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KOLE
2020-07-29, 05:53 PM
I didn’t think I was very superstitious about dice until I talked to a friend about my rituals and realized how many “rules” I had, and just today I bought my first new set in a long time and realized my superstition may cause me to throw them out.

My rules:
-Only buy translucent dice. If they have bubbles or blemishes, it’s a no-go. (Exceptions are my first ever dice set which I keep and use for sentimental reasons and one lucky die, and of course any dice gifted me)
-When dice are placed on the table for play, neither the maximum nor minimum value can be facing up. After rolling, keep the last result facing up whenever possible.
-Before a game starts, I “pre-roll”. When I’m DMing, I stop when I’ve rolled above average a couple times or anytime I’ve rolled maximum value. This gets the high rolls out of the way as I have a habit of critting my players frequently.
-When I’m playing a character though, I do the exact opposite for the opposite reason.
-When dice are first purchased or used, you have one break in roll. If the roll is bad, this is now a cursed die to be used only when DMing. If it rolls exceptionally well, it’s kept in reserve for critical moments. Otherwise it’s in my normal rotation.
-Some people are unlucky. These people may not touch my dice, but of course I will gift the dice if needed. I just won’t want them back.

I bought a pretty new set today, and most of the break in rolls, including the d20, were natural ones. I’m seriously considering getting rid of them. It didn’t dawn on me until just now how truly superstitious I am. I know it’s silly, you don’t have to tell me. Am I crazy or is snybody else on this level?

Anonymouswizard
2020-07-29, 07:21 PM
I'm not really superstitious, but I do have some traditions:
-Dice are ideally one solid colour, but more importantly must be opaque and with only the number on the face. The easier to read the better.
-Ideally my dice are arranged in a line, when I roll I take from one end and put the die at the back when it fails a roll. This is to encourage rotating of dice.
-Dice that are moved post-roll are stored at maximum value to look prettier. Also because I believe the way I roll d20s makes this slightly beneficial (I know people who store at bottom value and they tend to roll differently).
-Dice are only rolled when they have a purpose. It's disrespectful and distracting to roll them with no purpose.
-If you use dice as a singular noun, you will die.
-Any dice which are nonstandard will be identified to the whole group.
-If the GM starts looking at you funny shake the die before rolling. This is to encourage randomness and reduce the bias of my natural throw.

Zhorn
2020-07-29, 07:47 PM
don't let the dice-cursed player touch your dice.
don't touch the dice belonging to a dice-cursed player.

tomandtish
2020-07-29, 10:12 PM
don't let the dice-cursed player touch your dice.
don't touch the dice belonging to a dice-cursed player.

The person who started this thread (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?616596-Help-Wanted) is a prime example of a person this applies to.

Zhorn
2020-07-29, 11:26 PM
The person who started this thread (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?616596-Help-Wanted) is a prime example of a person this applies to.
I only became superstitious about dice last year. Until then I though it was all just for a silly laugh... till I DM'd a group with a particular golden dragonborn paladin. For weeks on end their dice would refuse to roll anything but single digits in combat.
Monk player borrowed his dice... ONCE. Showed up the following week with a whole new set of dice since his previous set were now rolling like crud since coming in contact with the cursed dice.

I do wonder how many degrees of separation this guy was from Wil Wheaton.

KOLE
2020-07-29, 11:42 PM
-Dice are ideally one solid colour, but more importantly must be opaque and with only the number on the face. The easier to read the better.

Agreed that dice must be easy to read, it's actually a house rule of mine. If your dice are too small, translucent, wildly colored, or the numbers don't have enough contrast to be easily read at a glance (preferably by the whole table) they're not allowed. D&D takes a lot of time already, every little time saving measure is vital. If every time you roll you have to stop, squint, break out a magnifying glass, it's a no from me. However, I hate Opaque dice because I can't see if they have bubbles, and I'm obsessive about dice randomness. I plan on investing in some closer-to-true-random dice soon, casino dice for my d6es and something like Game Science or Gravity for the rest of the set. I don't hold anyone else at the table to that standard though.


