The High Rollers [Archive] - Wizards Community

The High Rollers [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
control freak
07-03-07, 09:38 PM We have a DM/player who is NOTORIOUS for high rolls (as a matter of fact he has rolled on a table in frount of the party every time with many dice and even with dice we have deemed the "cursed dice" which always roll singles and he rolled 18, 17,19 ,15)

what can you do to that? if some one always rolls like that what do you do, after all 21 natural 20s in a row is more broken then free quickened maximized fireballs every round (as he would 20 the save then evasion the rest away;) )

does any one else have this ? and what do you do about it (the ablity to inately roll high for some reason..?)
clannagh
07-03-07, 09:50 PM We have a DM/player who is NOTORIOUS for high rolls (as a matter of fact he has rolled on a table in frount of the party every time with many dice and even with dice we have deemed the "cursed dice" which always roll singles and he rolled 18, 17,19 ,15)

what can you do to that? if some one always rolls like that what do you do, after all 21 natural 20s in a row is more broken then free quickened maximized fireballs every round (as he would 20 the save then evasion the rest away;) )

does any one else have this ? and what do you do about it (the ablity to inately roll high for some reason..?)

Its probably not luck. I have noticed that over enough years of play some people develop an uncanny knack of rolling well .. a bit like the way after long enough hunting some people become freaky shots without any logical explanation as to how they can hit what they hit.

If he tends to always set his/her dice to a number like 20 on the table get him to randomise them, get him to use a dice cup. In extreme circumstances you might insist he usespregenerated random dice roll sheets where he just takes the next number on the list (without reading ahead on the list obviously).
control freak
07-03-07, 10:04 PM thats why i spesificaly said "he uses ANY dice that you want him to" and he still rolls stupid high

and he has played from first Ed so you might be right
Sieylianna
07-03-07, 10:25 PM does any one else have this ? and what do you do about it (the ablity to inately roll high for some reason..?)

I usually roll lousy as a player, but better as a judge. At Winter Fantasy a few years back, I was rolling so many 20's (including back to back to threat and confirm crits twice in one round) that the players gave me a new d20 as long as I agreed to use it instead of the one I was using.

Ed
Howie23
07-03-07, 10:47 PM We have a DM/player who is NOTORIOUS for high rolls (as a matter of fact he has rolled on a table in frount of the party every time with many dice and even with dice we have deemed the "cursed dice" which always roll singles and he rolled 18, 17,19 ,15)

what can you do to that? if some one always rolls like that what do you do, after all 21 natural 20s in a row is more broken then free quickened maximized fireballs every round (as he would 20 the save then evasion the rest away;) )

does any one else have this ? and what do you do about it (the ablity to inately roll high for some reason..?)

The most likely situation is that he doesn't roll unusually high. Seriously. Our brains are programmed to recognize patterns, even when they aren't there. We remember 20-20-20, but we don't remember 12-17-3. Yet, they are as equally likely.

What do you do about it? Nothing, because nothing is happening.

If you sit him down and roll a significantly large number of dice (say, 400), and he's got a truely odd result, then it's another story. In the meantime, I really doubt anything is funny about his rolls.

Having said that....

When I was a teen, I could set a d6 to roll a given number (yea Risk!); don't ask me to do it now, I haven't tried in years. Doing so with a d20 is a completely different story.

David
control freak
07-03-07, 11:26 PM well we actualy did that (100 d 20s) and out of them there were 34 11 or lesses which included him rolling on a table

and no 1s and only 2 2s
Howie23
07-04-07, 12:00 AM well we actualy did that (100 d 20s) and out of them there were 34 11 or lesses which included him rolling on a table

and no 1s and only 2 2s

Well, clearly the answer is that he is a genetic freak and should not be allowed to play any game involving dice.

There. You have your answer. :)

David
control freak
07-04-07, 12:03 AM lol well that sounds about right ( and people wounder how he master cheifs risk games all the time :D )

its not that he cant roll low he just doesnt often enough to matter and seemingly never on things that do matter (save or die stuff)
gomeztoo
07-04-07, 02:56 AM If it really worries you you could always have someone else roll the dice for him...

