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View Full Version : I stole all the luck, ever.



Admiral Squish
2007-12-15, 08:50 PM
I was rolling up a new character sheet, a second-level ranger, and since my DM uses the DGR (damn good reason) system, I was rolling for a magic item. It was just going to be a plus one minor magic item. But I rolled a hundred. And another hundred, and yet another hundred. That's six effects, right there. Over the course of the rolling for these, I rolled ANOTHER six effects, and the DM practically broke down in tears. I ended up with a flaming, thundering, shocking, frosting, keen, ghost touch, mighty cleaving, wounding, holy, anarchic, disrupting, speedy morningstar (he said to start rolling for major after the third time I got keen, in case you noticed the higher-powered effects there.). Then came the armor. Similarly, I ended up with an improved electricity resistance, Improved cold resistance, Improved acid resistance, spell resistance 19, Improved sonic resistance, Improved fire resistance, Ghost touch studded leather suit. In exchange for a promise not to use these items until level 20, I managed to get a whole mess of smaller items for my trouble.

I swear to any god you want me to, I am not making this stuff up, and I didn't cheat on my rolls. I just happened to hit the far right end of the bell curve. Now, in theory, there's only so many times this can happen in the whole of existence. I also thought that was just too good to keep to myself. So, sorry if I stole your chance at the big one, there.

Chronicled
2007-12-15, 08:54 PM
New set of dice, by any chance?

Admiral Squish
2007-12-15, 08:57 PM
No, borrowed, actually.

Freelance Henchman
2007-12-15, 08:57 PM
LUCK DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY!!!!

/Morbo

TheLogman
2007-12-15, 08:57 PM
You do realize that the weapon in question is in fact of EPIC level?

Anyway, what kind of die are you using? The older versions of dice from previous D&D sets have the good numbers on one half and the bad numbers on the other.

Also, did you roll exactly the same time? By doing that, you can make it absolute that you receive any given number.

Even given those, great luck man, but your DM is gonna be kinda angry when your +alot magic weapon ahem "Pwns the N00bsors".

FlyMolo
2007-12-15, 09:01 PM
If I was the DM, I would authorize use of such a weapon/armor.

After all, in all probability, this would never happen to me. But I'd throw up a couple monsters designed to take it away from you.

Epic_Wizard
2007-12-15, 09:03 PM
You would be amazed at how often something like this happens.

My brother wound up with an Intelligent Brilliant Energy Battle-Axe that had a special purpose of killing Lawful Evil creatures which it could Feeblemind once per day, could disintegrate Undead, and could cast Shield once (I think) per day. Oh and it could speak like 5 languages, communicate telepathically, had an Int score higher than his character but less Wisdom, and was named by Cuisanart by our DM.

After we got up from the floor and our sides stopped shaking I later decided to create some random magic items and actually hundreds tend to cause things like that. As you roll more hundreds you will increase the number of effects that the weapon has which at the same time increases the odds that you will have to roll again and get another hundred.

That said the fact that this happened to a one effect weapon probably made an entire party fail their saves against a maximized fireball.

Also the math geek in me needs to point out that this isn't really a bell curve because, if I am remembering the tables correctly, things other than the 'roll on the major effects table' and the 'roll two more times' result have similarly sized ranges.

Anyways don't do that again :smallconfused:

THINK OF THE REFLEX SAVES MAN!!! THINK OF THE SAVES!!! :smallwink:

The_Werebear
2007-12-15, 09:04 PM
At that point, you say "Look, this isn't right," and tone it down from there. Your DM and the other players will thank you.

Admiral Squish
2007-12-15, 09:10 PM
If I was the DM, I would authorize use of such a weapon/armor.

After all, in all probability, this would never happen to me. But I'd throw up a couple monsters designed to take it away from you.

That's the beautiful part! Since I swore not to use them until level twenty, and that many magic effects could probably seen like an earthbound sun with any detect magic spell, the idea is I not only have to carry out my main goals in the journey, I have to protect the items too, since they're only stored in ways a second-level ranger could afford.

Falconer
2007-12-15, 09:11 PM
Was the morningstar forged from raw 'win' by any chance?

