Luck Patterns in DnD?

[Krow]

Sometimes there are people who are blessed and cursed in this world. The roll of the dice isn't all that random for everybody. This is a thread regarding that...

Taking our gaming group as an example, we roll dice for ability scores. So as luck would have it, my character's "random" ability scores actually DEPEND on my alignment. The farther away from the "Good" axis my character's alignment is, the crappier his stats tends to be.

Another thing I notice in my group would be the "Taunt the Dice Gods Irony". It occurs whenever a player through sheer overconfidence, taunts/belittles the situation, often finalizing into disastrous results...

D&D 3.5:
<Opponent casts ray of enfeeblement on fighter>
Fighter: I can easily resist that with a 3 or higher!
<Rolls a 2>

Call of Cthulhu D20:
Me: With my PC and the blinding effect of a flashbang, that creature can only hit me on a roll of 20.
Monster <Rolls a 20, confirms with a 20...>
(To this day, I still thank my luck stars for concealment - I only had 12 HP in that game...)

Anyway, you guys suffer / experience the same kind of phenomenon? Stories would be great

[Mando Knight]

Rules of Dice Rolling:

1.) Never tempt fate.
2.) Always be prepared to roll a critical failure. Always.
3.) Treat your dice well, and they will reciprocate. Eventually.
4.) Be humble, lest probability knocks on your door with an invoice.

[Krow]

Your sig is truth.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

My DM rolls multiple crits per combat. Generally on 20/x3 weapons. Whereas I consider it a good session where I average 8 or better.

Fun fact, on one occasion, our 5 member party was entering a room with 3 oozes hiding. Spot DC 15, our party had just lost the members that had major ranks, but DC 15, any of us could make it. 15 Spot rolls. All failed. We still don't know how that happened.

[Starbuck_II]

Sometimes there are people who are blessed and cursed in this world. The roll of the dice isn't all that random for everybody. This is a thread regarding that...

Another thing I notice in my group would be the "Taunt the Dice Gods Irony". It occurs whenever a player through sheer overconfidence, taunts/belittles the situation, often finalizing into disastrous results...

D&D 3.5:
<Opponent casts ray of enfeeblement on fighter>
Fighter: I can easily resist that with a 3 or higher!
<Rolls a 2>

Fighter has SR? RoE has no save...

But yeah, I've had times when great luck.
I was a level 7 wu jen trying out my Snake Darts.
I hit the fire giant (there was 4, tough battle) with one. Now as you can tell they have good Fort saves so he was only going to fail on a 6 or something.

The giant rolled a 1 twice (one for each dart). And I rolled max Fort damage. (12 con). While I didn't kill the Giant alone, the 36 damage from the darts also wounded it so the fight could kill it (he was a sword and board fight so nor a lot of damage).

Then we fight a Hydra (7 heads). It hurt the the Fighter bad, and then I decided it might have good Fort but I still do 2 x 3d6. Maybe it will fail 1 of the Fort saves.
It failed both again... That meant (I rolled 10 con damage) so he lost 35 from Con and 20 damage =56 damage.
The thing was down since they dealt 21 to it before.

Best part: like actual poison they hit again in 10 rounds. But nothing ever lives long enough for that to matter.

Since then when we found a pearl of power 4th, they wanted me to use the pearl for that spell. Everytime I cast it: things just die.

I kinda liked playing that campaign (well the torture wasn't that much fun that one time), but when I couldn't make it one time: the party TPK'ed and so they started a new adventure.

[oxybe]

dunno much about dice gods and such but... spiders. ptuh *spits*

my last 5 characters have had bad to horrible experiences with spiders, which resulted from anything between traumatic experiences (my level 18 warlock still jumps at spiders... and he's ready and rearing to assault demogorgon), to simple massive pain (spent all most of a combat paralyzed and slowly being digested by the poison while the smaller spiders nibbled on his bits) to one-hit-kills (a spider the size of a malamut drops on you and *rolls hit, followed by damage* turns your insides outside).