Edit: And if the rolls are then still high, it is divine intervention and there is nothing you can do about it :P
TheBlackFlail
07-04-07, 04:19 AM Maybe he is just high up in the priesthood of Norebo...
ithardin
07-04-07, 01:54 PM Check his d20s...you can get them with two "20s" on them (no "1").

*laughing*
Harpua
07-04-07, 02:15 PM my dm always rolls in front of us, and the other night i watched him roll 6 or 7 20's. will saves, crits, crits conferm, it was sick. but i have had good nights too, what goes around comes around i guess.
Banor
07-04-07, 03:19 PM Personal record is in a home game after my healer died i rolled nat 20 during 5 rounds in a row as a level 15 Blackguard.... Yea hum we won :)
just_be_glad_now
07-04-07, 08:44 PM The CDF of that binary distribution (1-11 vs 11-20, yielding 34 1-11s) is 1.87e-5 or so.
Have him do it again, this time with 200 dice. P(68 or less) is 1.79e-9.

If it happens again, get an exorcist. Seriously.

Originally Posted by control freak
well we actualy did that (100 d 20s) and out of them there were 34 11 or lesses which included him rolling on a table
and no 1s and only 2 2s
amnuxoll
07-04-07, 10:14 PM We have a fellow in our region with the opposite problem. Everyone wants to play at his table when he DMs. I also have a bit of low-rolling reputation of my own.
LGMoses
07-04-07, 10:18 PM rolling dice is a serious morale boosting activity within this game. heck, sometimes i have my players roll SOMETHING when they're bored. It really just makes people feel better. It would be wrong of you not to let him roll his own dice. Thats not cool. If he has developed the SKILL to roll a dice and set it to always land somewhere and changing his dice does nothing then congrats to him. He has mastered a talent he will be hard pressed to use anywhere else. Let him use his talent. (seriously, where else are you goign to need to roll a d20?)
ShinAkuma2
07-04-07, 10:21 PM (seriously, where else are you goign to need to roll a d20?)

Epic-level craps.
ThaiGQ
07-05-07, 10:57 PM Epic-level craps.

That was ROFLMAO funny! :rofl:
LachlarlanIII
07-06-07, 11:45 AM I once rolled 6 or 7 18-20's in a row with Power Attacking for Nonlethal damage raging barbarians using falchions at APL 2 or 4...

Even though they were doing nonlethal damage it still almost came out a TPK because if everyone is unconcious, they coup-de-gras everyone.

It looked bad until I started rolling abysmally to hit the gnome druid.
mregecko
07-06-07, 02:24 PM I second the "Roll crappy as a player, roll well as a DM" motion.

I have played 2-round mods where I didn't roll above an 11. AT ALL.

Playing a two-weapon fighter, with 3 attacks on a full attack.... I probably had 100-ish d20 rolls.

All <=11.

Then I DM'd my first adaptable the other day... I crit'd at least 6 times, all of my creatures made every save, and I even killed a player with a crit on a Battleaxe, rolling 12, 11, 10 on 3d12+21 [aka (1d12+7)x3]

I actually felt really bad and started wishing I was rolling behind a screen.

-- Gecko
UMiskatonic
07-06-07, 06:58 PM You can actually prove/disprove this.

Have the person roll two hundred times in a row. Record the results with a tally, something like this:

1s =
2s =
3s =
and so on.

Compare that to what you would expect randomly, which is that you'll have ten 1s, ten 2s, ten 3s, and so on.

The comparison you want is called a chi-square test, and you can find the tables needed and an example of the calculation in any statistics book, which can be checked out of your public library, or found on line.

A statistics program will do it for you, try SAS or SPSS.
_metz_
07-07-07, 12:07 AM Its probably not luck. I have noticed that over enough years of play some people develop an uncanny knack of rolling well .. a bit like the way after long enough hunting some people become freaky shots without any logical explanation as to how they can hit what they hit.

If he tends to always set his/her dice to a number like 20 on the table get him to randomise them, get him to use a dice cup. In extreme circumstances you might insist he usespregenerated random dice roll sheets where he just takes the next number on the list (without reading ahead on the list obviously).

Hey, It only works with my d6s! You know that it doesn't apply to my d20s...