-Ideally my dice are arranged in a line, when I roll I take from one end and put the die at the back when it fails a roll. This is to encourage rotating of dice.

I'm the exact opposite. I try to stick with one die of each kind all night, only rotating when they roll max or consistently high. I know this isn't how statistics work (and this is why I don't gamble with real money...) but every time I don't roll a Nat 20, I feel like it's more likely for the next roll to be one. Bad or mediocre rolls just mean I'm closer to a crit, so I tend to stick with one all night. Opposite when I'm DMing, if a dice is getting "hot" I rotate. I run monsters pretty tough (but not like a meatgrinder) so any little advantage I can give to my players, I try to grant. Of course I have my limits. After two crit fails or consistently rolling low, I'll put em' in dice jail.


-Dice are only rolled when they have a purpose. It's disrespectful and distracting to roll them with no purpose.

100% agreed. Plus, there's nothing worse than getting a nat 20 when you're just rolling for the sake of it. Going back to what I said earlier, I feel like I just wasted that nat 20. If I had waited until I actually had to roll, that nat 20 would have been for the real roll.

JAL_1138
2020-07-30, 12:01 AM
Although design and manufacturing issues can bias a given die toward or away from a given face, and certain programming factors may cause digital dice-rollers to behave oddly sometimes, dice are just little pieces of plastic or other materials or programs in an app.

The dice themselves don’t know that, though, and absolutely are malevolent trickster entities.

Mastikator
2020-07-30, 12:09 AM
I make it a point to not have any superstitions.

My rules regarding dice is short:
- try to use dice that can be read at a glance
- people that hide their rolls are definitely cheating
- if the dice fall off the table they are not valid

Mystral
2020-07-30, 01:09 AM
I'm not superstitious at all, though I joke about it when I face an unlucky streak.

tomandtish
2020-07-30, 01:20 PM
I only became superstitious about dice last year. Until then I though it was all just for a silly laugh... till I DM'd a group with a particular golden dragonborn paladin. For weeks on end their dice would refuse to roll anything but single digits in combat.
Monk player borrowed his dice... ONCE. Showed up the following week with a whole new set of dice since his previous set were now rolling like crud since coming in contact with the cursed dice.

I do wonder how many degrees of separation this guy was from Wil Wheaton.

Who knows. It probably isn't much. Heck, I'm only 3 degrees away.

Those rolls are so horrible I wonder if they are real. If I was deliberately cheating to give myself low stats, I don't think I'd fake something that bad.

Lord Torath
2020-07-30, 01:32 PM
I make it a point to not have any superstitions.

My rules regarding dice is short:
- try to use dice that can be read at a glance
- people that hide their rolls are definitely cheating
- if the dice fall off the table they are not validI hide some of my dice rolls, but only the failures, which I dutifully report (unless I'm DMing, in which case I hide almost all my rolls - which is a discussion for another thread). If the degree of failure matters, then I'll only hide my Nat 1s. If I roll a success, you bet I want everyone to see it!

I suppose that's the extent of my dice 'superstitions', other than the fact that when rolling for choosing deployment zones or for who gets first turn, I will almost always lose.

Composer99
2020-07-30, 02:27 PM
I'm not very superstitious, although I used to consider myself unlucky (a trait other gamers I know also identified in me).

I do feel like on average I roll better, with physical dice, as a DM than as a player.

Funny enough, apropos of dice trickery, the last three times I nearly knocked a PC out (running D&D 5e games), I did just enough damage to reduce them to 1 hp. Wasn't even trying to keep them on their feet.

Anonymouswizard
2020-07-30, 03:30 PM
I hide some of my dice rolls, but only the failures, which I dutifully report (unless I'm DMing, in which case I hide almost all my rolls - which is a discussion for another thread). If the degree of failure matters, then I'll only hide my Nat 1s. If I roll a success, you bet I want everyone to see it!

I mean, if the die can be uncovered when asked then I have no problem with it, and I'm more likely to not question a declared failure than a declared success.