Doesn't matter if that would have killed the game, luck like that deserves a high five. :smalltongue:

Chronicled
2007-12-15, 09:13 PM
If I was the DM, I would authorize use of such a weapon/armor.

After all, in all probability, this would never happen to me. But I'd throw up a couple monsters designed to take it away from you.

In which case, you might as well just make the player reroll, and phrase it so that it sounds like they're just being a better player than taking advantage of those sorts of rolls. Ideally, you shouldn't be taking away a player's items.

Now, if I *did* have to take away that sort of item, there'd be a scene where the player had to sacrifice the item to save the party/world/etc, so that at least the player gets to feel that they used it well. Ex.: a monster that the player knows will absorb all the weapon's magic, but will die in the process (this specific one would give a campaign hook of having the player attempting to restore their weapon's magic). Better than having a rogue pilfer the item while the character with said item is sleeping.

Glawackus
2007-12-15, 09:22 PM
And I thought I was lucky when my ranger got the Quiver of Many Arrows and a flaming sword. :smallfrown:

SpiderKoopa
2007-12-15, 09:23 PM
Your luck reminds me of a time when one of my friends almost got to be ninja Jesus.
Don't ask.

MeklorIlavator
2007-12-15, 10:35 PM
Where/what is the DGR system? I've never heard of it.

JackMage666
2007-12-15, 11:12 PM
That's not luck, that's statistically significant. Something is wrong with your dice.

SurlySeraph
2007-12-15, 11:19 PM
Your luck reminds me of a time when one of my friends almost got to be ninja Jesus.
Don't ask.

*asks* fillertext

Admiral Squish
2007-12-15, 11:19 PM
Where/what is the DGR system? I've never heard of it.

DGR is Damn Good Reason. Said best by this man: R.H Junior (http://www.rhjunior.com/GH/Images/00061.gif)

de-trick
2007-12-15, 11:20 PM
I'd use it at second level to pwn every monster that came my way. But soon a thief would try to steeal it will I slept. But good job on the lucky dice

SpiderKoopa
2007-12-15, 11:37 PM
*asks* fillertext

Ok, you asked...

One of my friends asked the DM at the beginning of one campaign if he could be ninja Jesus. The DM, never wanting to say 'never' but instead put forth nigh impossible rolls depending on the task... Well, I believe it was something the effect of having to roll 4 natural 20's and then 3 100's... He got the three 20's and then rolled two 100's and then... 98. Or 99. Something like that.:smalltongue:

Archangel Yuki
2007-12-16, 12:11 AM
REminds me of the time I rolled on the random generated treasure table for like 5th or 6th level and ended up with a +3 light forfication ghost touch fire resistance breastplate of spell resistance.

Gods, it was so horrible.

Yami
2007-12-16, 01:13 AM
Honestly the way I would handle such treasure is to indeed take it from the party. You allow them to play with it for a few fights, then some Big Bad comes and takes it, thief, wizards, dragon, whatever.

Now you have a campiagn.

Because they are going to try to get it back. And when they do? They've earned it proper, and may keep it.

Tequila Sunrise
2007-12-16, 01:28 AM
Now, in theory, there's only so many times this can happen in the whole of existence.

That's an urban myth; everybody knows that luck begets luck--it's only when we start thinking about and trying to analyze the die rolls that the luck waves are interrupted. That's why beginners luck exists and why somewhere there is some unfortunate near-vegetable that always wins at craps, blackjack and any other game involving dice or cards. Now if only I could find and use him for my own personal gain...

AtomicKitKat
2007-12-16, 01:38 AM
You do realise you are now obligated to retire those dice in Plexiglass cases like a signed Major League Baseball right?:smalltongue:

kamikasei
2007-12-16, 04:58 AM
Also, did you roll exactly the same time? By doing that, you can make it absolute that you receive any given number.

I don't follow.

