So I have this player, the past 3 SESSIONS he has not rolled below a 10 and has not had a total below 16. I know he’s cheating, and I believe I know exactly what I’m doing and heavily implied to him that I knew and that he should stop, without being direct about it so I could give him a chance to stop. Being honest, he is a bard and therefore expertise is a thing, and does have a magic weapon as well as a strength belt that brings his total to hit to plus 11 so some are reasonable. That being said, no one rolls 4 nat 20s in a row on saves and then rolls nowhere below 16 on ANY SAVE THE ENTIRE SESSION.
so basically, knowing he’s cheating, and doing that he’s not gonna man up and stop doing it, what advice do you guys have to deal with this
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Bardic Inspiration is just someone believing in you, and I believe in you
Have everyone - not just him - roll in the open. New house rule: you don't see the roll, it doesn't count. That doesn't single him out exactly as it applies to everyone, but it'll stop the short term problem.
The long term problem is that you have a Player who feels that they need to cheat to win. I'm not sure that's something you can correct - that's part of their basic personality.
You can try and implement some penalties for people when they get caught cheating ( them, not their Characters - I agree with WebDM that punishing Characters for actions of Players is BS, even if Gygax put that advice in the original rules ) - but I'd be skeptical about whether that would really work. It might just force them to be more creative with their cheating.
I might tell the Players en masse that if you catch them cheating, they only have a number of "strikes" before you just eject them from the group, and let them hang themselves with that amount of rope.
If you can't trust your Players - or they can't trust you - then you shouldn't be playing together.
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Definitely not impossible to have those rolls, just improbable. I myself rolled 4 nat 1's yesterday on 2 attacks with advantage lol. Be sure to watch the roll and the outcome to make sure it's on the level. I played with a guy that fudged by rolling then picking up the dice after he said what it was without anyone being able to see the actual roll. I called him out on it, not the GM as he was a bit passive, and made him roll in the open where we could see. Weirdly, he had way less nat 20's after that. I will say that Bards are particularly hard with skill checks, especially with a half elf. I have one and he has proficiency with I think 7 skills and expertise with persuasion and deception (both are +16 with a luckstone) so that may also play into it. Just watch closely and make sure to see the roll.
Have everyone - not just him - roll in the open. New house rule: you don't see the roll, it doesn't count. That doesn't single him out exactly as it applies to everyone, but it'll stop the short term problem.
I use this one along with "I supply all the dice and we only use the dice I supply" that way you can eliminate any "special" dice players have with them.
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* Need a character idea? Search for "Rob76's Unused" in the Story and Lore section.
So I have this player, the past 3 SESSIONS he has not rolled below a 10 and has not had a total below 16. I know he’s cheating, and I believe I know exactly what I’m doing and heavily implied to him that I knew and that he should stop, without being direct about it so I could give him a chance to stop. Being honest, he is a bard and therefore expertise is a thing, and does have a magic weapon as well as a strength belt that brings his total to hit to plus 11 so some are reasonable. That being said, no one rolls 4 nat 20s in a row on saves and then rolls nowhere below 16 on ANY SAVE THE ENTIRE SESSION.
so basically, knowing he’s cheating, and doing that he’s not gonna man up and stop doing it, what advice do you guys have to deal with this
Make everyone roll in the open. Honestly, I thought this is how everyone plays. Even as a DM I only hide rolls that have to be kept secret, like monster stealth checks.
You could also privately talk to one of the players who normally sits beside him and ask them to keep an eye out and call him on it if he's cheating. Players have just as much a stake in keeping the game challenging as the DM does.
nope, it all stems from when I started playing table top warhammer in my teens, turns out one of my friends that got me into it had several weighted dice which were easily miss-able when rolling multiple d6's, so when i started DM'ing D&D and Vampire, I was on the look out for suspicious activity and started to implement the "I supply the dice and we all use them" policy, no one complains about it, although I've had a couple of instances where people have commented about wanting to use their own dice because mine are "jinxed".