The real problem is players who pick up their die before it can be verified. It's why I recommend rolling across the table, it cuts down on the ability to do this and the honour system generally works out if somebody else has to read it.

D&D_Fan
2020-07-30, 05:41 PM
My first time playing D&D AL, I had a new pair of dice, but the d20 was almost certainly cursed, and I never once hit a single enemy that game. It went so far that the DM let me reroll an attack with his die. I managed to hit that one.

I still have the dice, and the cursed die in question has calmed down with being really unlucky.

LibraryOgre
2020-07-30, 05:43 PM
I have spent years actively fighting my dice superstitions.

Jay R
2020-07-30, 06:53 PM
The purpose of dice is to give an unpredictable result. You bought them specifically so you would have no control over the result. The game uses them precisely to give you no control over the result. That’s why there is so much effort spent trying to control the result.
Having said that, here’s my take on dice.

Dice are pedantic mathematicians, and if you want to them to treat you well, then treat them well.

1. One die; two dice. Never anger them by referring to a singular dice or plural die. And certainly not "dices".

2. Proper dice have opposite sides that add up to n+1. If the opposites sides of your dice don’t add up to the same number, then they are not proper dice, and cannot be trusted. Wrap them up in fancy paper and give them to some kid you don’t like.

3. It’s not a twelve-sider, it’s a dodecahedron. Once you’ve made friends with it, you may get less formal and call it a d12. But it’s still not a twelve-sider.

4. Use correct plurals. They are not polyhedrons (tetrahedrons, octahedrons, etc.); they are polyhedra (tetrahedra, octahedra, etc.) How can you expect them to give you high numbers if they know you can’t handle numbers larger than one?

5. Don’t mix dice from different manufacturers. If you put Koplow dice and Gamescience dice in the same bag, the Koplow dice get envious and the Gamescience dice get insulted. They can tell the difference.

6. The five basic dice (tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron and icosahedron) are Platonic solids, or regular polyhedra. Many new dice out are Catalan solids (the d24, d30). Any die whose faces all meet at two unique points (d10, d16), whose faces aren’t all the same shape (d5, d7) or which isn’t a polyhedron (d100, d3), should be kept in a separate bag. The Platonic and Catalan solids know that these upstarts aren’t “real” dice.

[No, I have no dice superstitions, and the above "rules" are all nonsense. Have fun.]

Wraith
2020-07-31, 07:02 AM
None of my superstitions are ones that I actively enforce, but it's something that I like to do when I remember, just to be on the safe side.

Unused Dice should be kept high-number up. This helps them recognise a "normal" position to which they should default when rolled.

Matching sets are important. Dice like to be with their friends, it makes them happy and a happy die rolls better.

If a die rolls poorly for a few turns in a row, put it to one side and use another set. Let it think about what its done, and reflect on what it can do to be better behaved next time.

Truly 'cursed' dice who continue to misbehave despite the the good examples of its peers or having endured several time-outs are to be abandoned in the game store and left to be claimed by scavengers. This rule takes priority over having matching sets, as the Curse of a Bad Die is not something that can be destroyed; it can only be passed on to someone else.

Chronos
2020-07-31, 08:00 AM
There's no such thing as cursed dice. There are, however, biased dice. The OP's preference for transparent dice, in which bubbles can be seen if present, is perfectly rational, since bubbles in dice really do exist sometimes, and they're a common cause for bias. Another example is the first d20 I ever owned: It almost never rolls 20s, and very seldom 1s. Way back when, I actually recorded test-rolls for hundreds of rolls, and verified this. In fact, the only time it ever rolled a 20 in an actual game situation (as opposed to test rolls) was a 2nd edition nonweapon proficiency roll, for which low rolls are good (but that's still not an example of a curse, just happenstance, and it'd be a really weird world if coincidences never happened). A couple of years ago, I finally got around to figuring out why that die is biased, and discovered that it was a full millimeter longer on the 1-20 axis than on any of the other axes.