It is very easy to accidentally learn to flick d6s with the wrist to land them on what you want. I did it by playing Warhammer a lot a few years ago, and I always set my d6s to 6 to 'train' them. After a while I was somehow able to roll 6s more often than many other people. It got to the point where dice cups etc were suggested.
katrick
07-07-07, 08:07 AM put them in a microwave sitting 20 up, run it 5 times on med for 25 secs and they'll roll 20 all the time. It's the same as annealing metal, why I stopped using metal dice about 15 years ago.
this trick supposedly works with the freezer also.
katrick
Genghis Cohen
07-07-07, 08:43 AM Epic-level craps.Forget the epic level. Drag this DM to a casino and bet with him at a craps table.
Madfox11
07-09-07, 09:38 AM Do the same yourself? I mean, I ran a game yesterday and I was on a roll (poor monk). Luckily the fighter with a +1 Will save managed to make 8 out of 10 DC 17 Will saves as well (and if he had failed even two more he would have been likely permanently removed from the game*).

* The thing drained charisma, and if charisma dropped to 0 you would become its servant.
Mommy was an Orc
07-09-07, 10:26 AM We have a DM/player who is NOTORIOUS for high rolls (as a matter of fact he has rolled on a table in frount of the party every time with many dice and even with dice we have deemed the "cursed dice" which always roll singles and he rolled 18, 17,19 ,15)

what can you do to that? if some one always rolls like that what do you do, after all 21 natural 20s in a row is more broken then free quickened maximized fireballs every round (as he would 20 the save then evasion the rest away;) )

does any one else have this ? and what do you do about it (the ablity to inately roll high for some reason..?)

I thought I said soemthing about this, but maybe another thread - there are two things you should have this person do:
Make sure he always tosses his dice up into the air and back down onto the table. It is a lot harder to control an object when you do this - if you've ever watched professional level table tennis, you have to toss the ping pong ball up. Someone good enough can still put phenomenal amounts of spin on it, but they can't do anything illegal.

Make sure he rolls more than one die at a time, especially when it makes sense. As an example, if he's swinging a sword, he can roll both the attack and damage at the same time. If he's still rolling massive strings of 20s, have him designate one die as the actual roll and the other die as something to be ignored.