Something i have also toyed with in place of that is asking players to give my the number on the dice then the modifier then the total
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
* Need a character idea? Search for "Rob76's Unused" in the Story and Lore section.
nope, it all stems from when I started playing table top warhammer in my teens, turns out one of my friends that got me into it had several weighted dice which were easily miss-able when rolling multiple d6's, so when i started DM'ing D&D and Vampire, I was on the look out for suspicious activity and started to implement the "I supply the dice and we all use them" policy, no one complains about it, although I've had a couple of instances where people have commented about wanting to use their own dice because mine are "jinxed".
Something i have also toyed with in place of that is asking players to give my the number on the dice then the modifier then the total
Do weighted d20s even exist? Asking for a friend...
nope, it all stems from when I started playing table top warhammer in my teens, turns out one of my friends that got me into it had several weighted dice which were easily miss-able when rolling multiple d6's, so when i started DM'ing D&D and Vampire, I was on the look out for suspicious activity and started to implement the "I supply the dice and we all use them" policy, no one complains about it, although I've had a couple of instances where people have commented about wanting to use their own dice because mine are "jinxed".
Something i have also toyed with in place of that is asking players to give my the number on the dice then the modifier then the total
Do weighted d20s even exist? Asking for a friend...
It isn't impossible to have weighted d20s there are ways to check though I think
I agree with what others have said. Have him roll in the open as you should be doing with the whole group other then yourself being the DM. If you question something then look at his character sheet and check the numbers to make sure that they add up.
I have owned some seriously out of balance d20s (salt water tested), and it does affect rolling. Many of the opaque "swirly" colored dice I have are not well balanced at all. My transparent, old school (30+ years old) acrylic dice are nearly perfectly balanced, and I use them almost exclusively now.
Interestingly, the out of balance d20s that I own all seem skewed toward rolling low numbers... no strings of nat20s for me!
I have owned some seriously out of balance d20s (salt water tested), and it does affect rolling. Many of the opaque "swirly" colored dice I have are not well balanced at all. My transparent, old school (30+ years old) acrylic dice are nearly perfectly balanced, and I use them almost exclusively now.
Interestingly, the out of balance d20s that I own all seem skewed toward rolling low numbers... no strings of nat20s for me!
Same. For years I was convinced that my luck with dice rolling was horrible. I rolled nat 1s nearly 25% of the time with multiple d20s... until I did a buoyancy test. Chessex dice quality is horrible on anything that isn't fully transparent... lots of air bubbles.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
I’ve never tried this or even needed to use this but this could be a solution.
Each time the player rolls, flip a coin. Heads, the player’s roll is used normally. Tails, a 20 becomes a 1, a 19 a 2, 18 a 3, etc. It might take some math to resolve it quickly but shouldn’t be that hard.
After a few of his Nat 20’s turn out to be Nat 1’s, he will either quit cheating or just quit.
Also for an in game mechanic, have the players character get a "Curse of Un-luck", the effect is the reverse lucky feat, you as the DM can make them re roll 3 rolls per long rest, it might even give them a nice little side quest to get it removed.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
* Need a character idea? Search for "Rob76's Unused" in the Story and Lore section.
So I have this player, the past 3 SESSIONS he has not rolled below a 10 and has not had a total below 16. I know he’s cheating, and I believe I know exactly what I’m doing and heavily implied to him that I knew and that he should stop, without being direct about it so I could give him a chance to stop. Being honest, he is a bard and therefore expertise is a thing, and does have a magic weapon as well as a strength belt that brings his total to hit to plus 11 so some are reasonable. That being said, no one rolls 4 nat 20s in a row on saves and then rolls nowhere below 16 on ANY SAVE THE ENTIRE SESSION.
so basically, knowing he’s cheating, and doing that he’s not gonna man up and stop doing it, what advice do you guys have to deal with this
Bardic Inspiration is just someone believing in you, and I believe in you
Have everyone - not just him - roll in the open. New house rule: you don't see the roll, it doesn't count. That doesn't single him out exactly as it applies to everyone, but it'll stop the short term problem.
The long term problem is that you have a Player who feels that they need to cheat to win. I'm not sure that's something you can correct - that's part of their basic personality.