Quoth KOLE:

I plan on investing in some closer-to-true-random dice soon, casino dice for my d6es and something like Game Science or Gravity for the rest of the set.
Game Science dice are rated extremely highly... by Game Science. Zocchi talks the talk when it comes to die quality, but he can't walk the walk, and the company has produced some of the worse examples of biased dice you'll find anywhere. The real gold standard for quality dice is Dice Lab.


Quoth Jay R:

6. The five basic dice (tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron and icosahedron) are Platonic solids, or regular polyhedra. Many new dice out are Catalan solids (the d24, d30). Any die whose faces all meet at two unique points (d10, d16), whose faces aren’t all the same shape (d5, d7) or which isn’t a polyhedron (d100, d3), should be kept in a separate bag. The Platonic and Catalan solids know that these upstarts aren’t “real” dice.
Platonic or Catalan solids should be preferred when there isn't any compelling reason for them not to be, but any isohedral shape is acceptable (strictly speaking, anything with an isohedral envelope and the corresponding symmetry in its details). Non-isohedral dice are a novelty only, not to be used for any actual game situation. And as a matter of personal preference, I prefer the Catalan rhombic dodecahedron over the Platonic pentagonal dodecahedron as a d12 (the triakis tetrahedron, another Catalan solid, is also a 12-isohedron, but it's a very impractical shape for a die).

But back on topic, I don't have any dice superstitions per se, but I do play along with other players' superstitions because it's fun (and hey, that's the whole point of a game, right?). That said, I do have some notions of the way that things should be, that fail to be superstitions because I don't think there's any consequence for not doing those things, but they still should be that way. Specifically:

Dice should be used for specific purposes. If my ranger casts Hunter's Mark and attacks with a shortbow, I'm rolling a pair of d6. One of those dice is the arrow, and one is the Hunter's Mark, and I can tell you which one is which (in my case, because I use dice of appropriate shapes, though different colors or patterns would also be acceptable). And if I later instead cast a 2nd-level Ensnaring Strike, the 2d6 used for that would be different dice than the arrow or the Hunter's Mark.

Like many others, when dice are not in use but are sitting out (as opposed to in a bag or box where their orientation can't be controlled), they're kept with high number on top. While they're being used, they're kept on their last roll, but that's just a practical matter: No effort needed to change them, and it also enables one to ask "Wait, what was that roll again?".

Jay R
2020-07-31, 09:41 AM
I have a few dice rules. They are not superstitions, because they are rooted in practicality, and the fact that dice are tools.

[And these are *my* rules. Buy your dice your way.]

1. The number one purpose of a die is to give you a result, so dice that cannot be instantly read are not acceptable. Nothing should be printed on the face except the number, as large as possible.

2. The paint on the numbers should have high contrast with the color of the die.

3. Dice should be opaque, with a single color. [Exceptions will be made for subtle color variation that does not distract from reading the number.]

4. Jumbo dice are easier to read across the table, and are therefore preferred.

5. I prefer to have different colors for each type of dice. But multiple dice of the same type should be the same color. This makes it easier to grab the right dice each time [My current Ranger uses a guisarme, which does 2d4 damage. So I bring two purple d4s to the table.]

6. I also always bring a few extra non-use dice to the table each time, which change from game to game. Weird shapes, d1, d5, d7, d48, d60, d120, etc.

I have no problem with decorative or complex dice as decorations, and I have quite a few. But the dice I use in games are jumbo-sized, one-colored, and with good contrast.

Lord Torath
2020-07-31, 09:45 AM
I like having dice of different colors for certain purposes. For, example, rolling 2-digit numbers off of single-digit dice. When rolling 2d10 or 2d6 for that purpose, my standard is "the black is the tens".

ngilop
2020-07-31, 10:11 AM
Man, thanks for the laughs. I am not sure I have found anybody on your level.

Myself, I am pretty the opposite (other than keeping my first ever non-d6 die set, well only the d10 is still around) of what you do. I just look at die, and if they don't have any noticeable irregularities (like the d8 i saw once that had 2 -5s) i buy them and am good to go.