Fuzzy_Juan
2007-12-16, 06:02 AM
everyone has had at least one random fluke case of stupid luck where a magic item randomly generated turns into a major magic item of pure ownage, with a big bonus, more specials than any weapon ever, and intelligent to boot...problem is, most of the time that sort of thing happens, there is usually a downside...like...it is on a quarterstaff, or a shortspear...or a suit of banded mail.

when rolling weapons/armor, if something just seems wrong or stupid...we will reroll it. like...who the hell has a suit of magical padded armor made?!?! I will always remember with fondness my warrior's favorite treasure pull...

a +3 mighty cleaving brilliant energy construct and undead bane dagger. It was probably one of my best rolls for getting a weapon...a total enhancement of +10...I was stoked...then we said...oh...lets roll for weapon type...I was like "Can I just have a longsword?"...dagger...crap...well, that is ok...it will still kick ass against the bane targets and if it is something really cool then it will be great as an offhand...so we rolled what the banes were...undead...construct...I damn near cried...the Dm laughed so hard he said I could roll up another weapon and keep the dagger with NO changes...it actually came in handy once or twice.

daggaz
2007-12-16, 08:26 AM
@Kamikasi

Thats because the logman is wrong. He is assuming that if you toss a die "exactly" the same way (hold it in the same manner, with the same facing, and give it the same push in the same direction with the same spin etc...) you can control which way it will turn up.

The biggest problem with his logic is the qualifier 'absolute.' Cuz thats just flat out wrong. A very skilled dice thrower could maybe get it so that he can influence the results in his favor, but nobody on earth can get it always, or even within a certain significant degree of precision. There are just too many factors, imperfections in the dice, the impossibility of giving it the same directional and angular velocity, imperfections in the rolling surface, hell even the stickiness of your skin is going to influence things. Its a chaotic system, as it is meant to be, and the slightest changes can result in drastically different results, which is why we get the nice bell curve over enough iterations.

No. You can "fudge" dice rolls, but its no exact science, and usually its crude tricks, like weighted dice, poor number arrangement, and spinning, etc... If people could honestly do what logman is saying, dice would have died out long ago as system of generating random chance.

But maybe Logman can do it. In which case, please sir, post it on Youtube for the rest of us to see.

kamikasei
2007-12-16, 08:37 AM
Thats because the logman is wrong. He is assuming that if you toss a die "exactly" the same way (hold it in the same manner, with the same facing, and give it the same push in the same direction with the same spin etc...) you can control which way it will turn up.

I thought it might have been supposed to be something like that... in which case it should probably have read "roll exactly the same [way] EACH time". Which is unworkable for all the reasons you describe.

If Logman can roll a (fair) dice so as to produce a number requested in advance with anything like statistical signifigance - let's say, he gets it right half the time for a twenty-sided die - I would say, skip YouTube and go directly to James Randi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Randi_Educational_Foundation#The_One_Million _Dollar_Paranormal_Challenge).

MMad
2007-12-16, 08:52 AM
That's the beautiful part! Since I swore not to use them until level twenty, and that many magic effects could probably seen like an earthbound sun with any detect magic spell, the idea is I not only have to carry out my main goals in the journey, I have to protect the items too, since they're only stored in ways a second-level ranger could afford.

The way I'd handle this situation, as a DM, would be to take the item back with a promise that it would fall into the character's hands, with a good story reason, at some point in the future where it'd be less stupid. Requiring you to carry it around for months of gaming without using it makes no sense and seems like it'd be more of a hassle than anything else. Imo. :)

Roderick_BR
2007-12-16, 10:22 AM
Now I know why I can't roll anything decent.

SoD
2007-12-16, 03:23 PM
I personally love watching my players have brilliant luck at the wrong times.

In a single encounter, everyone in the party rolled at least 2 or 3 critical hits, and confirmed every single on. They all looked so happy, and were amazed at A: their luck and B: the fact I was throwing something so tough at them. But they looked so happy! It broke my heart to tell them that ''hey guys, umm...skeletons are immune to critical hits...''

Suzuro
2007-12-16, 03:51 PM
Wow...man, you're like a terrorist..a luck terrorist, stealing it all.....we need to make a new class...the Luck Rogue! Yeah, you definitely start in this class.



-Suzuro

martyboy74
2007-12-16, 03:55 PM
I believe that that's called fatespinner.

SoD
2007-12-16, 04:01 PM
And how many luck feats do you have?

deadseashoals
2007-12-16, 04:53 PM
I believe that that's called fatespinner.

