Roleplaying Despite Continually Horrific Rolls

[Stalker0]

1) Get new dice

2) Record your rolls to see if its in your head.


I had a player who was convinced of bad dice luck. Once the rolls were recorded, we realized it all perception as the numbers came out to average. Keep it mind it does take a lot of rolls to start truly getting any trends.

 

[the Jester]

It's like a sports team that has all the best players in theory but can't get over .500 no matter what they do. (this year's example: Miami Heat)

One option is to play it up. Instead of Joram the Ranger, take on the name Joram the Unlucky. Make your poor fortune the stuff of legends. Tell anyone you meet that if they're not careful your bad luck will rub off on them.

Then, when the pendulum swings the other way as it inevitably will, your successes will seem all the more outstanding.

This. Exactly this.

Also, microwave one of your d20s as a warning to the rest of your dice. Make sure you set the others out where they can see the victim in the microwave.

 

[Joshgenti]

Odds are it's one of the following.

1) It could be your dice. Spend some time rolling your dice. Since you're doing 4E, I'd focus on the good ol' d20. Roll your d20 about 100-200 times & write down each number. Then check out the distribution, focus on the average & the top 5 numbers rolled. If the top 5 numbers are 1,2,4,5 & 8, with your average around 6, then maybe it's time for a new dodecahedron friend.

2) It's probably all in your head. People have a tenancy to remember facts that reinforce a preconceived notion & discard evidence that contradicts it. It's Psychology 101. There's no such thing as being "cursed" or natually unlucky. Probability is just a difficult concept us to understand some times. See Money Hall Problem So, after you've verified your dice are good, (see #1 above) keep track of your rolls during a game. Every time you roll your d20, write down the number. After you've gotten to around 100-200 rolls, check the distribution. It should be pretty normal. And you can be comforted in that knowledge. And if they're still way off, even though outside if your game they roll normal, well....

3) You're cursed by the dice gods. I lied before, you can be cursed and you are! May they have mercy on your soul... And enjoy being relegated to playing Amber!! (in 4e, go for powers that have a miss effect). Oh & don't ever touch anyone else's dice, especially mine!!! *scoops up dice*

 

[Lanefan]

Also, microwave one of your d20s as a warning to the rest of your dice. Make sure you set the others out where they can see the victim in the microwave.

Some guys I used to game with did a similar thing to a misbehaving d20 once. Except there was no microwave. Only a concrete stair. And a blowtorch.

Lanefan

 

[Sunseeker]

New dice. Stock up on them.

Also, Two-blade ranger, there's your problem.

I have seen this class/style been played in no less than 5 games, and all 3 of my current ones have one. They are almost universally rolling incredibad.

 

[Redcrow]

Double check your D20 and make sure it has #'s 11-20 on it. Sounds silly, but I had a player who had a D20 that was just #'s 1-10 twice on it and he couldn't figure out why he couldn't ever get a decent roll.

Other than that, just change dice.

 

[Katana_Geldar]

I've found that while I have good rolls with DMing, I roll abysmally when playing.

Also, never roll on your character sheet, for some reason you never get a good roll on paper.

 

[Dausuul]

Double check your D20 and make sure it has #'s 11-20 on it. Sounds silly, but I had a player who had a D20 that was just #'s 1-10 twice on it and he couldn't figure out why he couldn't ever get a decent roll.

Man, if that guy were in my gaming group, he would never hear the end of it.

If you don't mind a little extra math, here's one option that I gave to the perennial bad-die-roller in my group: Reverse rolls. Whatever comes up on the die, subtract it from 21 and that's what you get. It seemed to work okay for him.

(Obviously, you have to declare that you're reverse-rolling before you actually roll--you can't get a 1 and say, "Oh, I was reverse-rolling there, that's a natural 20.")

 

[korjik]

Some guys I used to game with did a similar thing to a misbehaving d20 once. Except there was no microwave. Only a concrete stair. And a blowtorch.

Lanefan

I prefer a hammer. All the gratification without the pesky 'aaagh the building is on fire!'

It is very important that the other dice see what happens. Otherwise they dont get the point.

 

[Scott DeWar]

ya know, the real problem is that he is playing 4th ed instead of pathfinder.