I do have a funny story to share though. Had a friend that was buying a new die. Said friend was getting his master's in statistics. Friend spent 10 or 12 minutes rolling the various die and ended up piking about a score or so (out of the like 150 or so he rolled). The stated reason "those other die roll bad" Even when I said 'wow, a living example of cognitive dissonance" he just shrugged and went about his business with his die ritual.

Zhorn
2020-07-31, 11:31 AM
I do have a funny story to share though. Had a friend that was buying a new die. Said friend was getting his master's in statistics. Friend spent 10 or 12 minutes rolling the various die and ended up piking about a score or so (out of the like 150 or so he rolled). The stated reason "those other die roll bad" Even when I said 'wow, a living example of cognitive dissonance" he just shrugged and went about his business with his die ritual.
Dude was getting a master's in statistic, of course he was going to take dice seriously.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b47zsPzTLI

Darth Credence
2020-07-31, 12:00 PM
Wow - I thought that dice superstitions were mostly jokes, but I guess not. Whatever rules people have are cool with me, though. These are great stories about rituals.
I want my dice to be easily readable, and I drop them in a rolling tower because I like to watch them drop (anyone annoyed by rolling dice when you don't have to would hate this about me!). Other than that, I buy them by the pound so I can grab what I need.

Quertus
2020-07-31, 12:52 PM
I don't have superstitions; I simply recognize that not all dice are created equal. And I prefer sets where I can get a disproportionate number of good rolls, particularly on the d8.


2. Proper dice have opposite sides that add up to n+1. If the opposites sides of your dice don’t add up to the same number, then they are not proper dice, and cannot be trusted. Wrap them up in fancy paper and give them to some kid you don’t like.

*Looks at my d4s…*


4. Jumbo dice are easier to read across the table, and are therefore preferred.

From my limited experience, it would seem jumbo dice would be easier to cheat with. Any "professional" cheaters care to comment?

From my much more extensive experience, I find jumbo dice much more disruptive, and much more dangerous when thrown.

So I think I'd have to describe my mood as "leery" if I saw someone break out the jumbo dice.


5. I prefer to have different colors for each type of dice. But multiple dice of the same type should be the same color. This makes it easier to grab the right dice each time [My current Ranger uses a guisarme, which does 2d4 damage. So I bring two purple d4s to the table.

This is brilliant! I'm kinda left wondering why this isn't "standard imperial procedure" among gamers.

KOLE
2020-07-31, 01:18 PM
Game Science dice are rated extremely highly... by Game Science. Zocchi talks the talk when it comes to die quality, but he can't walk the walk, and the company has produced some of the worse examples of biased dice you'll find anywhere. The real gold standard for quality dice is Dice Lab.


https://www.awesomedice.com/blogs/news/d20-dice-randomness-test-chessex-vs-gamescience

Zocchi was first and foremost a salesman, and though I won't denigrate him to con man, I will say he wasn't afraid to say things that weren't true. I'm not purely a victim of marketing, but if you follow the link above you'll see that Game Science are more accurate than your average Chessex. Not a huge difference for the casual person, but to enough to get me interested. Plus, I like the sharp dice. It's a good combination of aesthetic and scientific backing that I like. However, the man was hyperbolic. Obviously, the spur on the d20 threw off the results, despite his claims to the contrary. I do wish the above testers had tried it after shaving down the spur, since they claim the d20 was extremely close to accurate with the exception of the 14 face.

However, I am always interested in what is closest to accurate- I've been looking into CNC'ed aluminum dice (though they're much less pretty than GameScience translucent dice and I'm not fond of how heavy most metal dice are). I understand the engineering side but I haven't set seen any testing that has concluded them to be more accurate than others. And it's a big investment. I'll check out Dice Lab though.

EDIT: Also, for what it's worth, in all my digging around looking for reviews and such of the most accurate dice, I've routinely found people claiming their Game Science Dice have stood up to decades of use without blemish/chipping. Even if they're no more accurate than others, that may enough to prove their worth to me, as I've chipped cheaper dice before without much use. Not trying to pitch Game Science to you- or anyone, pick up a cheap dice set from your local store and have fun is the most important thing. Just trying to explain my justifications and pass on some research I've done.

