This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Hey, I know everyone is working hard on that new WOTC VTT system, but please don't abandon us asynchronous Play-by-Posters!
The dice roller in the forum is deeply flawed. The mouseovers do not reflect the rolls (in the example below, all four rolls were written - and rolled - very differently than what the mouseovers suggest.)
I don't know if it's random, but it seems like these dice roller bug occurrences are worse than ever these days. (At least half the time, recently?) I know a lot of PBP games have already ditched the dice roller for the Game Log for this reason, and many others have ditched the D&DB forums altogether for Discord and Avrae, but it's really nice to have everything on one page, and not having to jump between webpages (let alone platforms!) When it works, the D&DB forums are really fun to play in.
A lot of us love playing asynchronously – not only to fit D&D into our busy lives, but also for the literary aspects of a written game. Please don't abandon us!
...And for the love of Gods, can you fix the dice roller, pretty please?
Let's try it again here for fun (and of course it'll work...)
Getting more reports this morning from my players about forum roller bugs. Manipulation banners popping up when no edits were attempted; mouseovers wrong.
A lot of other PBP games have switched to using the Game Log, or moving out of D&DB altogether and going to Avrae on Discord or elsewhere.
Don't abandon us, D&DB! Please fix your dice roller, or suggest another way we can roll dice and play!
Here's a new one in another thread. This one initially gave me a series of "dice rolls unavailable for this section" results. I edited the post to add a space at the end and try to force it to resolve (an old trick many of us know to do), and they indeed resolved, but the mouseovers are all screwed up. (No manipulation banner, though!)
I go with whichever of the results makes the most sense. For example, in your last post you had a result of 11 on 2d4+2, which is impossible, but the popup displayed a result of 7 which makes more sense (and is the statistical average for that roll), so I would go with the 7. The second attack resulted in 8 damage and the hover-over confirmed that result when I checked it. For the third attack I see there is also a result of an 8, but the 8 is red indicating that at least one of the dice rolled a 1. Since it’s not mathematically possible for 2d4+2 to result in an 8 if one of the d4s rolled a 1…. Catch my drift?
Sure, except Hasbro spent nearly $150 million dollars for D&D Beyond, a platform dedicated solely to a game that's ultimately about rolling dice.
So surely somebody can fix the inline dice roller on their forum? It's been broken for a few years now.
As a DM, sometimes I want to see how a player constructed a roll. And I certainly don't need to argue with players about which of two numbers makes the most sense from a roll.
Please, for the love of all things fun and good, fix the dice roller!
I can’t fix anything. I don’t work here, I just live here.
And damned near all development seems to have all but virtually stopped since WotC bought the site. They’re putting all their efforts into the VTT and the retrofits for when 1DD officially becomes R5e next year. They don’t seem to give a 💩 about the forum dice roller, or much of anything else for that matter.
My hope is that WotC will ultimately choose to support the Play-By-Post and asynchronous community. There are a lot of us, and we spend a lot of money on this stuff!
What we don't have is the time and/or opportunity to participate in live games. So tools and spaces like these are critically important. And when they don't work, and don't get fixed, we are forced to hobble along in frustration, or find other tools and spaces.
Here's a new one from one of my players from this afternoon: (No manipulation banner, just nonsensical mouseovers and no way for me as DM to see how he constructed his rolls.)
More dice problems in the forum this morning (and the last few days.) This first roll was a simple d20+6, no disadvantage. The second roll was also screwed up.
Please don't abandon your PBP community! We just want a place to play asynchronous D&D!
The dice roller is just plain broken. There are those special chosen ones that consistently roll awesome. Then there are those of us that are cursed to perpetually roll terribly. Never rolling 20 isn't the end of the world, but it SERIOUSLY sucks when you're a Champion wielding multiple weapons with a "really cool thing happens if you roll a NAT 20." When you can go 3 months without rolling a NAT 20, all while rolling up countless 1's and 2's, it just sucks all the fun out of the game. Most recently, we had a combat that lasted 3 rounds. As a level 11 Champion, I get three attacks per round. Well, I rolled a NAT 1 on every single round, but haven't rolled a NAT 20 to hit in about 4 months.
So just as a test run, I rolled to myself and here was the results. 1.) How many rolls does it take to get any result between 11-20 (so 50% chance.) The answer? 11 rolls. Okay so how many times do I have to roll to get either a 19 or a 20 (so a 10% chance.) The answer: 37 rolls, including the first 11 rolls. Okay, so how many more rolls for that magical 5% chance NAT 20? I finally rolled a 20 on my 57th try.
A few days later I figured I'd try it again, but feeling a tad lazy, I just kept track of the number of rolls before I got a NAT 20. The answer: It took 66 rolls.
And just for fun, I did it again right now. It took 33 rolls to get a NAT 20.
No test of this has resulted in what should be a 1 in 20 occurrence happening in fewer than 20 tries.
