In the Works - D&D Dice and the percentile dice

[Zappo]

Nah. First, the number varies from person to person -- lots of people can't read 5 objects without counting. Second the arrangement is what people look for -- corners and center = 5, 3x2 = 6, diagonal row = 3, etc.
(At least that's how my dice are.) Without some standard arrangement, it would be much harder to see what the dice say.

You're right. I've once used a couple of d6s with non-standard pips. For example, the 3 had three pips arranged in a triangle, and I can't remember what else. It was sensibly more difficult to read. We're talking a third of a second instead of a tenth, but it felt quite annoying.

 

[diaglo]

Has anyone seen a d20 with pips?

yes. i own several.

 

[vtaltos]

OMG WTF!!! its not bad enough i had to replace all my 3rd edition books with 3.5!! Now I have to buy all new dice?!?!?! Screw those money grubbing WOTC bastards!!! AAAAGGHH!!!!



<removes tongue from cheek>


But seriously i think the reason its easier to read pips rather than numbers is because the brain can recognize patterns faster than actually read numbers.

 

[Epinephrine]

I invite other geeky ENworlders to check my math. I'm pretty sure that this system is statistically accurate and will generate numbers from 1 to 100 with an even chance of any result.

Geeky ENWorlder with too much spare time checking in. Unless I'm missing something, I think the d4s/d7 part of your system is a little off. There's a 19% chance to use the red and blue d4s, which is correct as 19 numbers remain, but after that there's a 1 in 16 chance of getting any of the twelve individual red/blue numbers (32, 36, 48, 54, 58, 60, 64, 72, 80, 87, 90, 100) and a 4 in 16 chance of rolling the "Wild Die".

So if my math is correct (and it probably isn't, because it seems to be an unwritten rule that every post that points out a mistake has to make one of the same type), while 81 of the numbers do indeed each have a 1% chance of coming up, the 12 red/blue numbers I enumerated above each come up (1/16)*(19/100) = 1.19% of the time, while the 7 numbers on the wild die each come up (1/7)*(4/16)*(19/100) = 0.69% of the time.

It's a genius system otherwise, though.

 

[Orius]

Am I the only one who thinks that percentile dice are agressively ugly? I would never buy one a set of dice that had one. 2 d10s all the way!

I don't care how they look. I've had too many players trying to cheat and pull fast ones with the old 2 d10 percentile method not to use dice numbered by 10s. The first set I bought with a percentile I bought specifically for the percentile. Everyone rolls the percentile dice at my table.

And yes, that WotC quote makes absolutely no sense.

 

[D+1]

The quoted section of the wizards site provided by the original poster:

Here's something interesting: The percentile die included in the bag has a new design that features incremental numbers from 10-100 (as opposed to 10-00) so that, when rolled along with the d10, the result can be obtained by simply adding the two numbers together. It's a small change, but it makes a big difference for players new to the game because they don't have to figure out how to read a d% roll: It's like any other roll of the dice -- you just add them up.

The section of the wizards site as it NOW appears:

Here's something interesting: The d10 included in the bag has a new design numbered 1 to 10 instead of 0 to 9. Whe rolled along with the percentile die (numbered 00 to 90), the result can be obtained by simply adding the two numbers together. It's a small change, but it makes a big difference for players new to the game because they don't have to figure out how to read a d% roll: It's like any other roll of the dice -- you just add them up.

If the quote provided by the original post was cut/paste and not retyped the confusion lies once again with the award-winning WotC website crew. They must have fixed it after being informed of it's being screwy.

But it's still a case of fixing what ain't broken. Have you EVER run into anyone with such poor comprehension that they couldn't read percentile dice once the concept had been stated? I've run into players who couldn't ADD their dice, who couldn't add their bonuses, who couldn't remember which TYPE of die to roll (d6, d8, %'s), and who had initial trouble distinguishing a d10 from a d20 by shape, but never, EVER, someone who couldn't read them after being told - just once - how to read 2d10 as %'s.