Cicciograna
2020-07-31, 01:38 PM
"Being superstitious brings bad luck" (cit.)

I don't really have too many rules about dice. I see some people being very stern about them, but I love 'em even when they give me bad results. It's like having problematic children, you don't stop loving them because once and then they cause some trouble.

If I want to give a semblance of science to my rolling, I generally roll them once in a wihle during the session: if they consistently give bad results, I stop rolling, because that means that they will soon start dishing out high numbers to even it out. But I don't do that with a serious purpose: dice can feel that, and they can be offended.

If at all, I try not to put rationality in my rolling, but rather go on emotion: I try to feel them, feel what could be offending them, and not berate them when they fail me. And yes, forcing them to uniform to the Laws of Rationality? That's a pretty bad offense for them. Let 'em have their fun, they are not your enemies, they might be capricious, but in the end, they are your companions.

Lord Torath
2020-07-31, 04:04 PM
I do have a funny story to share though. Had a friend that was buying a new die. Said friend was getting his master's in statistics. Friend spent 10 or 12 minutes rolling the various die and ended up piking about a score or so (out of the like 150 or so he rolled). The stated reason "those other die roll bad" Even when I said 'wow, a living example of cognitive dissonance" he just shrugged and went about his business with his die ritual.Dude was getting a master's in statistic, of course he was going to take dice seriously.I think the point was that, as a Masters student of statistics, he should have known that there is no way he could really know how "well" they rolled without rolling them at least a couple hundred times each and tracking the results.

See the study KOLE linked to above (which really should have examined at least a ten - preferably more like a hundred - dice from each company if they wanted to be able to generalize about Chessex vs Game Science in general, instead of just comparing a particular Chessex die vs a particular Game Science die - as they admit at the end of their report).

I was under the impression that Game Science ground the sprue connection flush. Guess not.

LordCdrMilitant
2020-08-01, 12:07 PM
I'm not really superstitious, but I do have some traditions:
-Dice are ideally one solid colour, but more importantly must be opaque and with only the number on the face. The easier to read the better.


This is so true. It should always be obvious from at least the other side of the table what the result of the die is, especially amidst a roll of 40+


I didn’t think I was very superstitious about dice until I talked to a friend about my rituals and realized how many “rules” I had, and just today I bought my first new set in a long time and realized my superstition may cause me to throw them out.

My rules:
-Only buy translucent dice. If they have bubbles or blemishes, it’s a no-go. (Exceptions are my first ever dice set which I keep and use for sentimental reasons and one lucky die, and of course any dice gifted me)
-When dice are placed on the table for play, neither the maximum nor minimum value can be facing up. After rolling, keep the last result facing up whenever possible.
-Before a game starts, I “pre-roll”. When I’m DMing, I stop when I’ve rolled above average a couple times or anytime I’ve rolled maximum value. This gets the high rolls out of the way as I have a habit of critting my players frequently.
-When I’m playing a character though, I do the exact opposite for the opposite reason.
-When dice are first purchased or used, you have one break in roll. If the roll is bad, this is now a cursed die to be used only when DMing. If it rolls exceptionally well, it’s kept in reserve for critical moments. Otherwise it’s in my normal rotation.
-Some people are unlucky. These people may not touch my dice, but of course I will gift the dice if needed. I just won’t want them back.

I bought a pretty new set today, and most of the break in rolls, including the d20, were natural ones. I’m seriously considering getting rid of them. It didn’t dawn on me until just now how truly superstitious I am. I know it’s silly, you don’t have to tell me. Am I crazy or is snybody else on this level?