[drengnikrafe]

One of my PCs (I never can figure out how he does it) manages to get nothing less than a 12 when he rolls his stats. I've watched him do it before. It's amazing. Also, I somehow manage to get a natural 1 (as a DM) at least once per social encounter.

[Andras]

One of my PCs (I never can figure out how he does it) manages to get nothing less than a 12 when he rolls his stats. I've watched him do it before. It's amazing.

Does he only use his own dice?

[drengnikrafe]

No, he only uses mine.

[Andras]

That's just strange then.

[drengnikrafe]

That's why I posted it in this thread. Bizzare luck.

[Foryn Gilnith]

I disbelieve luck.

[UglyPanda]

I look at luck as a measurement, not an actual force of nature. It's simply a measure of how well you do relative to the number of chances you take.

Thinking you can manipulate your luck short of cheating is foolishness, however.

[ocdscale]

I look at luck as a measurement, not an actual force of nature. It's simply a measure of how well you do relative to the number of chances you take.

Thinking you can manipulate your luck short of cheating is foolishness, however.

+1

Do people actually believe these things? Like alignment affecting your dice rolls or worrying about 'jinxing' the dice?
Or is this just a way to vent some steam?

[lsfreak]

I know people who abuse their dice in an attempt to make them roll better. Yelling at them, sucking on them, sticking them in the microwave.

One guy in our group *always* gets crit. I went an entire session DM'ing pretty much missing the PC's... except I crit him 3 times. He goes up against 5 lower-level enemies (or rather, they charge him) and he's crit 4 out of the 5 times. Every crit I landed in a temple full of scythe-wielding Robilar's Gambit fighters? Yea, it's on him.

[drengnikrafe]

Do I actually believe doing certain things to dice will somehow cause them to roll differently? Not particularly. In fact, statistics says that there is no difference at all. However, I feel obliged to notice when there is a considerable breech in the walls of the standard. I once rolled 4 18's in a row. Yes, there is a 1/8000 chance of it happening (assuming the first 18 doesn't count as a part of the phenomenon), I still treat it as a day of unusual luck. Not to mention, as long as the statistical phenomenon keeps up, it gives me something to believe in, even if it's not true.

[Livor]

This seems to explain this thread's premise nicely.

[Olo Demonsbane]

If I make a character for a group, I always get the second best stats in the group. If I make a character for no reason or as an NPC...I roll insane stats. I averaged my last 4 NPCs that I rolled for and got a point buy of ~50.

[erikun]

Can't say that I've seen any "patterns" in my rolls, although there are some days when certain players (or even the DM) rolls phenomenonally well or phenomenonally poorly. My first 4e Warlord literally rolled nothing above 5 for several sessions, and our current DM will typically roll 2-3 natural 20's in a row during combat.

I have a set of precision dice for times when I feel like luck is giving me a kick in the sides.

[Tyndmyr]

I know people who abuse their dice in an attempt to make them roll better. Yelling at them, sucking on them, sticking them in the microwave.

One guy in our group *always* gets crit. I went an entire session DM'ing pretty much missing the PC's... except I crit him 3 times. He goes up against 5 lower-level enemies (or rather, they charge him) and he's crit 4 out of the 5 times. Every crit I landed in a temple full of scythe-wielding Robilar's Gambit fighters? Yea, it's on him.

See, that doesn't work. Punishing a die will only make it roll worse.

What you need to do is line up the others so they can see, and make an example of the offending die. Place it with the one facing up, cover it with lighter fluid, and set that sucker on fire. Then, smash it with a hammer. Make your dice live in fear.

[Sharkman1231]

I once had a cleric with a ~+16 will save. A drow cast a save-or-die spell.
"Ha!" I said, "I only need to roll around a 6"
*Roll*
a 2...