You can try and implement some penalties for people when they get caught cheating ( them, not their Characters - I agree with WebDM that punishing Characters for actions of Players is BS, even if Gygax put that advice in the original rules ) - but I'd be skeptical about whether that would really work. It might just force them to be more creative with their cheating.
I might tell the Players en masse that if you catch them cheating, they only have a number of "strikes" before you just eject them from the group, and let them hang themselves with that amount of rope.
If you can't trust your Players - or they can't trust you - then you shouldn't be playing together.
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
Definitely not impossible to have those rolls, just improbable. I myself rolled 4 nat 1's yesterday on 2 attacks with advantage lol. Be sure to watch the roll and the outcome to make sure it's on the level. I played with a guy that fudged by rolling then picking up the dice after he said what it was without anyone being able to see the actual roll. I called him out on it, not the GM as he was a bit passive, and made him roll in the open where we could see. Weirdly, he had way less nat 20's after that. I will say that Bards are particularly hard with skill checks, especially with a half elf. I have one and he has proficiency with I think 7 skills and expertise with persuasion and deception (both are +16 with a luckstone) so that may also play into it. Just watch closely and make sure to see the roll.
I use this one along with "I supply all the dice and we only use the dice I supply" that way you can eliminate any "special" dice players have with them.
You don’t allow your players to use their own dice?
Make everyone roll in the open. Honestly, I thought this is how everyone plays. Even as a DM I only hide rolls that have to be kept secret, like monster stealth checks.
You could also privately talk to one of the players who normally sits beside him and ask them to keep an eye out and call him on it if he's cheating. Players have just as much a stake in keeping the game challenging as the DM does.
nope, it all stems from when I started playing table top warhammer in my teens, turns out one of my friends that got me into it had several weighted dice which were easily miss-able when rolling multiple d6's, so when i started DM'ing D&D and Vampire, I was on the look out for suspicious activity and started to implement the "I supply the dice and we all use them" policy, no one complains about it, although I've had a couple of instances where people have commented about wanting to use their own dice because mine are "jinxed".
Something i have also toyed with in place of that is asking players to give my the number on the dice then the modifier then the total
Do weighted d20s even exist? Asking for a friend...
It isn't impossible to have weighted d20s there are ways to check though I think
I agree with what others have said. Have him roll in the open as you should be doing with the whole group other then yourself being the DM. If you question something then look at his character sheet and check the numbers to make sure that they add up.
I have owned some seriously out of balance d20s (salt water tested), and it does affect rolling. Many of the opaque "swirly" colored dice I have are not well balanced at all. My transparent, old school (30+ years old) acrylic dice are nearly perfectly balanced, and I use them almost exclusively now.
Interestingly, the out of balance d20s that I own all seem skewed toward rolling low numbers... no strings of nat20s for me!
Same. For years I was convinced that my luck with dice rolling was horrible. I rolled nat 1s nearly 25% of the time with multiple d20s... until I did a buoyancy test. Chessex dice quality is horrible on anything that isn't fully transparent... lots of air bubbles.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Yes... Sadly they do @PatrickDees
I have been using these for about 5 years and love them, they seem well balanced. https://www.mathartfun.com/thedicelab.com/BalancedStdPoly.html
Do you have some ways to check for weighted dice?
you tubes got some how to vids to check for weighted dice....this is a good one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HhFz7fsFKk
Thanks dude (dude being used in a gender neutral way)
That's fantastic!
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
I’ve never tried this or even needed to use this but this could be a solution.
Each time the player rolls, flip a coin. Heads, the player’s roll is used normally. Tails, a 20 becomes a 1, a 19 a 2, 18 a 3, etc. It might take some math to resolve it quickly but shouldn’t be that hard.
After a few of his Nat 20’s turn out to be Nat 1’s, he will either quit cheating or just quit.
Also for an in game mechanic, have the players character get a "Curse of Un-luck", the effect is the reverse lucky feat, you as the DM can make them re roll 3 rolls per long rest, it might even give them a nice little side quest to get it removed.