So I have 2 characters who have a similar issue, but reversed. Both have very high Dex and are proficient in Acrobatics.
The first, a Bard, pretty much maxes out any ability check he does in Acrobatics. We come to a line strung across a chasm. I had a ring or something of levitate, so I say "I'm going to jump onto the rope and walk across" Acrobatic check....19 + bonuses, was like a 25 or 26. Great. Later, I am on a stairway, with a rail and an upper platform. "I want to jump onto the railing, then up to the next level. DM calls for 2 Acrobatics checks. I kid you not, 19 and 20 BINGO. Later still, combat. Fire 3 crossbow bolt, best roll...8. Dammit We get overrun a bit, so 4 pokes with the Rapier, 6, 6, 17 and 4. Really? And this is the norm for the poor fellow. Rolls like a champ for obstacles, and like a chump when the fighting begins.
Now my Monk. This group is facing a lot more combat and he shines. Rolling 16+ on a pretty constant basis. Nice. We face an obstacle. Grease in about a 40 foot circle (Wild magic bit going on he threw at us to deal with) My monk can't roll better than a 7 in the grease. Fell, count 'em, 6 times! Druid with like 12 Dex runs over to help me....drops an 18 on her check! Ok, so we face another challenge. Down a steep, slippery hill. Acrobatics to descend without tumbling like a horse turd all the way to the bottom. 18 (I think, wheew, the curse has ended) Come to a stop where the fallen wagon fetched up....loot it, ok, come back up. Athletics this time (uh oh) 16 (woohoo!) second stage 6 (odam!) DM says "Acrobatics to stop your sliding backwards farther" 16 (whew) Climb attempt....15 (ok, stage 1 done...again) second stage....14 (eep, that was close) Final bit....4 (^&#%$%@#$) Acrobatics..Yeah, yeah, I know. 7 (aaaaa) 18. DM: Ok, you are at the wagon again. "Anyone wanna throw me a rope, this isn't working!"
So do the dice gods mock you, too? Is it more fun, frustrating or fatal? Thus far, I haven't been killed by crap rolls, but I have sure been entertained (the grease has us ALL in stitches) and frustrated.
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Talk to your Players.Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
Watch a group called Viva la Dirt D&D (also called Epic NPC D&D or Adventures in Azerim). There's a player who rolls horribly during combat - 3rd set of dice and doesn't seem to be making any progress with the dice deities. He loves the RP but the dice rolling frustrates him to no end.
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
I swear, we have a Paladin who strictly because of dice rolls just can not fight on stairs. It's bizarre. Nat 1s popping up like they were viral. Every other combat over a just shy to 100 hour campaign he performs fairly to impressively in combat. But three instances, in which all instances he decided to engage an enemy on a staircase were just disastrous for him. The last one, I even let him roll at advantage because "he had the high ground" and still sank all his rolls below AC. The last time everyone else was done with the rest of the enemy which led one rogue to ask "Is Z still on the stairs?" and the Sorcerer replied "I'll help him out" and grabbed her dagger and saved him from his opponent. So the party's not allowing him to fight on stair cases anymore.
Maybe I'll give him a spotlight moment and have him shine on a titling ladder fight or something. He just needs the right environment to flourish his combat prowess.
I picture this character's afterlife arriving on the Celestial plane ... "Stairway to Heaven" plays in the air and the Paladin wonders if he has actually been damned.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
In my gaming group there are a number of players, and most of us also DM. The groups main DM and myself (probably 2nd ish) are the exact opposites of one another. My rolls are for shit and his are fantastic. I roll more 1s than you would believe, if he rolls below a 15 we’re all shocked.
One time my friend wanted to his character to die so he went to a fort and started to attack everyone. He only go higher than 15 on rolls. he killed 5 guards then my DM just said that he dies (because he doesn't want him to break the game).
Another time my friend jumped down a 500ft long shaft then rolled a nat 20 on the saving throw so by rule he was back up at 1HP
You would think it is impossible to roll a 0. But I have. -1 Athletics modifier and a horrible roll results in this. Leading to me and my cousin almost drowning in a river, before washing up at the feet of 10 hobgoblins. A bad attack roll, and I stab my cousin instead of the hobgoblins! Yet somehow, good Charisma causes them all to flee from me and my horrid dice rolls about 2.4 seconds later...
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Hi!!!! My pronouns are She/They!
Picture a halfling riding a flumph and be happy!!!!!
As a DM, I always roll terribly for initiative. Once I rolled a -1, a 0, and a 3 on three monsters in the same encounter.
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All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
When the cleric in my party rolled a critical hit for every single max level inflict wounds casting they did. This led to me nerfing the spell to 3d8 instead of 3d10.
So I have 2 characters who have a similar issue, but reversed. Both have very high Dex and are proficient in Acrobatics.
