Ann Charles, phoned Zocchi to confirm that the dice were impartial and available to assist her with the Alzheimers research project [Forget Me Not Research Study: Dementia Project], on which she was working.

She also ordered two 7 sided dice for the same project. These dice are not available in most hobby shops, because distributors feel that customers have no interest in the 100, 24, 16, 7 and 5 sided dice available only from Gamescience."

 

[Mighty Halfling]

What does a d5 look like?

 

[RFisher]

What does a d5 look like?

A triangular prism.

Advancing Hordes has pictures.

 

[jmucchiello]

If I have 5 players at the table and I don't want to single someone out, I'll roll a random d5 to see who's going to "get it".

Nah, use a d6 and if a 6 comes up, "get" 'em all. In fact, why stop at a d6, roll a d20. "Okay, on a 1 it hits Tom, 2 Barry, 3 Jim, 4 Rhonda and 5 Carey." "You're rolling a d20, what about the rest of the numbers?" "Then it hits everyone. Muhahahahahaha"

 

[the Jester]

IIRC, Star Frontiers had several things that called for a d5.

Also, in the old days, some monster's damage was 2-10; perhaps the umber hulk's bite attack? 2d5 it is. (I had always used 1d6+1d4.)

 

[Umbran]

The dice were sent off for testing in a machine created by Dr. Dan Murray in Canada. After each die had been given more than 10,000 rolls, Dr. Murray informed Zocchi that the ideal shape had to be 13.85mm thick. Dr. Murray had plotted the performance changes as one milimeter of thickness was added to each succeeding die, and predicted that a die which was 13.85mm thick would provide ideal performance.

There is something very wrong with this report - the "trueness" of any shape is not determined by absolute size. A really big d6 and an itty-bitty one can both be as true. The same is true for all others - once the required shape is determined, the thing can be scaled up or down to suit needs.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

d5 makes for a good way to determine random energy.

1=Acid
2=Cold
3=Electricity
4=Fire
5=Sonic