What to do with a d30?

[noparlpf]

Yeah, I realize that there aren't any uses for a d30 in the rules. Hence the question.

But I have a couple of d30s here and don't know what to do with them.

Any suggestions?

[odder]

use them as rubble or other forms of items on your battlemap.. or you could make a hat

[noparlpf]

Make a hat?

[odder]

sorry...I tried to make a joke...but it failed..but no I don't think there is any use for d30 in a d20 game..but as I said use them as markers on your battlemap or something.. :smallsmile:

[noparlpf]

We usually use d12s for that because what else are you going to use a d12 for on a typical day?

[Yorrin]

d30? See, atypical numbers like that could be the basis of an entire campaign for me.

You could create a custom artifact that serves as the McGuffin for the first half of the campaign that has 30 different effects it can produce, but a potential wielder has no control over the effects produced when the artifact is used (think an artifact-level version of a Rod of Wonder that actually does some worthwhile stuff).

Or an organization of 30 villains that are after the PCs for whatever reason and come at them in a random order.

Or a dungeon that has 30 different halls branching out from a central room with doors that open seemingly at random (each is numbered and you roll say... five times to determine which doors are open at any given hour).

Can any of these be done with a normal d20/d12/d10/d8/d6/d4/whatever? Sure. But it's an atypical number, and therefore more novel.

[Fenryr]

I like Yorrin's idea. You may use it to determine NPCs attitude toward the PCs or some adventure ideas.

[supermonkeyjoe]

Homebrew a feat that lets a PC roll a d30 rather than a d20 a certain number of times per day.

[Engine]

Fool the DM into thinking you're rolling a D20.

[Yorrin]

Oh! I just remembered a little trick I like to do with a d20 that would have a whole new twist with a d30.

Y'see, every now and then I casually roll a d20 for no actual reason, pretend to check some paper or another, then slowly smile and look up at my players, muttering something like "oh good" in a just barely audible fashion before continuing play. It keeps them just nervous enough to play smart, especially when they've just steamrolled through an easy encounter and are feeling overconfident.

Doing this with a d30? They'll have no clue what to expect, and will spark all sorts of speculation.

[Telonius]

Use it to determine 1/month effects.
Roll it once to determine what day of the month it is, if somebody asks. (Bonus: use a d12 to determine what month it is!)
Homebrew a Prestige Class related to the Moon, and use it as a random generator of abilities.
Determine the results of a slightly smaller-than-normal roulette wheel.

[Raimun]

D30, huh? D29 would make you the best Ninja there is but D30?

Umm...

Use it when you need to randomize which day of the month something is will happen? Though, depending on the month, you would also need D28, D31 and if it's a leap year, D29.

Make a build that has 30 viable combat options, list them on a chart and when it's your turn, roll the dice and use that attack/ability. Talk about Chaotic.

Or just take it with you every time you are playing a game. Wait for the right moment.... wait for it... waaait for it... and then someone will ask: "Man, we could figure this out easily... if only we had a 30-sided dice." That's your golden moment. :smallamused:

[Immonen]

There's a website somewheres called "Order of the d30". It was a blog, and the author wrote down all sorts of odd uses he found for it. I'd start there.

[Incanur]

Throw it at the DM. That's what I was taught d30s are for.

[Cespenar]

Houserule that if you describe an action especially awesome/dramatic/cool/etc. you get to use that instead of the d20.

[Cornelius Grim]

Throw it at the DM. That's what I was taught d30s are for.

I have to agree with this. I bought my DM a d20 the size of a baseball. He now uses it either to threaten to throw it at people, or just to scare the crap out of us. :smalleek:

[Inferno]

I have one, we used it to figure out how much coin the rogue produced by "goin thieving" while the rest of us contributed to the plot...

[ericgrau]

Repaint it numbering 1-6 in one color and 1-5 in another color, with all combinations (1 1, 1 2, 1 3, 1 4, 1 5, 2 1, 2 2, 2 3, 2 4, 2 5, 3 1, 3 2, 3 3, 3 4, 3 5...). Now you have your d5 and your d6 in one die. You can also fit in your d2, d3 and d10 if you have space and write tiny. The d2 is 1 on all odd d6 results and 2 on all even d6 results. The d3 counts 1 2 3 1 2 3 next to the d6 results instead of 1 2 3 4 5 6. The d10 is 1 2 3 4 5 next to half the d5 results and 6 7 8 9 0 next to the other half of the d5 results. Behold the omni-die! Carry this, a d20 and a d8 that also has d4 numbering written next to the d8 numbering and you have all your dice in only three dice. Yes I left out the d12 on purpose.

[Chaosblade]

Throw it at unruly rogues/CE characters.

[Socratov]

use it as a d3 if you haven't got one of those... you just take the 3rd modulus of what you roll, the modulus result would be: 0: it's a 3, 1: it's a 1, 2: it's a 2. (for the mathematically impaired: an x modulus is dividing a number by x, where you pick the lowest closest while divider, and the rest is your modulus, for example: if you roll a 13, then that would make the 3 mod(13)= 13-(4*3)=13-12=1) )

[Cespenar]

use it as a d3 if you haven't got one of those... you just take the 3rd modulus of what you roll, the modulus result would be: 0: it's a 3, 1: it's a 1, 2: it's a 2. (for the mathematically impaired: an x modulus is dividing a number by x, where you pick the lowest closest while divider, and the rest is your modulus, for example: if you roll a 13, then that would make the 3 mod(13)= 13-(4*3)=13-12=1) )

Wouldn't taking 1 to 10 as 1, 11 to 20 as 2, and 21 to 30 as 3 be more intuitive? :smallwink:

[Bakkan]

Wouldn't taking 1 to 10 as 1, 11 to 20 as 2, and 21 to 30 as 3 be more intuitive? :smallwink:

Only if you haven't spent years thinking of all numbers as based on various moduli. Oh, the joys of number theory....

[Totally Guy]

Where I was taught we used the word Modulus to mean Absolute Value. We used the words interchangeably.

[Radar]

Where I was taught we used the word Modulus to mean Absolute Value. We used the words interchangeably.
The name for modulo operation was most probably derived from the word modulus. It's not like TSR has a monopole for ignoring thesaurus (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0012.html). :smallwink:

[LaughingRogue]

Homebrew a feat that lets a PC roll a d30 rather than a d20 a certain number of times per day.

I'm in favor of this idea in a way --- you could give your PCs "Fate Points" as a reward for some roleplaying encounter.

Fate Point: you may as an immediate action reroll one roll (before knowing the result) with a d30 that was made with a d20 --- you must keep the result.

[Malimar]

I'll just leave this here (http://shirosrpg.blogspot.com/2011/06/announcing-order-of-d30-concordance.html).

[Darrin]

Old thread on the D30 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2838667&postcount=39).

Long story short, Lou Zocchi developed the d30 for the Armoury, and then later sold it as part of his Gamescience line of precision gaming dice. The smooth-edged d30s are offered by either Chessex or Koplow, or possibly both (I should know this, since I just got back from Gencon and was staring right at the d30s at the booths, but I can't recall). There was a little booklet that originally came with the Armoury's d30 with a list of things you could use it for, but I'm not sure if anyone still has a copy of the booklet anymore.