Calculator at the table

[oxinabox]

Do you play with a calculator at hand?
As a player?
As a DM?


As a DM i always have a calculator, I need to get number moved fast.
as a player i normally don't.
seems a bit rude, pressing buttons mid game.
for a dm it's ok, cos of the 'player/dm separation' (often represented by the dm screen.

I'm a uni maths undergraduate.
Mathematicians as a rule are poor at arithmetic.
I carry a scieftic calculaor everywhere with me.
WHo knows when your going to need to multiply some complex numbers. or find some matrix products. or do some simple trig?

oooh! I haz 72+32i HP left!
Sweet i'm going to make a monster that deals imaginary damage!

aside of topic:
A neat trick fpr players to keep track of HP is to record damage (too me ages to think of that), instead of remaining HP, and then go unconscios when that reachs Max Hp.
addtion is easier than subraction.

But As a DM that's to hard as that would involve recording the max hp and the current wounds.

[AstralFire]

I play online, so yes.

The few times I've played in person was when I was in high school. A high school where everyone - EVERYONE - had a graphing calculator at all times. Even the jocks (...such as we had jocks, anyway). So yes to then, too. :D

[Irreverent Fool]

Back when I started playing RPGs, I was in high school. The school had a (ridiculously) strict policy on dice, card, board games, etc. So those of us with graphing calculators (or those of us who had them checked out from the math lab) programmed dice rollers into them. Granted, you could just run a random number function without a program, but we thought it was neat to have our own little programs.

Generally, I don't find I need them at the table as I do my best to write down all my attack options and typical temporary buffs ahead of time. I don't complain if someone needs one and generally one of those same TI graphing calculators is sitting out on the table if anyone needs to use it.

If you need a calculator to add things up in D&D, you either haven't been playing long enough, or spend too much time on the CO boards.

obnoxious
sig

[Nevitan]

I never bring one as a DM or player, I mostly do things in my head. As far as things like monster hp goes I think it's easier just to keep it written down instead of on a calculator, especially with multiple enemies. But as for having one at the table, we have one guy who always brings one and it doesn't hurt anything to keep it around.

[Yora]

The only thing I ever thought worthy of a calculator is XP at the end of the session. Everything else I do with pen and paper.

[AslanCross]

I'm horrible at math, so I still sometimes have to use a calculator or OneNote to compute. I've gotten a lot better at mental arithmetic since I started D&D though, so I don't need calculators so much.

[Fostire]

I always carry a calculator with me, but in dnd I only use it to calculate how much a custom magic item would cost.

[Gadora]

I've only used mine when it comes time to divide the loot.

[TheThan]

My math is horrible, so i carry one with my dnd stuff.

is not much but it works just fine.

[CrazedPachyderm]

I've gotten into the habit of having my laptop for D&D, so as a mathematician I have access to MATLAB and Mathematica if I need to make some calculations that can't be done in my head. For example, I was playing a warlock and the enemy was flying overhead some distance away, so instead of trying to find the 3D distance with the D&D metric, I just found the Euclidean distance to see if I was in range.

[only1doug]

I don't use a calculator (i never need too) but a fellow player and the GM both do use them. It makes life easier for them.

[Yukitsu]

I do most math in my head, but when I'm doing stuff like "Determining the covergent firing archs of cannons with 5 degree reach on a broadside for concentrated fire" I usually use Excel spread sheet, because it tells me how much I can get at the less optimal ranges, since I'm not always at the best distance for this stuff.

[TheCountAlucard]

I see the rare occasion here and there to use a calculator; most of the time, my cell phone suffices.

[Irreverent Fool]

That calculator I mentioned before is usually used to hold down one corner of the vinyl gaming mat, come to think of it.

obnoxious
sig

[Mongoose87]

We have three at the table I play at.

[The Dark Fiddler]

oooh! I haz 72+32i HP left!
Sweet i'm going to make a monster that deals imaginary damage!

Ok, I'll bite. How the hell does one get imaginary HP?

Anyway, back on topic; no, I don't play with a calculator, but the game I play in is a pretty informal game, we're constantly forgetting rules and eyeballing things. But it's fun, and that's all that matters.

[kjones]

I'll use my laptop's calculator program for dividing up XP. Sometimes, if I'm adding up encumbrance values, it's easier to punch them into a calculator as I read them than to keep a running total in my head.

That's pretty much it.

[Siosilvar]

Ok, I'll bite. How the hell does one get imaginary HP?

AAAAGH MATH(S)
Level: Clr e, Sor/Wiz π
Components: V, S, F
Casting Time: (∑ 1/(2^n))/2 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Touched creature
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Math(s) Resistance: Yes

The touched creature's HP total is square-rooted. Do not drop fractions.

