D&D 5E What to do with players that always roll well

[Wednesday Boy]

Before I do tell you let me warn you of something called conformation bias, where you THINK someone is lucky so you only remember good rolls, or think someone unlucky and only remember bad ones...but both have the same random luck.

This was my impression too. One of the guys in my group has a reputation among the others for being very lucky. But it's a mix of confirmation bias (We fondly recall the time he critted and killed a main villain right after he opened a Christmas present--a giant d20 that flashes on a crit.) and he's a powergamer who creates incredibly able characters (especially in comparison to the rest of the group).

 

[Umbran]

End of all problems.

And creation of new problems, if you physically don't have a space that allows for this easily. Most dice have *tiny* numbers, and at a typical dinner table a player can easily be six or more feet away. Making a player roll where the DM can actually read the dice can be physically awkward, and slow things down.

Unless your entire group is without honor, making it "no rolling so nobody but you sees the result" should usually be sufficient.

 

[JackOfAllTirades]

Sometimes you just have to level the playing field.

Standard array, or point buy, for everyone. No exceptions.

Max hit points at first level, average HP + Con bonus after that. No dicing for HP, no exceptions.

That's fair, and no one can cheat.

Whoever complains the loudest has probably been cheating.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

a few years ago I remember someone going on about casino level balanced spun dice... did that ever go anywhere?

 

[Sunseeker]

Dude's cheating.

All roll in the open...flat surface...middle of the table. If you, the DM, doesn't see it, it didn't happen.

End of all problems.

I see a lot of this getting repeated, but it doesn't appear that these dice rolls are being made in secret. That'd be a dead giveaway at the table, same with the "roll and snatch" method. If people are just blowing on their dice, killing them, pointing them a certain direction before rolling that's all just an attempt to control statistics, which IMO, is perfectly reasonable.

But the impression I get is that these rolls ARE out in the open, even other players have seen them.

 

[practicalm]

Humans are terrible at determining patterns. I have one very lucky player at my table. Young kid of 9. He rolls his dice (damage and d20) at the same time and out into the table and leaves them there to count out the damage. And damn if he hasn't gotten 3 20s in a row with his yellow clear die. He's also a champion fighter so now his 19s are crits too.

He shares the die with other players when they think they need a 20 but it rolls randomly enough. We've done about three hundred rolls and the die fits into the CHI Square numbers. We just remember his lucky rolls because they are impressive.

Just as we remember our wizard with generally sub-average fireball damage rolls.

 

[Aribar]

Wow... A lot of people here take super extreme measures against cheaters or lucky rollers. OP, maybe you should approach him and the other players to see if the group has a problem with the power and luck discrepancies here, or that his character is too good and making it hard to balance encounters. Maybe there's a reason why he's rolling super well, like he thinks you're monsters are too tough and doesn't want to deal with it? If you don't want to put that out there, maybe try to give the other players subtle bonuses to help get them up on his level, such as a bracer that adds +1 to normally failed rolls, or as a reward of a quest players can now reroll below-average HP rolls or something. Penalizing him or being negative is just gonna make things awkward if he's an otherwise good player.

 

[GlassJaw]

1. Use Standard Array for stats.
2. Use average for hit points each level.
3. All rolls in the open.
4. Apply a hammer to his dice.

 

[jgsugden]

You're trying not to call him a cheater. You're concerned he is. You're trying to be diplomatic, but there is only so much diplomacy that you can have and still get the game back in control.

All you can do is to tell all players that all rolls are going to be witnessed by the DM or rerolled - and if dice prove too lucky you'll have to ask them to use different dice. Apply the rules equally to all players to be fair and make sure all DM rolls take place in front of the players, too.

...and if you think his dice are cheaters dice, ask him to roll the attacks against himself and to roll for the monster saves that he forces.

 

[Klataubarada]

No dice is perfect and will be slightly egg shaped in some way and land at the lowest center of gravity (lowest energy state), however the dice should still average out between sides because the dice, top + bottom should be equal to # of sides + 1.

If their dice, for example, have a 20 opposite of a 19 then I wouldnt allow it.