-----

If you think about the game of Craps, they make you do both of these things - you're not allowed to toss the dice separately or toss it right near yourself.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
control freak 07-03-07, 09:38 PM	We have a DM/player who is NOTORIOUS for high rolls (as a matter of fact he has rolled on a table in frount of the party every time with many dice and even with dice we have deemed the "cursed dice" which always roll singles and he rolled 18, 17,19 ,15) what can you do to that? if some one always rolls like that what do you do, after all 21 natural 20s in a row is more broken then free quickened maximized fireballs every round (as he would 20 the save then evasion the rest away;) ) does any one else have this ? and what do you do about it (the ablity to inately roll high for some reason..?)
clannagh 07-03-07, 09:50 PM	We have a DM/player who is NOTORIOUS for high rolls (as a matter of fact he has rolled on a table in frount of the party every time with many dice and even with dice we have deemed the "cursed dice" which always roll singles and he rolled 18, 17,19 ,15) what can you do to that? if some one always rolls like that what do you do, after all 21 natural 20s in a row is more broken then free quickened maximized fireballs every round (as he would 20 the save then evasion the rest away;) ) does any one else have this ? and what do you do about it (the ablity to inately roll high for some reason..?) Its probably not luck. I have noticed that over enough years of play some people develop an uncanny knack of rolling well .. a bit like the way after long enough hunting some people become freaky shots without any logical explanation as to how they can hit what they hit. If he tends to always set his/her dice to a number like 20 on the table get him to randomise them, get him to use a dice cup. In extreme circumstances you might insist he usespregenerated random dice roll sheets where he just takes the next number on the list (without reading ahead on the list obviously).
control freak 07-03-07, 10:04 PM	thats why i spesificaly said "he uses ANY dice that you want him to" and he still rolls stupid high and he has played from first Ed so you might be right
Sieylianna 07-03-07, 10:25 PM	does any one else have this ? and what do you do about it (the ablity to inately roll high for some reason..?) I usually roll lousy as a player, but better as a judge. At Winter Fantasy a few years back, I was rolling so many 20's (including back to back to threat and confirm crits twice in one round) that the players gave me a new d20 as long as I agreed to use it instead of the one I was using. Ed
Howie23 07-03-07, 10:47 PM	We have a DM/player who is NOTORIOUS for high rolls (as a matter of fact he has rolled on a table in frount of the party every time with many dice and even with dice we have deemed the "cursed dice" which always roll singles and he rolled 18, 17,19 ,15) what can you do to that? if some one always rolls like that what do you do, after all 21 natural 20s in a row is more broken then free quickened maximized fireballs every round (as he would 20 the save then evasion the rest away;) ) does any one else have this ? and what do you do about it (the ablity to inately roll high for some reason..?) The most likely situation is that he doesn't roll unusually high. Seriously. Our brains are programmed to recognize patterns, even when they aren't there. We remember 20-20-20, but we don't remember 12-17-3. Yet, they are as equally likely. What do you do about it? Nothing, because nothing is happening. If you sit him down and roll a significantly large number of dice (say, 400), and he's got a truely odd result, then it's another story. In the meantime, I really doubt anything is funny about his rolls. Having said that.... When I was a teen, I could set a d6 to roll a given number (yea Risk!); don't ask me to do it now, I haven't tried in years. Doing so with a d20 is a completely different story. David
control freak 07-03-07, 11:26 PM	well we actualy did that (100 d 20s) and out of them there were 34 11 or lesses which included him rolling on a table and no 1s and only 2 2s
Howie23 07-04-07, 12:00 AM	well we actualy did that (100 d 20s) and out of them there were 34 11 or lesses which included him rolling on a table and no 1s and only 2 2s Well, clearly the answer is that he is a genetic freak and should not be allowed to play any game involving dice. There. You have your answer. :) David
control freak 07-04-07, 12:03 AM	lol well that sounds about right ( and people wounder how he master cheifs risk games all the time :D ) its not that he cant roll low he just doesnt often enough to matter and seemingly never on things that do matter (save or die stuff)
gomeztoo 07-04-07, 02:56 AM	If it really worries you you could always have someone else roll the dice for him... Edit: And if the rolls are then still high, it is divine intervention and there is nothing you can do about it :P
TheBlackFlail 07-04-07, 04:19 AM	Maybe he is just high up in the priesthood of Norebo...
ithardin 07-04-07, 01:54 PM	Check his d20s...you can get them with two "20s" on them (no "1"). laughing
Harpua 07-04-07, 02:15 PM	my dm always rolls in front of us, and the other night i watched him roll 6 or 7 20's. will saves, crits, crits conferm, it was sick. but i have had good nights too, what goes around comes around i guess.
Banor 07-04-07, 03:19 PM	Personal record is in a home game after my healer died i rolled nat 20 during 5 rounds in a row as a level 15 Blackguard.... Yea hum we won :)
just_be_glad_now 07-04-07, 08:44 PM	The CDF of that binary distribution (1-11 vs 11-20, yielding 34 1-11s) is 1.87e-5 or so. Have him do it again, this time with 200 dice. P(68 or less) is 1.79e-9. If it happens again, get an exorcist. Seriously. Originally Posted by control freak well we actualy did that (100 d 20s) and out of them there were 34 11 or lesses which included him rolling on a table and no 1s and only 2 2s