Or you know, the Luckstealer. I'm not kidding.

Lolzords
2007-12-16, 05:04 PM
Haha, good old lady luck, winks down on what you're doing.

You should see the stats I just rolled for my Orc Barbarian/Fighter/Frenzied Berserker:

16
18
13
15
16
14

Not cheating or anything, after ability score modifiers it turned out as:

Str: 22
Dex: 16
Con: 16
Int: 11
Wis: 12
Cha: 13

Still, with every gift there's a downside, as I rolled these at home on a friday night instead of at the session a few hours earlier, I'm betting that someone's going to say I cheated on these rolls when I show them tomorrow.

herrhauptmann
2007-12-16, 05:14 PM
SOD's got a point, your character should take luck feats.

RandomNPC
2007-12-16, 05:47 PM
on the OP. yea, i've seen that. one of my players just cross classed into DM and made a first time mistake. everyones level 20 character, not counting ECL. I'm a half dragon and someone else is dark elf.

not only did the DM say level twenty before ECL, he also threw out the following:

2d12 minor magic items
2d10 medium magic items
2d8 major magic items

i got a quarter staf better than what i paid for, so i sold it and bought my armor and upgraded my sword with the cash from it.

Gungnir
2007-12-16, 05:55 PM
You should see the stats I just rolled for my Orc Barbarian/Fighter/Frenzied Berserker:

16
18
13
15
16
14

That's nothing. The first game of DnD I ever played, I decided to roll up a halfling rogue. Rolled 18. DM congratulated me. Rolled 18. DM Chuckled. Rolled 18. DM started calling everyone over. Finished with a 17, a 15 and a 16. Everyone just kinda sat there for a second, and then one of them punched me in the back of the head (she's nonviolent and weighs like 110, so it didn't hurt much) and everyone started yelling at me. The next guy to roll for stats got like all 12's, with the same dice. They were officially decommissioned because their luck capacitors were blown out.

Roderick_BR
2007-12-16, 06:41 PM
I personally love watching my players have brilliant luck at the wrong times.

In a single encounter, everyone in the party rolled at least 2 or 3 critical hits, and confirmed every single on. They all looked so happy, and were amazed at A: their luck and B: the fact I was throwing something so tough at them. But they looked so happy! It broke my heart to tell them that ''hey guys, umm...skeletons are immune to critical hits...''

Heh. I have a friend that tends to roll criticals aways at dramatic moments.
Once he attacked the leader of the enemy's army while ridding, and dealt enough damage to instakill the guy, and in other game, with a caster, he used true strike, then ray of frost aiming the eyes of the prison's guard to distract him while the others forced their way out, and he critted too.

Snadgeros
2007-12-16, 07:01 PM
You jackass.:smallyuk: You took my luck! I needed that! :smallmad: That failed fort save cost me my character at the VERY END of our campaign! (see sig) :smallfurious: I was so close too! It's my best save and YOU had to take all my luck! I hate you.:smallyuk:

Admiral Squish
2007-12-16, 09:50 PM
You jackass.:smallyuk: You took my luck! I needed that! :smallmad: That failed fort save cost me my character at the VERY END of our campaign! (see sig) :smallfurious: I was so close too! It's my best save and YOU had to take all my luck! I hate you.:smallyuk:

Ahh! I'm sorry! Don't eat me!

Azukius
2007-12-16, 10:28 PM
Its thanks to you that my level six fighter got murdered by three goblins, they rolled straight twenties and i got five natural ones in a row, the dms a hard ass as well and let him die. i miss that guy.

dentrag2
2007-12-22, 10:40 PM
You do realise you are now obligated to retire those dice in Plexiglass cases like a signed Major League Baseball right?:smalltongue:

Hey, its me. im Admirals DM. those dice were actually MY dice, and so i wouldent appriciate having them retired in a plexiglass container. but to be honest, i checked the bonuses, its not legally possible in the game. its a plus ****in 19 weapon.....

ShneekeyTheLost
2007-12-22, 11:18 PM
This is why I do not make my players roll randomly for magic items. They get a set bonus (i.e. a +1) to choose from on a set item, or a cash value to purchase with (i.e. using the WBL chart).