one of my players chose the gambler background and is constantly trying to use the “Never tell me the odds” feature for when the group needs to make a decision. Is this what the feature is meant for? It seems to mean that they will never make a mistake or bad choice if I’m always telling them which is the best choice. I feel like I’m reading it wrong or interpreting it wrong. Can you all help me with advice on how to run this feature?
During downtime activities that involve games of chance or figuring odds on the best plan, you can get a solid sense of which choice is likely the best one and which opportunities seem too good to be true, at the DM's determination.
So... no. They need to use their downtime to do this, which "Downtime activities are tasks that usually take a workweek (5 days) or longer to perform"
So in between adventures if they want to spend their times analyzing how Dragon-Double-Down-Dice (or whatever gambling game you added as RP flavor to the inn they call home) game works, you can give them the odds table for the diff options. Or if they have a week to think about a plan, you can say they use their downtime to come up with all the probabilities with some general course of action... that' involves chance.
I.e. if a plan has 50% chance of success they know that, so if you don't roll a dice to determine if that is going to succeed then they don't have any probabilities to figure out.
But maybe you want to encourage this forethought and role play interest so if they spend a week casing the joint you can say there is an X% chance they'll get caught by the guard patrol from this entry, and a Y% if they do this... then actually roll the dice after they choose. That's a great RP interaction with their back story that fits into the adventure and well help bring their background choices into the adventure and make their choices feel more relevant. All good things.
So if they want to spend the time and effort to make use of it, i would reward it by adding some random elements to the adventure they can contribute to the planning.
But absolutely they do not get to mid-adventure get guidance from the DM on the "odds" of the window vs the back door entry going unnoticed that the group is debating doing right now. (although that is what the spell Augury is for)
The "Never tell me the odds" feature is meant to give players confidence in their choices, but it's not about always revealing the best option. It should be used to allow them to act without overthinking or doubting themselves, rather than removing the challenge of making tough decisions. Encourage them to use it for moments of uncertainty, not as a crutch for every decision. Encourage players to take advantage of these benefits, as it improves the gaming experience. In general, I am a gambler myself and I like it when there are certain incentives to play, as they do in the same online casinos where, for example, they provide a bonus as described in a review https://kasinaanalyzer.com/casino-bonusy/250-kc-za-registraci/ about how to get a bonus of 250 CZK in Czech online casinos. Such rewards help newcomers and make it much easier to enjoy the gameplay. These advantages affect accessibility and encourage players more. Why not use the same model of incentives for playing as in online casinos? In my opinion, it will be much more interesting to run your DnD campaigns.
Hi,
one of my players chose the gambler background and is constantly trying to use the “Never tell me the odds” feature for when the group needs to make a decision. Is this what the feature is meant for? It seems to mean that they will never make a mistake or bad choice if I’m always telling them which is the best choice. I feel like I’m reading it wrong or interpreting it wrong. Can you all help me with advice on how to run this feature?
So... no. They need to use their downtime to do this, which "Downtime activities are tasks that usually take a workweek (5 days) or longer to perform"
So in between adventures if they want to spend their times analyzing how Dragon-Double-Down-Dice (or whatever gambling game you added as RP flavor to the inn they call home) game works, you can give them the odds table for the diff options. Or if they have a week to think about a plan, you can say they use their downtime to come up with all the probabilities with some general course of action... that' involves chance.
I.e. if a plan has 50% chance of success they know that, so if you don't roll a dice to determine if that is going to succeed then they don't have any probabilities to figure out.
But maybe you want to encourage this forethought and role play interest so if they spend a week casing the joint you can say there is an X% chance they'll get caught by the guard patrol from this entry, and a Y% if they do this... then actually roll the dice after they choose. That's a great RP interaction with their back story that fits into the adventure and well help bring their background choices into the adventure and make their choices feel more relevant. All good things.
So if they want to spend the time and effort to make use of it, i would reward it by adding some random elements to the adventure they can contribute to the planning.
But absolutely they do not get to mid-adventure get guidance from the DM on the "odds" of the window vs the back door entry going unnoticed that the group is debating doing right now. (although that is what the spell Augury is for)
Indeed the Gambler must be on downtime to use it's feature, so feel free to limit it if you feel it's overuse.
The "Never tell me the odds" feature is meant to give players confidence in their choices, but it's not about always revealing the best option. It should be used to allow them to act without overthinking or doubting themselves, rather than removing the challenge of making tough decisions. Encourage them to use it for moments of uncertainty, not as a crutch for every decision. Encourage players to take advantage of these benefits, as it improves the gaming experience. In general, I am a gambler myself and I like it when there are certain incentives to play, as they do in the same online casinos where, for example, they provide a bonus as described in a review https://kasinaanalyzer.com/casino-bonusy/250-kc-za-registraci/ about how to get a bonus of 250 CZK in Czech online casinos. Such rewards help newcomers and make it much easier to enjoy the gameplay. These advantages affect accessibility and encourage players more. Why not use the same model of incentives for playing as in online casinos? In my opinion, it will be much more interesting to run your DnD campaigns.