The first, a Bard, pretty much maxes out any ability check he does in Acrobatics. We come to a line strung across a chasm. I had a ring or something of levitate, so I say "I'm going to jump onto the rope and walk across" Acrobatic check....19 + bonuses, was like a 25 or 26. Great. Later, I am on a stairway, with a rail and an upper platform. "I want to jump onto the railing, then up to the next level. DM calls for 2 Acrobatics checks. I kid you not, 19 and 20 BINGO. Later still, combat. Fire 3 crossbow bolt, best roll...8. Dammit We get overrun a bit, so 4 pokes with the Rapier, 6, 6, 17 and 4. Really? And this is the norm for the poor fellow. Rolls like a champ for obstacles, and like a chump when the fighting begins.
Now my Monk. This group is facing a lot more combat and he shines. Rolling 16+ on a pretty constant basis. Nice. We face an obstacle. Grease in about a 40 foot circle (Wild magic bit going on he threw at us to deal with) My monk can't roll better than a 7 in the grease. Fell, count 'em, 6 times! Druid with like 12 Dex runs over to help me....drops an 18 on her check! Ok, so we face another challenge. Down a steep, slippery hill. Acrobatics to descend without tumbling like a horse turd all the way to the bottom. 18 (I think, wheew, the curse has ended) Come to a stop where the fallen wagon fetched up....loot it, ok, come back up. Athletics this time (uh oh) 16 (woohoo!) second stage 6 (odam!) DM says "Acrobatics to stop your sliding backwards farther" 16 (whew) Climb attempt....15 (ok, stage 1 done...again) second stage....14 (eep, that was close) Final bit....4 (^&#%$%@#$) Acrobatics..Yeah, yeah, I know. 7 (aaaaa) 18. DM: Ok, you are at the wagon again. "Anyone wanna throw me a rope, this isn't working!"
So do the dice gods mock you, too? Is it more fun, frustrating or fatal? Thus far, I haven't been killed by crap rolls, but I have sure been entertained (the grease has us ALL in stitches) and frustrated.
Talk to your Players. Talk to your DM. If more people used this advice, there would be 24.74% fewer threads on Tactics, Rules and DM discussions.
Watch a group called Viva la Dirt D&D (also called Epic NPC D&D or Adventures in Azerim). There's a player who rolls horribly during combat - 3rd set of dice and doesn't seem to be making any progress with the dice deities. He loves the RP but the dice rolling frustrates him to no end.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
I swear, we have a Paladin who strictly because of dice rolls just can not fight on stairs. It's bizarre. Nat 1s popping up like they were viral. Every other combat over a just shy to 100 hour campaign he performs fairly to impressively in combat. But three instances, in which all instances he decided to engage an enemy on a staircase were just disastrous for him. The last one, I even let him roll at advantage because "he had the high ground" and still sank all his rolls below AC. The last time everyone else was done with the rest of the enemy which led one rogue to ask "Is Z still on the stairs?" and the Sorcerer replied "I'll help him out" and grabbed her dagger and saved him from his opponent. So the party's not allowing him to fight on stair cases anymore.
Maybe I'll give him a spotlight moment and have him shine on a titling ladder fight or something. He just needs the right environment to flourish his combat prowess.
I picture this character's afterlife arriving on the Celestial plane ... "Stairway to Heaven" plays in the air and the Paladin wonders if he has actually been damned.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
In my gaming group there are a number of players, and most of us also DM. The groups main DM and myself (probably 2nd ish) are the exact opposites of one another. My rolls are for shit and his are fantastic. I roll more 1s than you would believe, if he rolls below a 15 we’re all shocked.
Yes, the dice gods mock us all. 🤷♂️
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One time my friend wanted to his character to die so he went to a fort and started to attack everyone. He only go higher than 15 on rolls. he killed 5 guards then my DM just said that he dies (because he doesn't want him to break the game).
Another time my friend jumped down a 500ft long shaft then rolled a nat 20 on the saving throw so by rule he was back up at 1HP
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I participate in the Level 20 Gladiator Arena with several champions they are all in my extended signature Win Streak: 0 Total Wins: 19 Total Loses: 6
You would think it is impossible to roll a 0. But I have. -1 Athletics modifier and a horrible roll results in this. Leading to me and my cousin almost drowning in a river, before washing up at the feet of 10 hobgoblins. A bad attack roll, and I stab my cousin instead of the hobgoblins! Yet somehow, good Charisma causes them all to flee from me and my horrid dice rolls about 2.4 seconds later...
Hi!!!! My pronouns are She/They!
Picture a halfling riding a flumph and be happy!!!!!
:)
As a DM, I always roll terribly for initiative. Once I rolled a -1, a 0, and a 3 on three monsters in the same encounter.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
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Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
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If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
When the cleric in my party rolled a critical hit for every single max level inflict wounds casting they did. This led to me nerfing the spell to 3d8 instead of 3d10.
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I am an Archfey, but nobody seems to notice.
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