For some reason, bad luck sticks to the same characters and good luck likewise seems to stick to the same characters. But it says something that I can just randomly start rolling, knowing full-well that the results will be horrible and to my disadvantage. In other words, I am not imagining things. I can literally roll dozens and dozens of 1's and 2's before I roll a NAT 20. It's so consistent that I can just change the roll to self and always see well over 20 tries to get a NAT 20. Meanwhile, NAT 1 is extremely frequent.
I don't know what is wrong with the algorithm, but can somebody PLEASE FIX THIS?? GM wants to use Beyond, so I can't just use something else.
Hmmm. I've seen plenty of dice roller bugs and weirdness, but I never suspected the dice to be non-random. My gut is that you've just had a lot of bad luck. But what the heck – I'm game to give it a try! Let's put it to the test. (It's always fun to roll dice, right?)
Here's 400 rolls. On average, we should see roughly 20 nat 20s. (Help! Somebody do the math - what's the standard deviation here?)
18
6
15
10
15
15
3
17
19
19
19
11
8
11
13
8
16
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8
19
4
10
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9
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20
2
14
2
5
7
15
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12
5
7
4
3
12
17
2
5
17
17
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9
5
11
17
3
18
12
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2
13
11
10
8
20
1
9
6
16
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10
18
9
8
9
14
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12
7
18
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19
10
11
6
19
1
17
15
19
5
11
5
12
8
5
3
8
19
18
3
9
15
3
19
2
5
11
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11
2
12
8
9
8
5
7
16
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20
16
1
7
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8
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11
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7
1
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3
15
2
13
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7
20
4
20
4
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8
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4
13
4
8
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2
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7
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3
6
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1
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2
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2
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3
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Hey, I know everyone is working hard on that new WOTC VTT system, but please don't abandon us asynchronous Play-by-Posters!
The dice roller in the forum is deeply flawed. The mouseovers do not reflect the rolls (in the example below, all four rolls were written - and rolled - very differently than what the mouseovers suggest.)
I don't know if it's random, but it seems like these dice roller bug occurrences are worse than ever these days. (At least half the time, recently?) I know a lot of PBP games have already ditched the dice roller for the Game Log for this reason, and many others have ditched the D&DB forums altogether for Discord and Avrae, but it's really nice to have everything on one page, and not having to jump between webpages (let alone platforms!) When it works, the D&DB forums are really fun to play in.
A lot of us love playing asynchronously – not only to fit D&D into our busy lives, but also for the literary aspects of a written game. Please don't abandon us!
...And for the love of Gods, can you fix the dice roller, pretty please?
Let's try it again here for fun (and of course it'll work...)
Eagle Beak Attack vs. Monster: 25. Hit: 12 piercing damage.
Eagle Talons Attack: 27. Hit: 16 slashing damage.
(And, of course, it works flawlessly, here!)
More dice headaches today in the forum.
I posted. Didn't edit it at all. Monster rolls a nat 20. I moused over the other rolls and they wouldn't resolve in the post. So I refreshed the page in my browser (but never tried to edit.) Rolls all changed, and I get a manipulation banner. Mouseover now incorrect. Using Chrome (latest version) on Mac OS 11.6.8. Post viewable at: https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/play-by-post/54005-ghosts-of-saltmarsh-cbaer8-campaign-thread?comment=8156
Ninety minutes later my player had the same issue in the same thread: He posted, didn't edit, and received a manipulation banner.
Getting more reports this morning from my players about forum roller bugs. Manipulation banners popping up when no edits were attempted; mouseovers wrong.
A lot of other PBP games have switched to using the Game Log, or moving out of D&DB altogether and going to Avrae on Discord or elsewhere.
Don't abandon us, D&DB! Please fix your dice roller, or suggest another way we can roll dice and play!
Post at:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/play-by-post/54005-ghosts-of-saltmarsh-cbaer8-campaign-thread?comment=8170
Two more problematic posts from this morning (no banners this time, just mouseover errors):
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/play-by-post/54005-ghosts-of-saltmarsh-cbaer8-campaign-thread?comment=8171
and https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/play-by-post/54005-ghosts-of-saltmarsh-cbaer8-campaign-thread?comment=8172
and:
Here's a new one in another thread. This one initially gave me a series of "dice rolls unavailable for this section" results. I edited the post to add a space at the end and try to force it to resolve (an old trick many of us know to do), and they indeed resolved, but the mouseovers are all screwed up. (No manipulation banner, though!)
From https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/play-by-post/139629-the-wild-beyond-the-witchlight?comment=2478 :
It’s a recurring bug, happens all the time. You’re gonna drive yourself nuts if you try to catalog every instance you find.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
What's your workaround?
I go with whichever of the results makes the most sense. For example, in your last post you had a result of 11 on 2d4+2, which is impossible, but the popup displayed a result of 7 which makes more sense (and is the statistical average for that roll), so I would go with the 7. The second attack resulted in 8 damage and the hover-over confirmed that result when I checked it. For the third attack I see there is also a result of an 8, but the 8 is red indicating that at least one of the dice rolled a 1. Since it’s not mathematically possible for 2d4+2 to result in an 8 if one of the d4s rolled a 1…. Catch my drift?