[Tyndmyr]

My level 7 wizard has a +14 to will. Stupidly high modifier stacked via all sorts of fun stuff, right? So, when Im going through my buddies pack(he's dead, and Im looking through gear in case someone has a magical means of solving it), and I find his rubber ball with a Sepia Snake Sigil on it...I figure Im off the hook.

Oh no, I roll a 1. Yeah, no matter what I do, my dice hate me unless Im rolling loot as a DM. Then, they shower me with high rolls.

[MCerberus]

I hardly ever get to play other than PbP, so I take notes of which die seem to skew high and low... for sadistic DM purposes. When someone forgets their dice, they have to use the set where the d20 I have "trained" by having it sitting on a table on '1', the d4 was stepped on, has a taste for human blood, and has spread its bloodlust to the rest of the set, and the d10s that their first random encounter decided "roll twice, combine".

2 months since the last person forgot to bring their own dice.
Oh, and the extra d6s were taken from a Parcheesi set after someone spent the whole game without having a pawn leave the start.

[TheCountAlucard]

...the d4 was stepped on...

Ouch! I did that last Friday. (shudders) Those things are mean.

[MCerberus]

Ouch! I did that last Friday. (shudders) Those things are mean.

You did separate it from the rest of your dice, right?

[sofawall]

My level 7 wizard has a +14 to will. Stupidly high modifier stacked via all sorts of fun stuff, right? So, when Im going through my buddies pack(he's dead, and Im looking through gear in case someone has a magical means of solving it), and I find his rubber ball with a Sepia Snake Sigil on it...I figure Im off the hook.

Oh no, I roll a 1. Yeah, no matter what I do, my dice hate me unless Im rolling loot as a DM. Then, they shower me with high rolls.

I managed to roll nothing about an 8 for an entire game as DM, except a Digester's 8d8 damage spit thing (boy was the party ever surprised to be hit with 30 damage on a successful save :P) and the party's secret perception rolls. Those were all near 20.

Oh, and of the two random encounters I rolled, both were digesters. There was a 4% chance of them, and I got them twice.

[Friend Computer]

See, that doesn't work. Punishing a die will only make it roll worse.

What you need to do is line up the others so they can see, and make an example of the offending die. Place it with the one facing up, cover it with lighter fluid, and set that sucker on fire. Then, smash it with a hammer. Make your dice live in fear.

Terrorism FTW.

I know I stopped playing Warhammer because I barely ever rolled above a 3. I recognise that every probability graph must have it's far edges, and I accept that thus far, at least, I happen to sit on the edge indicating abysmal dice rolls.

Doesn't make it any easier to accept losing though.

[Barmacral]

I have a set of precision dice for times when I feel like luck is giving me a kick in the sides.

What are precision dice?

[Friend Computer]

What are precision dice?

They identify the target number and proceed to roll better than it, I presume.

[Akal Saris]

Fighter has SR? RoE has no save...

I think it does in Pathfinder, actually.

I disbelieve luck.

Make a Will save!

One guy in our group *always* gets crit. I went an entire session DM'ing pretty much missing the PC's... except I crit him 3 times. He goes up against 5 lower-level enemies (or rather, they charge him) and he's crit 4 out of the 5 times. Every crit I landed in a temple full of scythe-wielding Robilar's Gambit fighters? Yea, it's on him.

I used to play an MMO called Asheron's Call, where some characters would almost always aggro the monsters in a dungeon, sometimes to the point of ridiculousness. My old sword+board character was one of those - he'd zone into a room, and every monster that spawned would make a beeline for him, ignoring my 3 friends completely. It worked out well, since I was a tank character, but it was still pretty ridiculous.

AC players called it the Wi Flag, after a player who was famous for his character, who was basically a magnet for monsters. The designers insisted it was just random variables aligning poorly for the characters, possibly a clustering illusion or over-exaggeration.

But, after about 4 years of denying it, the designers finally admitted that there was a Wi Flag, and they had finally found and fixed it! So there - take that, random variables!