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Adumbration
2007-10-07, 11:15 AM
Today I rolled twenty on an attack. Twice. Hacked a hobgoblin bodyguard into two pieces with my greatsword. (Although that game was overall filled with crazy dice rolls. Before I did my roll, three other characters rolled natural ones, and a bit later our paladin double twentied against the boss)

What is the greatest dice roll you've ever had? (Or the best you've seen?)

goat
2007-10-07, 11:19 AM
47 off two exploding D10s.

I needed 50.

Lord_Gareth
2007-10-07, 11:27 AM
This was -waaaaay- back in second edition, but I remember this story so very well.

I'm playing my first D&D character ever, Jade Kolvan. I'm age 7 IRL at the time. In his first week of play, he's managed to die four times - none of which are actually my fault. It's actually getting sort of funny, because I'm the newest person there, and the only one able to say, "I did nothing to deserve this."

We end up fighting this priest of Bane, and I'm in melee with the guy, because, damnit, I want that +3 longsword to see some -use- after I beat that orc for it. He keeps, amazingly, missing me, every swing, my DM is growing steadily more wide-eyed at my luck. Finally, -I- roll a critical fumble and get, "Critical Hit: Self". So I roll on the crit table and find out that I've just stabbed myself in the chest.

So what do I do with it?

"Alright, I take a step back and stab myself through the chest with my longsword. Then I activate shocking grasp and attack the cleric."

The Shocking Grasp hits and electocutes the poor bastard so low into HP that he surrenders. Standing there with my sword sticking out my back, he asks why I did it.

"Because -someone- had to do your job for you."

Actana
2007-10-07, 11:31 AM
I was DMing an Eberron adventure when the group got attacked by a level 3 Warforged fighter. Easy pickings I thought, as our group was ever-so-slightly highpowered.

First round. Cleric wins init. Slashes his scimitar at the warforged. Miss. warforged goes. Nat 20, I was like ooh (I didn't show my players my rolls). Then, roll for crit. Nat 20. I nearly burst in laughter. Threat for death strike. Nat 20, again... There goes the cleric... The group was all nuts, they couldn't believe that the 1st real opponent could be the reason of a TPK. Then I remembered the warforged had cleave, and the halfling ranger was next to the warforged. Alas, a nat 20. Again! Nobody, even I could believe it. It wasn't a crit though, as the threat roll was a 1. 4 nat 20s in a row. It was insane. The cleric was resurrected though later, bits and pieces at a time. Needless to say that they had fun gathering all the remains of the cleric into a bag. :smallbiggrin:

Crow
2007-10-07, 12:03 PM
52 off an exploding D6.

Solo
2007-10-07, 12:06 PM
My barbarian raged and critted against a Succubus and a young Dragon on two separate occasions.

They died horribly.

captain_decadence
2007-10-07, 12:27 PM
what is an exploding dice? Just wondering since it seems to effect dice rolls to an extreme level.

brian c
2007-10-07, 01:24 PM
I was DMing an Eberron adventure when the group got attacked by a level 3 Warforged fighter. Easy pickings I thought, as our group was ever-so-slightly highpowered.

First round. Cleric wins init. Slashes his scimitar at the warforged. Miss. warforged goes. Nat 20, I was like ooh (I didn't show my players my rolls). Then, roll for crit. Nat 20. I nearly burst in laughter. Threat for death strike. Nat 20, again... There goes the cleric... The group was all nuts, they couldn't believe that the 1st real opponent could be the reason of a TPK. Then I remembered the warforged had cleave, and the halfling ranger was next to the warforged. Alas, a nat 20. Again! Nobody, even I could believe it. It wasn't a crit though, as the threat roll was a 1. 4 nat 20s in a row. It was insane. The cleric was resurrected though later, bits and pieces at a time. Needless to say that they had fun gathering all the remains of the cleric into a bag. :smallbiggrin:

See, that's the sort of situation where a DM might fudge the rolls. Also the reason why a lot of people don't play the 3x20 instead death rule.