My dice rituals are mostly developed from tradition with the dice. A new set of dice has no known traits, but over time it's rituals will be discovered:
-When purchased, pour them out and inspect them. Humorously laugh about the D6 that looks like it has 2 3's while making sure the others are normal for their type.
-If a group of dice rolls badly on something important [like 4 1's out of 5 on a tank bailout] they go back in the box for today.
-It's not just polite to hand your opponent the dice you rolled for wounds when you roll a large roll, it's suspicious to refuse.
-When re-rolling dice, re-roll the same dice.
-The Red Polyhedral Dice favor players, with nothing but 93+'s when I roll them but happy to get 1's and 10's when the players have them, or when I'm a PC.
-The Evil Grey Dice are actually evil beyond the way the 2 side is printed. Hand them out to players for Wrath Die. Doubly so after rolling them and giving out those that rolled 1's. Do not roll for anything important. Important! Only the 10 Evil Grey Dice that came with Hit the Beach are actually evil, the 6 that came with Tanks are okay, keep them separate.
-The Evil Green Dice are really just profiled against. They're mostly normal, except for the symbol of eternal evil on the 2's face.
-When playing Twilight Struggle, the American player can only roll the blue die, and the Soviet player can only roll the red die.
-Only the itty bitty die/dice that came with the game are allowed to be rolled for Panzer Leader/Blitz, and Tobruk. To do otherwise is to curse yourself on the CRT and find all your rolls come up 6's.
-The Miracle Dice are for Miracle Dice. They're also for that one different weapon that's more important than the others in the squad. Or if you need a miracle, like rolling for initiative.

Knaight
2020-08-01, 12:49 PM
Dice superstitions actively annoy me. That said, I do have some finnicky aesthetic preferences that I follow that are behaviorally adjacent. Notably:

1) Dice should be plastic or wood. I can appreciate a nice stone or metal die, but from a usability perspective they play poorly with too many surfaces.

2) If die color actually indicates something, mix colors. Otherwise don't. In any game where you roll 2d6, 3d6, 4dF, etc. for your basic roll I make a point of having matched sets to use. Though I do have a few players who like to playfully antagonize me with hideous color mixes.

3) I like my dice to be pretty, but relatively plain. A simple speckling or marbling goes a long way, but I also have a lot of solid color dice in colors I like.

4) Dice should all be approximately the same size. Those tiny d6 found in blocks of 36 just don't mix well with your standard polyhedral size.


I think the point was that, as a Masters student of statistics, he should have known that there is no way he could really know how "well" they rolled without rolling them at least a couple hundred times each and tracking the results.
That said if you roll a whole bunch of different dice once and select the ones that roll best you'll end up with a disproportionate number of dice that skew towards one high number. You can't be confident about any individual die, but you can have confidence in a distribution of distributions sense.

Alcore
2020-08-01, 08:38 PM
Vary.

From my Yu-gi-oh days i noticed that i was infusing my cards with my energy (it's a wicca thing, don't ask) and i could usually predict my cards. I also notice this has carried over to my dice. They become either "lucky" or "perpetually exhausted" depending on the viewer. Can't roll twenty on demand but i can choose to roll high or low (which defeats the purpose of rolling).


I replace dice frequently. Touch them as little as possible and, where possible, ...use someone elses dice.

Eegal-Ayed
2020-08-02, 12:41 AM
I only have two superstitions, but I think that's less a factor of my predisposition for superstitions and more a result of how little DnD I have played.

-Dice must always have their minimum value face up when not in use, to "bleed" the bad luck out of them.

-Dice must stick to their lanes. For example, I only use my red dice for combat where my party is the aggressor.

Anti-Eagle
2020-08-02, 01:56 AM
I don't like people touching my dice... that probably has more to do with my phobias though.

Anonymouswizard
2020-08-02, 07:10 AM
I also notice this has carried over to my dice. They become either "lucky" or "perpetually exhausted" depending on the viewer. Can't roll twenty on demand but i can choose to roll high or low (which defeats the purpose of rolling).

Starting here because I do not want to get into the earlier parts of your post beyond the following: confirmation bias is a thing, and I used to avoid Terminators in 40k because I was convinced their 2+ saves failed more than a standard Marine's 3+ save.

