Dealing with Player Cheating

[Ellie_the_Elf]

Hi all,

Just looking for a bit of advice on a potential problem with my game..

Basically I suspect one of my players is cheating on dice rolls. Her character is second level, and currently managing to roll 25+ on almost every check she makes. In an 8 hour game session last week this player managed to get a total of 23 to hit on almost every attack roll and she's only at +4! This week, I asked everyone to roll on the table in the centre of the group but the player in question was immedaitely picking up her dice after rolling to read it, so there wasn't much chance to check her rolls- same thing happened again, but with the occasional announcement that she'd rolled a 1- she's beating the fighter at attack rolls, the wizard at knowledge checks, the ranger at spot and listen and apparently has better saves than the paladin..

So what to do? I strongly suspect any kind of sraight out accusation would get nothing other than denials and tears but I'm not happy to allow this to continue since I don't think it's fair on me or the rest of the group :\ I'd really appreciate any advice on this one!

Ellie.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I would suggest that you not only have them roll on the table in front of everyone, but require that the dice is left there for everyone to see. Most of the fun of the games I've played in is seeing the other player's rolls and hearing the other player's reactions.

 

[TheEvil]

Ditto, with the added requirement that the player use dice that can be clearly read where they lay. I have played with numerous people who have used tiny dice or dice where the numbers have all but worn off of them.

 

[Zappo]

I would require everyone to roll the dice in the open, when the DM is looking at it, and not to pick it up immediately. And not to use those white-on-transparent-light-yellow dice with invisible numbers, either.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Hangin's too good for her. Burnin's too good for her. She should be torn into little bitty pieces and buried alive!...umm...sorry... paraphrasing from "Heavy Metal" again.

We have a player who for years has done the "roll and snatch" method of tossing dice. Because we don't use a table like a lot of groups (we sit on couches and roll on whatever is closest) whoever is DM'ing just makes the attacks on his character more intense until he retreats or falls unconscious.... lol

 

[Crothian]

Talk to her. By asking her to roll in the open you are just setting her up to get caught cheating, and that never ends well. Is she a friend? If you do catch her cheating, what are you prepared to do?

 

[Jdvn1]

I had a GM who suspected one of our players of cheating. He wrote down each die roll for a couple sessions and figured out the average. Announcing, "Your average roll is an 18" is kind of shocking.

 

[barsoomcore]

I have had this problem and it's a toughie.

The tough part is that you don't KNOW she's cheating. You can't prove it, and so any accusation of such is going to create defensiveness and drive wedges into your group.

If you don't like her and would be just as glad if she left, then no problem. But if she's a friend and you don't want to offend, then you're in a bit of a quandary.

What I have done is begun making more and more of my rolls on the table, and asking for key rolls to be "Right here." I make it a bit of a challenge, and I DON'T single out the player I suspect.

For any big saving roll I hover over the table, point down and say, "Show us what you got. Get a seventeen, baby, or you're gonna burn!" They HAVE to throw the die down and let everyone see what it is. Nobody feels singled out, nobody gets righteous and defensive, everybody has fun.

So my advice is three-part:

1. Stand over the "rolling surface"
2. Ask for a specific number
3. Encourage the entire group to watch for the result

And do this for all the players, not just the suspected cheater.

Do NOT confront the player unless you are comfortable with having an ugly scene and angry players.

And of course, before you take any action, ask yourself why you care. Does it matter if your player is cheating? Is it because you want to "win" and they're spoiling your fun? Or are other players having less fun because this player is succeeding at EVERYTHING?

But just because a player is cheating is no reason to take action, in and of itself. Decide what you want to achieve -- do you want to improve the fun for everyone, do you want to no longer be taken advantage of, do you want to prove that you're better -- and that will guide you in what you should do. And remember that your player is cheating for a REASON. If you can figure out what they want, you might be able to create conditions under which they no longer need to cheat.

 

[Ourph]

Make your player use one of these for all rolls from now on.

There's no way you can miss those numbers.

 

[Psychic Warrior]

In one of my groups I play there was a player who consistantly had this kind of 'luck'. One of the other players and I took it upon ourselves to police his dice rolls. He has since fallen in line and has not cheated since.

The DM was a really good friend of the fellow and we felt this was an 'in party' sort of thing. Also we weren't convinced that he would believe us (he did believe he got 2 18's and no score below 15 on 4d6 no rerolls).

If you don't want to confront the person you can have another player(s) watch her dice rolls and announce what they are beofre she can. Might be rude but sdhew should get the message pdq. Otherwise I like DungeonmasterCal's first suggestion