@captain_decadence, I think "exploding" dice means that you re-roll and add if you get max, but I could be wrong. So 52 from an exploding d6 would mean rolling 8 straight 6s, then a 4

pantoffelheld
2007-10-07, 01:27 PM
last night, a player was acting stupid and offending everyone in the pub (in game that is). I felt that just killing him wouldn't teach him a lesson, so I said "some half-orc steps right in front of you and starts dancing". I roll for my perform(dance), and got a natural 20.

man, did he got served.

yes, i know there is no such thing as natural twenty with skill checks... but this was just too perfect.

Glawackus
2007-10-07, 02:28 PM
what is an exploding dice? Just wondering since it seems to effect dice rolls to an extreme level.

You get the maximum roll, you get to keep rolling until you get something that's not the max. Hilarity can ensue.

Vaynor
2007-10-07, 02:37 PM
A party member was pissing me off, so I had my monk jokingly punch him. We were in an inn for a few days, so the cleric had nothing else better to do with his healing spells. Hilariously, I rolled 3 nat 20's and punched out wizard's head off. Woops.

The DM stopped using insta-death after that, needless to say.

Another one. This was not good awesome, but bad awesome. So here's me, gnome druid. I have a wolf animal companion. Me, fighter, and wolfie fall down a pit trap. Me and the fighter successfully climb out, then realize we forgot wolfie. I beg mr. fighter to go down there and get him, I'm not strong enough. So, he climbs down, picks up my wolf, and starts to climb out. He falls. Again, and again. Each time with the wolf falling on top of him, and as the drop was pretty far, not far enough to damage however, added subdual for the wolf thudding against him every time. The fighter keeps rolling crap, and gets knocked unconcious by the wolf. None of us are strong enough to even lift him, never the less carry him up a steep pit. :smalleek:

PlatinumJester
2007-10-07, 02:45 PM
100ft chasm with BBEG on the other side and a rickity and blatantly trapped bridge leading to the other side. Disliking the whole falling off of the bridge part I decide to jump the gorge with my level 10 dawrven barbarian. Everybody looks at me think WTF? I roll the dice and get a natural 20 (which in our game meant automatic sucess).


Another time I was doing Dance of Ruin and rolled a 19 & a 20 for damage and destroy 6 bandits at once. That same Wizard once rolled a sucessful critical with a longbow on an enemy fighter. You know you suck when a Wizard can beat you without spells.

Leicontis
2007-10-07, 02:49 PM
I already posted mine in the "Rockstar Moments in Gaming" thread:
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57183

martyboy74
2007-10-07, 02:50 PM
We were playing an ocean based campaign, and our wizard was making profession (sailor) checks to get our ship through a particularly rough area. He rolls a 3, and everyone has to make a DC 10 balance check. I, having a -2 to balance checks, naturally fail, and take some damage. The next profession (sailor) check comes, and the wizard rolls an 8. Failure again. I have to make a DC 15 balance check this time, and of course fail. However, the ship was rocked enough by this event that I have to make a reflex save to avoid going overboard. Yet again, I fail at it. I get knocked overboard and into the sea. Because of the currents, I have to make a DC 30 swim check, to which I only have a +10, in order to not be separated from the ship. The DM comments that "The only way you can make it is by rolling a natural 20". I roll, and, as fate would have it, get a natural 20. Much celebration ensued.

Silkenfist
2007-10-07, 03:02 PM
100ft chasm with BBEG on the other side and a rickity and blatantly trapped bridge leading to the other side. Disliking the whole falling off of the bridge part I decide to jump the gorge with my level 10 dawrven barbarian. Everybody looks at me think WTF? I roll the dice and get a natural 20 (which in our game meant automatic sucess).

Sorry, but this doesn't make any sense at all. I don't want to go on a catgirl killing spree, but allowing this kind of stuff is just ridiculous. It means that every 20th time, I try to jump a - say 1mile wide chasm - I succeed. Or try to jump onto the next cloud. Or Swim up the rain. If you want to add a possibility for ridiculous stunts, exploding dice are the way to go.

PlatinumJester
2007-10-07, 03:07 PM
Sorry, but this doesn't make any sense at all. I don't want to go on a catgirl killing spree, but allowing this kind of stuff is just ridiculous. It means that every 20th time, I try to jump a - say 1mile wide chasm - I succeed. Or try to jump onto the next cloud. Or Swim up the rain. If you want to add a possibility for ridiculous stunts, exploding dice are the way to go.