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Sure, except Hasbro spent nearly $150 million dollars for D&D Beyond, a platform dedicated solely to a game that's ultimately about rolling dice.
So surely somebody can fix the inline dice roller on their forum? It's been broken for a few years now.
As a DM, sometimes I want to see how a player constructed a roll. And I certainly don't need to argue with players about which of two numbers makes the most sense from a roll.
Please, for the love of all things fun and good, fix the dice roller!
I can’t fix anything. I don’t work here, I just live here.
And damned near all development seems to have all but virtually stopped since WotC bought the site. They’re putting all their efforts into the VTT and the retrofits for when 1DD officially becomes R5e next year. They don’t seem to give a 💩 about the forum dice roller, or much of anything else for that matter.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
My hope is that WotC will ultimately choose to support the Play-By-Post and asynchronous community. There are a lot of us, and we spend a lot of money on this stuff!
What we don't have is the time and/or opportunity to participate in live games. So tools and spaces like these are critically important. And when they don't work, and don't get fixed, we are forced to hobble along in frustration, or find other tools and spaces.
I agree, but I’m not holding my breath.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Here's a new one from one of my players from this afternoon:
(No manipulation banner, just nonsensical mouseovers and no way for me as DM to see how he constructed his rolls.)
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/play-by-post/54005-ghosts-of-saltmarsh-cbaer8-campaign-thread?comment=8189
Today's dice errors:
From one of my players earlier last night:
Another mouseover bug. No idea what he actually rolled.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/play-by-post/54005-ghosts-of-saltmarsh-cbaer8-campaign-thread?comment=8202
And from me today.
Another mouseover error (10 on a 1d20+4, not a 1 on a d4. The other roll is also bad) :
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/play-by-post/54005-ghosts-of-saltmarsh-cbaer8-campaign-thread?comment=8205
Another one yesterday I missed, from one of my posts: (an 8 on a 1d20+2, not a 1 from a 1d4)
https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/play-by-post/54005-ghosts-of-saltmarsh-cbaer8-campaign-thread?comment=8196
More dice problems in the forum this morning (and the last few days.) This first roll was a simple d20+6, no disadvantage. The second roll was also screwed up.
Please don't abandon your PBP community! We just want a place to play asynchronous D&D!
Link: https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/d-d-beyond-general/play-by-post/139629-the-wild-beyond-the-witchlight?comment=2615
The dice roller is just plain broken. There are those special chosen ones that consistently roll awesome. Then there are those of us that are cursed to perpetually roll terribly. Never rolling 20 isn't the end of the world, but it SERIOUSLY sucks when you're a Champion wielding multiple weapons with a "really cool thing happens if you roll a NAT 20." When you can go 3 months without rolling a NAT 20, all while rolling up countless 1's and 2's, it just sucks all the fun out of the game. Most recently, we had a combat that lasted 3 rounds. As a level 11 Champion, I get three attacks per round. Well, I rolled a NAT 1 on every single round, but haven't rolled a NAT 20 to hit in about 4 months.
So just as a test run, I rolled to myself and here was the results. 1.) How many rolls does it take to get any result between 11-20 (so 50% chance.) The answer? 11 rolls. Okay so how many times do I have to roll to get either a 19 or a 20 (so a 10% chance.) The answer: 37 rolls, including the first 11 rolls. Okay, so how many more rolls for that magical 5% chance NAT 20? I finally rolled a 20 on my 57th try.
A few days later I figured I'd try it again, but feeling a tad lazy, I just kept track of the number of rolls before I got a NAT 20. The answer: It took 66 rolls.
And just for fun, I did it again right now. It took 33 rolls to get a NAT 20.
No test of this has resulted in what should be a 1 in 20 occurrence happening in fewer than 20 tries.
For some reason, bad luck sticks to the same characters and good luck likewise seems to stick to the same characters. But it says something that I can just randomly start rolling, knowing full-well that the results will be horrible and to my disadvantage. In other words, I am not imagining things. I can literally roll dozens and dozens of 1's and 2's before I roll a NAT 20. It's so consistent that I can just change the roll to self and always see well over 20 tries to get a NAT 20. Meanwhile, NAT 1 is extremely frequent.
I don't know what is wrong with the algorithm, but can somebody PLEASE FIX THIS?? GM wants to use Beyond, so I can't just use something else.
Hmmm. I've seen plenty of dice roller bugs and weirdness, but I never suspected the dice to be non-random. My gut is that you've just had a lot of bad luck.
But what the heck – I'm game to give it a try! Let's put it to the test. (It's always fun to roll dice, right?)
Here's 400 rolls. On average, we should see roughly 20 nat 20s. (Help! Somebody do the math - what's the standard deviation here?)