amnuxoll 07-04-07, 10:14 PM	We have a fellow in our region with the opposite problem. Everyone wants to play at his table when he DMs. I also have a bit of low-rolling reputation of my own.
LGMoses 07-04-07, 10:18 PM	rolling dice is a serious morale boosting activity within this game. heck, sometimes i have my players roll SOMETHING when they're bored. It really just makes people feel better. It would be wrong of you not to let him roll his own dice. Thats not cool. If he has developed the SKILL to roll a dice and set it to always land somewhere and changing his dice does nothing then congrats to him. He has mastered a talent he will be hard pressed to use anywhere else. Let him use his talent. (seriously, where else are you goign to need to roll a d20?)
ShinAkuma2 07-04-07, 10:21 PM	(seriously, where else are you goign to need to roll a d20?) Epic-level craps.
ThaiGQ 07-05-07, 10:57 PM	Epic-level craps. That was ROFLMAO funny! :rofl:
LachlarlanIII 07-06-07, 11:45 AM	I once rolled 6 or 7 18-20's in a row with Power Attacking for Nonlethal damage raging barbarians using falchions at APL 2 or 4... Even though they were doing nonlethal damage it still almost came out a TPK because if everyone is unconcious, they coup-de-gras everyone. It looked bad until I started rolling abysmally to hit the gnome druid.
mregecko 07-06-07, 02:24 PM	I second the "Roll crappy as a player, roll well as a DM" motion. I have played 2-round mods where I didn't roll above an 11. AT ALL. Playing a two-weapon fighter, with 3 attacks on a full attack.... I probably had 100-ish d20 rolls. All <=11. Then I DM'd my first adaptable the other day... I crit'd at least 6 times, all of my creatures made every save, and I even killed a player with a crit on a Battleaxe, rolling 12, 11, 10 on 3d12+21 [aka (1d12+7)x3] I actually felt really bad and started wishing I was rolling behind a screen. -- Gecko
UMiskatonic 07-06-07, 06:58 PM	You can actually prove/disprove this. Have the person roll two hundred times in a row. Record the results with a tally, something like this: 1s = 2s = 3s = and so on. Compare that to what you would expect randomly, which is that you'll have ten 1s, ten 2s, ten 3s, and so on. The comparison you want is called a chi-square test, and you can find the tables needed and an example of the calculation in any statistics book, which can be checked out of your public library, or found on line. A statistics program will do it for you, try SAS or SPSS.
_metz_ 07-07-07, 12:07 AM	Its probably not luck. I have noticed that over enough years of play some people develop an uncanny knack of rolling well .. a bit like the way after long enough hunting some people become freaky shots without any logical explanation as to how they can hit what they hit. If he tends to always set his/her dice to a number like 20 on the table get him to randomise them, get him to use a dice cup. In extreme circumstances you might insist he usespregenerated random dice roll sheets where he just takes the next number on the list (without reading ahead on the list obviously). Hey, It only works with my d6s! You know that it doesn't apply to my d20s... It is very easy to accidentally learn to flick d6s with the wrist to land them on what you want. I did it by playing Warhammer a lot a few years ago, and I always set my d6s to 6 to 'train' them. After a while I was somehow able to roll 6s more often than many other people. It got to the point where dice cups etc were suggested.
katrick 07-07-07, 08:07 AM	put them in a microwave sitting 20 up, run it 5 times on med for 25 secs and they'll roll 20 all the time. It's the same as annealing metal, why I stopped using metal dice about 15 years ago. this trick supposedly works with the freezer also. katrick
Genghis Cohen 07-07-07, 08:43 AM	Epic-level craps.Forget the epic level. Drag this DM to a casino and bet with him at a craps table.
Madfox11 07-09-07, 09:38 AM	Do the same yourself? I mean, I ran a game yesterday and I was on a roll (poor monk). Luckily the fighter with a +1 Will save managed to make 8 out of 10 DC 17 Will saves as well (and if he had failed even two more he would have been likely permanently removed from the game). The thing drained charisma, and if charisma dropped to 0 you would become its servant.
Mommy was an Orc 07-09-07, 10:26 AM	We have a DM/player who is NOTORIOUS for high rolls (as a matter of fact he has rolled on a table in frount of the party every time with many dice and even with dice we have deemed the "cursed dice" which always roll singles and he rolled 18, 17,19 ,15) what can you do to that? if some one always rolls like that what do you do, after all 21 natural 20s in a row is more broken then free quickened maximized fireballs every round (as he would 20 the save then evasion the rest away;) ) does any one else have this ? and what do you do about it (the ablity to inately roll high for some reason..?) I thought I said soemthing about this, but maybe another thread - there are two things you should have this person do: Make sure he always tosses his dice up into the air and back down onto the table. It is a lot harder to control an object when you do this - if you've ever watched professional level table tennis, you have to toss the ping pong ball up. Someone good enough can still put phenomenal amounts of spin on it, but they can't do anything illegal. Make sure he rolls more than one die at a time, especially when it makes sense. As an example, if he's swinging a sword, he can roll both the attack and damage at the same time. If he's still rolling massive strings of 20s, have him designate one die as the actual roll and the other die as something to be ignored. ----- If you think about the game of Craps, they make you do both of these things - you're not allowed to toss the dice separately or toss it right near yourself.