We don't use that rule anymore for skills and the DM disallowed it but the look on my group's faces was priceless. I still managed to kill the BBEG single handed because we tied my guy to a make shift rope swing and pushed him towards the BBEG. He swung through 1 of his illusions but on his way back he hit him dead on and knocked him into a chasm. Bear in mind that this is a 300lb dwarf swinging through the air at 75mph.

Curmudgeon
2007-10-07, 04:02 PM
we tied my guy to a make shift rope swing and pushed him towards the BBEG. He swung through 1 of his illusions but on his way back he hit him dead on and knocked him into a chasm. Bear in mind that this is a 300lb dwarf swinging through the air at 75mph. You must have had a lot of rope. To reach 75 miles/hour swinging at normal gravity requires a rope at least 189' long. Failing that, you could do it if you had someone with a speed of 330' and enough carrying capacity to make 300 lbs. a light load (STR 26+).

I'm not sure how you reached that speed, but I suspect the number may have been achieved by handwaving rather than calculation.

Accersitus
2007-10-07, 04:41 PM
In my group we usually play with 3x20 instant death, and over the years, I have rolled up the 3x20 4 times, and all the times the party was looking at certain death. :smallbiggrin:
It has been quite nice for the DM, since he didn't need to find some reason for the party to survive.

Lord_Gareth
2007-10-07, 04:53 PM
You must have had a lot of rope. To reach 75 miles/hour swinging at normal gravity requires a rope at least 189' long. Failing that, you could do it if you had someone with a speed of 330' and enough carrying capacity to make 300 lbs. a light load (STR 26+).

I'm not sure how you reached that speed, but I suspect the number may have been achieved by handwaving rather than calculation.

Ahem - that is common sense/science/physics/hard math, this is D&D. Since when have the two been on speaking terms?

JackMage666
2007-10-07, 05:15 PM
I was once playing a 2 Weapon fighting character, and rolled both weapons at once. Sure enough, it was 2 20s. I think one ended up critical, but that's not the important thing. It was just the way they landed, all picturesque and perfect.

Muffin_Man
2007-10-07, 05:40 PM
My group had to climb down a hill, there was five PCs. First climb roll: everyone pass and climb down half of the hil. Second climb roll: the Pc on top rolls first and fail miserably, the rest fail the reflex roll to avoid the falling body (including 3 natural 1s), we all fell down in the middle of the enemy camp taking a LOT of damage.

I didn't saw this, but a friend told me that once he was playing a halfling, and duringa celebration the paladin NPC (prince of the kingdom) made a joke about him, he throwed a spoon at him, he rolled 3 natural 20s and killed him.

the_tick_rules
2007-10-07, 08:14 PM
we were ambushed by drow. it was a railoroad capture so there was no escape. we took their basic drow, then their rangers. then he decided to throw the drow clan leaders at us. the ninja girl whipped us pretty good until i took her down. then he threw the monk at us. he knocked unconscious the only other standing pc, leaving me ( a wounded 2 weapon fighter against a fresh monk). i handled him ok but he was obviously winning. then i rolled 2 20's and confirmed the crits. he went down. now the next noble he sent dropped me like a rock but still beating the 2nd guy he didn't plan on having us fight was awesome.

Firefingers
2007-10-07, 08:42 PM
40 off an exploding d6 needed 36

morale of the story never ever prime a stun grenade in a 5 ft wide corridor in shadowrun

ForzaFiori
2007-10-07, 09:05 PM
not just 1 good roll, but a whole string of them that made me wonder how a friend of mine managed to weight my own damn dice.

I had set up a bandit camp for my PC's to fight through. It was at night, and the rogue of the group managed to sneak up on not 1, not 2, but all 3 sentries i had stationed, and kill ALL of them w/ sneak attacks (they were mooks, but still). then he sneaks into the camp, sneaks up on and attacks (for an auto hit since they're asleep) all but i think 3 bandits, killing them (also mooks, but it still required like all 4-6 for both damage and sneek attack. they had like 10 HP each). then the rest of the group comes in and kills the leader and the rest of the mooks (all 2 of them).

needless to say, the battle i had planned (leader fighting the PC's, and mooks shooting at them) was completely down the drain.

I was so mad i couldn't finish the adventure that night.

