Dice superstitions

[Zuoken]

I have a set of 4 hard-sided six-siders that I jacked from two different Monopoly boards; the things are possessed!

Last week my players were rolling up new characters, and they were using 4d6 drop lowest roll in order (switch one) for abilities. Stats were pretty average across the board, I don't think a stat above 16 cropped up.

One of the player's characters had been a real scapegoat for bad saves and the like during the last campaign, so I decided to let him use those 4 six-siders (usually don't hand out my dice to players, but he didn't bring any of his own and at this point I didn't know that they were "special"). He didn't roll a single stat under 15. After that, I tested them out myself and sure enough, those dice are somehow skewed towards the high end. My players know them only as the "PC Killers" now .

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

DMC, do you have any pets? I lost a d4 once, but then found it in our living room, where my cat was playing with it!

My cat is 17 years old and hasn't given a pair of fetid dingo's kidneys about playing with anything in the last 5. Heck...my son has 2 parakeets that I'm not even sure he (the cat) is aware of.

In truth, it's probably under one of my sofas (I have 3 in the living room) that I can't move because of my broken leg. As my son stays with his mom during the week, I'll have to wait until he's here next weekend to check... *twitch..twitch...*

 

[snarfoogle]

I have a friend with a brownish red die - instead of a 20, it has the expansion symbol for the Arabian Nights Magic: the Gathering expansion - a scimitar. That die always rolls ridiculously well -- once he rolled 20, 20, 20, 19 when attacking a zombie. So our group believes that any die from a non role-playing game will give good luck.

Also, it is well known that in our group, any roll of a die which does not affect the game in any way will always roll extremely high.

"Balance check to walk across the flat ground... 18!"
"Heal check to put bandage on shaving cut... 20!"
"Reflex save to avoid getting hit by the drop of regular water... 17!"

 

[DarrenGMiller]

I have seen some strange dice behavior at my gaming table, but never thought about my own dice superstitions. I do like keeping full sets together and use my favorite colors first. I put them back if I get low rolls. I just bought a new set that has been great so far.

Several of us recharge dice the Hackmaster way, by rubbing across a game designer's signature from left to right (for high rolls - opposite for low). Some of my players have time out boxes, while some use low rollers a often as possible looking for the highs to come up out of probability. Most leave low numbers facing up and one had a die that travelled in comfort in a plush padded box. It was the special d20 that saved the party from a TPK at a critical juncture in a campaign. It was either instant death crit or TPK. He rolled the necessary double 20's and 00 on %ile to kill the BBEG. He had about 6 HP left and was the only one still able to fight effectively.

DM

 

[dunbruha]

My current group has (had) a player who would not let anyone touch his dice. One night, another player grabbed one of his d20s and waved it around in the general area of his crotch. There nearly was a fight, and the first player has not played since.

 

[Oberyn]

Ive never used dice that i havent blessed, magnetized, or attuned with every single kind of magic iv ever studied. last night i rolled 34 natural 20s... in 2 hours...

 

[arscott]

My favorite superstion is a variation on the penalty box.

If a die doesn't perform well, subject it to torture. Clip off some bits and peices. For some reason, they roll better after that.

 

[shaylon]

Nothing consistent. I usually pull way too many dice out of the bag, and test several different ones until I get in the "zone". Or, I roll sucky and just keep switching out all night to no avail. That happens a lot.

-Shay

 

[Seeten]

I have one set of dice, and I roll them when called upon for rolls.

My buddy has several d20's, and rolls each of them for his iterative attacks, but he hides all the rolls, so who knows which rolls best? Oddly, they all always seem to be 20's. Our pet name for him is "Dice cheater".

I'm thinking of going with an online dice roller for the future.

 

[sjmiller]

Well you know how windows eventually end up thicker at the bottom than the top because the glass thanks to gravity creeps down.

I hope you realize that this is not true. I will be happy to dig out my resources on this topic if you like. For now, check out glass flow myth for information on this. YOu can also do a Google search on "glass flow myth" and come up with all sorts of information.