Put Your d20 On Trial!

Ever wondered if your d20 was balanced correctly? Concerned that you have a die that always rolls low? A guy called Daniel Fisher has the solution for you - a trick that golfers apparently use to test their golf balls! All you need is your d20, and a glass of salt water (room temperature water with a load of salt in it - as much as needed to make the die float).

[video=youtube;VI3N4Qg-JZM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI3N4Qg-JZM[/video]
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[Nylanfs]

GameScience makes precision dice, and I imagine Artisan Dice are also balanced.

 

[aramis erak]

if you need a denser fluid for testing, and you own a respirator & fume hood, mercury is sufficiently dense (sg 13.59) that the plastics (ranging from 0.9 to 2) should all float... you need a depth just over 1/7th the maximum diameter (point to point) put into it. under a dekaliter will be sufficient. You can even use this on many metal dice, tho' that requires a deeper puddle.


http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/density-specific-weight-gravity-d_290.html
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/polymer-properties-d_1222.html

 

[Jhaelen]

The other alternative is a dice-rolling app, but lacks the satisfying feel.

I'm not sure if these are any better, considering how pseudo-random numbers are typically created. I've heard of a few apps that actually create truly random numbers (see here). On the same site they also offer a dice roller app, but it's of rather limited use for RPGs, considering it only supports (up to) 6d6.

 

[Nylanfs]

Interestingly enough I found out from posting this in Fantasy Grounds general section that FG uses an actual physics engine to determine the roll outcome.

So when you are rolling the dice, you are really rolling the dice. And also explains being able to spin the d20 on its end.

 

[Umbran]

I find it entertaining that players of a game typically set in a pseudo-medieval world find "ordeal by water" as a suitable form of trial.

 

[Umbran]

if you need a denser fluid for testing, and you own a respirator & fume hood....

Because, you know, those are things folks just have lying around. And risking heavy-metal poisoning is worth it to know if how you pretend to be an elf is statistically biased.

 

[aramis erak]

Because, you know, those are things folks just have lying around. And risking heavy-metal poisoning is worth it to know if how you pretend to be an elf is statistically biased.

Actually, I have several friends who have the respirator and fume hood... a welding inspector, a couple hazmat cleanup techs, and a chemical engineer. And a dentist acquaintance. True, an odd assortment. One of them keeps mercury on hand. (The dentist.)

And some people are fixated on fairness such that floating the die in mercury is a viable option... I'm not - a chi-squared test is good enough for me. But for those, I'll mention the option that's most likely to be of use to them.