Quietus
2007-10-07, 10:40 PM
I think the most awesome rolls I've seen was when a friend of mine was trying to heal a halfling who'd taken a hell of a hit (that was meant only as background amusement). We use the -10/+30 variant on skill checks, and as an in-joke, any time someone rolls a natural 1 on a Heal check, they attempt to use broken glass to fix the problem.

Well, go figure.. she goes to fix the halfling, and gets a nat 1. Whips out a handful of broken glass, grinds it into the halfling's skull; 1 point of damage. Halfling is now bleeding. Annoyed, she decides to keep rolling to prove that her die isn't loving the low rolls, and when it comes up a 19 or 20, she points to the die and declares, "Okay, see? I'm healing him!"

Of course, the DM was well aware of the situation... so he has her roll it. Another nat 1. This time she takes a larger chunk of broken glass and cuts the goose-egg right off the top of his head. More damage is dealt, and the feel of things in the tavern we were in gets... harsh.

Once more, she turns to the constant-rolling method of proving her dice like her, and once more, she gets a decent roll that would be successful. Just like last time, she tries to use that roll, and the DM has her roll again. You guessed it - nat 1. She takes the busted neck of the bottle, and is prepared to carve out the top of the halfling's skull, when the NPC bartender screams and stops her, and takes the dying halfling upstairs.

I'm just glad my character was blind and unaware of what was going on... the chick that was making this checks is his girlfriend!

Stormcrow
2007-10-07, 10:58 PM
This was -waaaaay- back in second edition, but I remember this story so very well.

I'm playing my first D&D character ever, Jade Kolvan. I'm age 7 IRL at the time. In his first week of play, he's managed to die four times - none of which are actually my fault. It's actually getting sort of funny, because I'm the newest person there, and the only one able to say, "I did nothing to deserve this."

We end up fighting this priest of Bane, and I'm in melee with the guy, because, damnit, I want that +3 longsword to see some -use- after I beat that orc for it. He keeps, amazingly, missing me, every swing, my DM is growing steadily more wide-eyed at my luck. Finally, -I- roll a critical fumble and get, "Critical Hit: Self". So I roll on the crit table and find out that I've just stabbed myself in the chest.

So what do I do with it?

"Alright, I take a step back and stab myself through the chest with my longsword. Then I activate shocking grasp and attack the cleric."

The Shocking Grasp hits and electocutes the poor bastard so low into HP that he surrenders. Standing there with my sword sticking out my back, he asks why I did it.

"Because -someone- had to do your job for you."

Smooth, very smooth.

DraPrime
2007-10-08, 08:37 AM
I rolled a critical when hitting someone with a book. Quite embarrassing for the NPC who got killed by a book wielding maniac.

bignate
2007-10-08, 10:35 AM
i will never forget this character i played back in 2nd edition... he was a bard with the blade kit and was a very flambouant swordsman and the dice turned out to favor it...as we played i would try to do exotic things like rolling between enemies feet and attacking them or diving from cover to cover while throwing a knife and it always seemed to work but if i ever just did simple like saying "i attack" i would almost always miss.

it was really strange! we played the game for like 7 or 8 sessions and i was always the same...if i tried to do something really fancy or acrobatic(usually with a penalty) i couldnt seem to roll below 15 and got lots of nat 20's, but i i just attacked i would almost always fail or even fumble...:smallbiggrin:

Quirinus_Obsidian
2007-10-08, 10:45 AM
For a few meetings in a row, our party had been getting natural 20's and crits on a simple throwing dagger. At least twice a meeting for 4 meetings in a row. This dagger has been enshrined =) The cleric does not want to part with it, and refuses to upgrade it. Hilarity ensued.

I also have the case of exploding d4's and d6's Magic Missle and other Force spells. My next character is a Force Missile Mage.... :smallbiggrin:

PlatinumJester
2007-10-08, 10:59 AM
I rolled a critical when hitting someone with a book. Quite embarrassing for the NPC who got killed by a book wielding maniac.

If youn think thats bad, I once killed a guy when he trod on my caltrop and dealt himself 1 damage.

SoD
2007-10-08, 11:09 AM
I had organised a challenge in the campaign for my characters (2nd level at the moment). A challenge for when they are all on full health, and with all their spells.

So what do they do? Out of spells, and injured...they split up.

