Who rolls the dice?

[trowizilla]

Quick explanation and then a question.

Last game, I was DMing and managed to knock all my dice on the floor. Not wanting to stall the game while I was rooting around to pick them up, I asked a player to roll a d8 for damage taken by his character, who was caught in a mud/rockslide. The player rolled, damage was taken (he healed himself up less than a minute later) and things went on.
However, another player has informed me that he was "disturbed" that I got Player 1 to roll damage for his own character, especially since Player 1 rolled a 7 out of 8. My opinion is, while I generally roll that sort of thing myself, dice are random and it really doesn't matter if I roll them or the player does. Player 1 didn't mind rolling for his own damage (he did fuss a little when it came up 7, but he'd have done that if I rolled), but the other player seems really upset by this.
It's not a big enough issue for me to do anything more than say "okay" and make sure to always roll myself, but now I'm curious. Is anyone else bothered by "who rolls the dice?" questions? Would anyone else freak out about rolling their own damage? It's an odd question, but I'd like to know.
Also, the freaked-out player has been d&d-ing for years longer than the rest of us, so maybe that has something to do with it.

 

[EvilGM]

When I DM, I always have the players roll attacks and damage against their characters. In 22 years of RPing, I haven't played with any other GMs that do this.

 

[Tewligan]

I'd say that Player 2 is being an obsessive-compulsive crybaby. It doesn't matter who rolls the dice. Next game, make them make the to-hit rolls for any enemies just to agitate him.

 

[pogre]

Every once in a while when I am fiddling with scenery or arranging miniatures - I'll grab a player's die and roll it. They hate that - as Bob Herzog once said, "never touch another man's dice!"

I make my players roll damage on themselves from time to time when they all are hit by a lightning bolt or something like that. They do not care - I have no idea what your player's issues are with it.

 

[kolikeos]

it doesn't matter who rolls the dice as long as it's not something the dm has to do secretly and damge is not one of these

 

[Mishihari Lord]

Not a big deal either way.

When I started out DMing, I didn't know it was customary for players to roll their own damage when they hit something, so I always did it. I later offered to let them do it, but they declined. They said they liked thinking about the battles in narrative terms, and dealing with numbers distracted from their enjoyment.

 

[kolikeos]

Not a big deal either way.

When I started out DMing, I didn't know it was customary for players to roll their own damage when they hit something, so I always did it. I later offered to let them do it, but they declined. They said they liked thinking about the battles in narrative terms, and dealing with numbers distracted from their enjoyment.

i very much agree with your players although have i never tryed that aprouch (sp?)

 

[Style]

My default setting is that I roll everything, with the choice that players can roll whatever they like, if they choose. I try to create a statless environment for the players (they don't roll dice, don't know their own stats, or even their levels usually) and most players prefer to let me take care of all the crunch. Some melee types prefer to roll attacks and I generally make all players roll critical saving throws, for dramatic pressure. The heavy RP-types get all hissy on me, though, if they ever have to go near any dice. Actually, because the players use them so infrequently, they really do slow down gameplay now because whenever a player wants to use one, there is usually this absurd "dude, do you, like, have a d20 I could borrow for a sec?" period first while they try to find one. After all, it's not like I am letting them use any of my dice. Freakin' players, man, with their bad dice karma. No thanks...

Oh, and pogre? Don't do that. Another man's dice are sacred. You will go to gamer hell if you do, and no sane gamer wants to wind up in the Pits Of The Eternal Yu-Gi-Oh. Are you some kind of freak?

 

[Herpes Cineplex]

No one in our group cares who rolls what for whom, really. Hell, we have one player who routinely asks someone else to roll dice for her, rather than risk her own poor dice karma (or fish the appropriate die out of her bag).


...and actually, as strategies go, it seems to work for her. She's picked out the people she considers to have good dice, and spookily enough she seems to be right about it. Last time we played D&D she usually had me roll any d20s or d4s she needed, because I had the uncanny ability to roll really high really often when it was for her. She'd get another player to handle d8s, and yet another one for d10s. And I suppose if she'd ever actually needed d6s or d12s she would've worked out who she needed to ask for those, too.

--
in my defense, it's a really good d20 and a fantastic d4
ryan

 

[sellars]

Players make the rolls on what their characters do (except when they aren't supposed to know the result), all else is rolled by the DM.

In some occasions (like the one you mentioned in which the DM dropped his dice) this is different.

But, come on! this shouldn't be a problem, right. You're a really, really bad loser if you make a fuss over a little thing like that (

Spoiler

Not to mention childish

)

In this case I would have permitted the character to roll for damage himself, just to keep him happy