Focus: A calculator.

[xPANCAKEx]

i have no issue with it as such, but when someones using to work out the probabilities of something then it gets a bit sucky

[kjones]

AAAAGH MATH(S)
Level: Clr e, Sor/Wiz π
Components: V, S, F
Casting Time: (∑ 1/(2^n))/2 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Touched creature
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Math(s) Resistance: Yes

The touched creature's HP total is square-rooted. Do not drop fractions.

Focus: A calculator.

Wow, so a level infinity wizard would take exactly one standard action to cast?

I propose:
Powerset
Conjuration (Summoning)
Level: Wizard Aleph-null, Cleric Aleph-one
Components: V,S
Casting Time: 1 round
Range: 25 ft. + 5 ft./level
Target: Touched set
Duration: See text
Saving Throw: None
Math Resistance: e^(π*i)

You summon the powerset of the set you touch. The duration is equal to the cardinality of the summoned set.

If you touch a countably infinite set... I guess you have to houserule the validity of the continuum hypothesis in your world.

[valadil]

I can add faster than you can type so I don't usually bother with a calculator at the game table. The only time I think it's necessary is for GURPs character creation.

[Kylarra]

I usually have my laptop at the gaming table, although that's more for book reference than calculating.

[oxinabox]

i keep monster HP on paper.
But hten when monsters are attacked.
Eg the TWF Pirate Ninja (=surprise damage + poisoner):
Deals 8 +21+10+ 7+5+4 damage from various attacks in one round.
then i type the numbers in and announce that there is now a dead warlock on the deck.

[Tar Palantir]

I find it convenient to have, despite the fact that it's rarely necessary, per say. It just does things effortlessly and quickly, thus allowing me to focus on the game, rather than double checking my math in my head.

[Gralamin]

Calculators are used when I'm to lazy to do it. Otherwise, my Mental math is fast enough that there is no need.

[Coidzor]

About the only thing we use it for is for calculating our estimated GP value of selling off all of our loot, since we have a nasty habit of prying up the lead lining, ripping the steel doors off of their hinges, and even stealing the mooks' boots.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

I'm very good at math, but I always have access to a computational device of some sort; since we don't have much room for D&D books in our dorm rooms, everyone in my group brings their laptops to each session to access the SRD or any ebooks they bought to replace the hardcovers, so calculators or game-aid programs are readily available.

The few times I've played in person was when I was in high school. A high school where everyone - EVERYONE - had a graphing calculator at all times. Even the jocks (...such as we had jocks, anyway). So yes to then, too. :D

I was in exactly the same situation in my school; if a thief popped out while a student was walking home and yelled "Your money or your life!" the student would most likely respond "Oh, my money? That's all? You can have it; just leave me my TI-89."

Slightly off-topic, might I ask where you went to school? There are only a few schools I know of where students have such an attachment to their calculators....

[Random832]

In practically any high school a graphing calculator (at least a TI-83) is basically required for all the math classes, and there's no reason _not_ to carry it around, particularly given the easy availability of games for them.

[Superglucose]

Sample of what happened at last week's session:

"Ok, I can't see my enemies, so I need to make a robot that will see the enemies for me and translate the images directly to my brain... that's Quality*175 for the chassis, Q*Q*15 for the sensors, Q*100 for the radio, Rating*Rating*150 for the operating system, Q*Q*100 for the Ghost's Cloak to keep it from getting shot, aaaand... ok, Q*1500*.2*1.3 for the antimatter reactor. Oh, and 1/10 lb of fuel. The chassis is at 1/2 cost here, the sensors and radio are at 75% cost, the ghost's cloak is at 150%, the reactor is at 75% and the fuel is at 200%."

Yes, we always play with calculators... usually one per person. I use a Ti-89 Titanium just in case I have the desire to preform integrals.

(actually, yes, I have had to solve optimization problems (from calculus) in the middle of game to figure out exactly how to build a robot)

[PairO'Dice Lost]

In practically any high school a graphing calculator (at least a TI-83) is basically required for all the math classes, and there's no reason _not_ to carry it around, particularly given the easy availability of games for them.

Well, at my HS people are almost constantly playing games on them, programming with them, organizing their schedules with them, and otherwise using them for non-math purposes, and having a high-end (TI-89 or higher) calculator is practically required since most students start with calculus as freshmen and go on from there. Like I said, it's not really that people always just happen to have them on hand, but that they treat them as absolutely indispensable, kind of like how many office workers treat their iPhones and BlackBerries. (There's no TI-89 App Store yet selling, say, D&D aids, but not for a lack of trying. )