A paladin on 1hp and a 2nd level sorcerer with no spells and no weapon killed the BBEG. In two rounds. Without exploding dice. Or a smite evil. The sorcerer did have a wand of cure light wounds, but it had 2 charges left (he didn't know that). Afterwoods, when they found the cleric, rogue and bard...with the rogue and bard unconcious...he went to 'zap them with the wand of cure light wounds'. Which is what he'd been doing the whole session. The look on his face, and the rogue, and the bard when I just shook my head was priceless.

Crow
2007-10-08, 11:57 AM
I have another Shadowrun one:

The player was playing his min-maxed mercenary troll. He had an effective heavy weapons skill of 16, and 13 combat pool dice. He gathers them all in two cupped hands, and tries to shake them, but has to just barely jiggle them so they don't fall out. On his turn, he has decided that he is going to try and shoot down a corporate attack chopper. He smiles and just opens his hands, letting all 29 dice drop on the table. They scatter in every direction, and we all look on in shock and awe.

All 1's.

allonym
2007-10-08, 01:51 PM
Playing Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, which has a rule about damage - if you roll a 10 on damage (d10), you can roll to hit again, if you do so, the dice explode.

Average bandit encounter type fare, and my character (a wannabe Zorro Estalian Diestro) jumps one of the bandits while the rest of the party take on the other three. I spend three rounds missing both my attacks but manage to dodge whatever hits the bandit gets on me. The rest of my party is almost donw killing their guys and my poor luck is getting me mocked.

Then it's my go. Roll to hit - a hit.
Roll damage - 10.
Roll to hit - hit.
Roll damage again - 10
Roll damage again - 6

With -4 damage mitigation from his armour and toughness, my single strike takes him down to somewhere in the region of -12 wounds. He died horribly, and I had fun describing it!


Apart from that, I remember a poor run in the Call of Cthulhu game I run, where there was a simple check which the whole party took, for Spot Hidden. First two rolls were natural 100, m-m-monster fail. Then a fail. Lucky the fourth one passed. I think I ruled that, searching around, the first two players managed to bash into one another.


Only other tale I have is from In Nomine. Demons have decided that it's the time to just cause havoc and carnage at a visit of the pope, with the death of the aforementioned dignitary a desirable goal. Our party of angels are stretched thin. Two non-combat angels have gone to reinforce some cops who are losing a shootout with some M16-toting thugs and their demon boss, and are blasting away with looted pistols without much success. I turn up on my bike (every In Nomine group needs a motorcycle!), aim with my shotgun and pull the trigger/roll the bones.
3D6 = 1, 1, 1.

If you don't know, that means a divine intervention. God got interested.

GM ruled that my shotgun blast became more akin to a plasma blast, obliterating the head of the demon and punching a huge hole in the back of the van from which they were shooting. The mooks surrendered.

There was just something so cool about turning up at a pitched battle, firing one shot and completely destroying the opposition, then just taking off again.

trainer343
2007-10-08, 02:24 PM
A few months ago, I rolled 3 nat 20's in a row on a attack. My opponet was at full hp. I hit the guy with the warhammer end of my axe-hammer (two handed- 1/2 great axe, 1/2 warhammer), and he exploded.

I don't know how, and I don't really care. I just know that I blew a guy up with a hammer.:smallbiggrin:

trehek
2007-10-08, 03:49 PM
I was playing a level 12 Cleric of Vanya/Weapon Master in a campaign set in the world of Mystara, 3.0 edition. At the time, my GM allowed me to take the scythe as my chosen weapon after I created a background for it.

Ok, so then we end up going in all the wrong places and end up on a small demiplane somewhere, where a small-scale genocide is in the works. After lots of pain and effort we run into the guy who calls himself the God of the place. Probably wasn't a real demigod, but waay over our levels anyway.

Of course, our party being the average bloodthirsty type, diplomacy quickly ends up in weapons being drawn. I win initiative with a nat 20, step over to the God pulling out my scythe. SWING up another nat 20, and another one for the confirm. After a nifty 200+ damage from the 5x crit the GM is laughing his backside off, says that the God still lives, but has to roll for massive damage. So he challengingly casts his d20 in plain view. It's a nat 1!