This... honestly this is all true but is due to how rolling works. Rolling dice isn't that good of a random number generator, not only are most dice biased in one way or another but the way you roll them influences the result. It's why you get some people insisting that storing low is better and others that storing high is better, because due to the way they roll that's what tends to get them the high numbers, and you can change the number you roll by changing your hand movements.

Many roleplayers' resistance to move to electronic die rollers is more a case of tradition than anything, electronic rollers are generally closer to true random than dice are and identical for everybody who uses them. Sure you can hack an electronic roller, but why bother when you can just bake dice to make them roll higher.

Tanarii
2020-08-02, 06:21 PM
- if at all possible use different dice from the last ones you rolled of the same type
- always shake well
- if you can't shake well, especially for a single die, give it a little spin when you roll it

#substitions

Knaight
2020-08-02, 11:52 PM
Many roleplayers' resistance to move to electronic die rollers is more a case of tradition than anything, electronic rollers are generally closer to true random than dice are and identical for everybody who uses them. Sure you can hack an electronic roller, but why bother when you can just bake dice to make them roll higher.

There are counterpoints to the increased randomness. Most notably there's the tactile side where just shaking dice around in your hand and tossing them on the table is sort of fun on its own, and there's how anything the electronic dice rollers are on has real potential as a distraction far beyond the dice do.

Lacco
2020-08-03, 01:21 AM
If it did not roll, it is not considered a roll.

If someone rolls a die that comes as failure multiple times in a row, check it (roll again). If it's a failure again, get another die and reroll.

Do not ever hand your dice to Milan (one of my RL players). Dice touched by him always fail spectacularly on important rolls.

Seriously. The guy fails 95% of combat rolls, but if he rolls for something unimportant (e.g. baking a cake), he can not fail.

Anonymouswizard
2020-08-03, 04:40 AM
There are counterpoints to the increased randomness. Most notably there's the tactile side where just shaking dice around in your hand and tossing them on the table is sort of fun on its own, and there's how anything the electronic dice rollers are on has real potential as a distraction far beyond the dice do.

Oh sure, dice are fun to roll and phones are a distraction, but I'm competing with phones anyway because I'm not going to force my players to turn them off, and when the party inevitably splits playing with your phone is fine by me as long as you still notice when we switch back to you.

The ideal would be some sort of gizmo that is basically just a couple of chips, a screen or pair of seven segment displays, and a bunch of buttons (one for each kind of dice you want to use, plus some kind of numeric keypad). But a) it doesn't go click clack and b) every group I've played with hasn't cared about how random their dice are, the arguments we've had were all about legibility versus prettiness.

noob
2020-08-03, 04:59 AM
I have the following superstition: gms due to rolling more dice than any individual player due to them using frequently more than one monster are bound to have more critical strikes or natural twenties than any other individual player and so if they use monsters with epic effect on crits they are bound to kill one player more times one player will kill with a critical strike a monster thus making effects like vorpal be in favour of the gm and an overall poor modifier for a player (in relative to the player killing benefits the gm gets from granting vorpal to all the monsters).
In truth everyone knows many dms cheats to remove twenties they roll thanks to the gm screen.

Knaight
2020-08-04, 04:22 AM
Oh sure, dice are fun to roll and phones are a distraction, but I'm competing with phones anyway because I'm not going to force my players to turn them off, and when the party inevitably splits playing with your phone is fine by me as long as you still notice when we switch back to you.

There are degrees of competing with phones though - if they're all just in a pocket, whatever. If they're pulled out anyways they have a lot more distraction power.

Raijinken
2020-08-04, 10:22 PM
Not really. To me, its just dice (regardless whoever owns it). I just throw them if I have to, hope for the best, and go with whatever the numbers will be.


The person who started this thread (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?616596-Help-Wanted) is a prime example of a person this applies to.

Thanks a lot!

Wizard_Lizard
2020-08-08, 03:25 PM
I ain’t superstitious about my math rocks at all. I just need all of tha shinies ones Oo so pretties!

Also I have a player who has cursed dice. Rolled several Nat 1s in a single session, roughly three per combat.