Bye bye God! :smallcool:

Edan
2007-10-09, 04:51 AM
In dnd 3.5, I was playing a mid level sorcerer. I was grappled I think by an Adult Blue Dragon. The rest of the party is nearly dead, only spell I can cast is Wail of the Banshee. DM makes save roll for dragon (it needed 2 or higher for its save) rolles a nat 1, bye bye dragon.

In another low level campaign, the fighter was nearly dead, and needed a healing potion. The cleric takes one out and goes to throw it to the guy next to the dying fighter. DM rules since it is a larger distance (I can't remember the exact range.) he had to make an attack role to get the potion into the receiver's hands. Cleric roles, and gets a Nat 1, hits the dying guy and kills him. So funny.

Swordguy
2007-10-09, 09:53 AM
It's awesome in a bad way...



Finally, as a warning from the dice gods... (not stupid, just scary).
[Remember, in Shadowrun, all ones on the dice means disaster of some sort...the dice are d6's]

"My group of six runners was in the process of breaking camp to continue on our journey through some flatland. From over the horizon came the silhouette of two GMC Banshees [nasty, heavily-armed rotorcraft]. Not prepared for a firefight, the team scrambled to break out the ordinance, the rigger sprints for the Bison [his armored van], etc.
The troll mage, who has had an unfortunate experience with Banshees in the past, panics and tosses a fireball at the closest one, throwing in all the dice he can get his hands on. The result? He rolls 28 dice for the fireball.

The group was hushed as he shook the huge handful of dice and cast them onto the table.

They came up all ones.

So, as the Banshees bear down onto the camp, the troll mage erupted into a mushroom cloud of organic debris.

We stopped playing for the night. It was a baaadddd omen…"


I've posted this on these boards before (here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38014) and here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2006116#post2006116)). It was submitted to Karen over at the CLUE Archive (off of dumpshock.com) in 2000, and she went behind me back and contacted my players to verify it.

Swordguy
2007-10-09, 09:57 AM
I have another Shadowrun one:

The player was playing his min-maxed mercenary troll. He had an effective heavy weapons skill of 16, and 13 combat pool dice. He gathers them all in two cupped hands, and tries to shake them, but has to just barely jiggle them so they don't fall out. On his turn, he has decided that he is going to try and shoot down a corporate attack chopper. He smiles and just opens his hands, letting all 29 dice drop on the table. They scatter in every direction, and we all look on in shock and awe.

All 1's.

That sounds...extraordinarily familiar... :smallconfused:

CrazedGoblin
2007-10-09, 09:58 AM
Our warlock almost rolled 3 20s he only got 2 :smallannoyed:

Afraidofsharpie
2007-10-09, 10:27 AM
One of my friends who DM occasionally plays by the rule that a Nat 20 on a skill check equals +30 and you roll again. Normally this doesn't lead to huge exploding dice, but I've seen it happen twice in one of his campaigns.

First time, I'm playing Spark (Homebrew Class based off of Girl Genius) and we're inside an airship that's just had the engine more or less ripped out of the ship by the BBEG who is a rather high level Psion. So as we're falling to what we assume is our deaths, I blow pretty much all my class abilities to boost my Craft/Engineering checks sky high and hope I can juryrig a life boat of sorts, first roll is a nat 20, so that's plus 30 right there, then another nat 20 comes up and the DM is glaring at me as a +60 to my skill bonus of +30 allows me to succesfully make the life boat, but as I can continue rolling I do so. Another nat 20 comes up, which causes him to start cursing and saying I'm rolling with a fixed dice so he has me roll one of his d20s, which results in yet another nat 20. Finally the next roll was a 3 but I had a total of 153 which he explained allowed me to make a entirely new engine which saved the airship when it was roughly 50ft off the ground. He later said that the ship was suppoused to crash and we were to have seeked shelter in one of the statis spheres, instead we got to keep what amounted to pretty much a flying fortress.

Second time, was one of my other friends. Playing a rifle toting Magicless ranger and low and behold in the middle of the night the DM calls for a spot check. First roll is a nat 20, second roll another nat 20 third roll is a 5. The DM is furious, no one had any ranks in spot so he expected us to fall into this ambush, instead with a 65 the ranger not only saw the ambush close to half a mile away he could make out the general armaments and was given a +7 to his first attack as he made sniper shot out of hit.