My dice rolls are so atrocious it makes me sick

[Maximum Sloth]

At level 4 - Consistently rolling 1-5 in combat (so around 12-15 with bonuses) while the ai rolls 15+ (without adding bonuses - god forbid I go one combat without at least 1 natural 20 critical hit being rolled against me), rolling 1-3 on skill checks (here's a consecutive sequence of what my basic rolls look like for skill checks, stuff like this happened at least 3 times in this one play session - 3, 1, 3, 5, 1, 2).

Before you ask - I am on normal, with critical hits on weak, and ai damage on 0.9.

I am not saying the game is bad or flawed, I really enjoy it so far (and all the time on my profile is just spent making characters and playing the first 1-2 levels - now sticking with my current character and class because I love it) just astounded my luck with the rolls has been so amazingly bad.

What God have I p----d off to get f---ed on by the dice rolls so fantastically and consistently..and how do I regain its favor?

[InEffect]

It's the nature of dice rolling. All you can do is minimize the dice affecting you. With the number of dice you roll outliers won't matter. Now if you have a bad build - yes, the whole game will become a gambling session.

[Maximum Sloth]

Originally posted by InEffect:

It's the nature of dice rolling. All you can do is minimize the dice affecting you. With the number of dice you roll outliers won't matter. Now if you have a bad build - yes, the whole game will become a gambling session.

Nope, builds are all set out out to do whatever the classes do best - hence why the rolls are around 12-15 - with +9-11 bonuses etc.,

[InEffect]

Well with proper builds you largely ignore the rolls. Worst that could happen - the combat will be slightly longer.

DnD and PF are like that in general. Early levels involve a lot of luck due to limited character options at the point. It's the reason a lot of modules start you at level 3-5. It's less of an issue in PnP as early questing involves little combat.

There is also a matter of rather inflated mob stats that make early-game a lot harder than it should be. Early control spells do wonders though, so it's not a big deal. Color spray, grease, web, entangle - all amazing at totally crushing early encounters.

[Immortal Reaver]

I am also unlucky with rolls, mostly 3 or less.
My consecutive attack rolls in prologe on hard againts 3 bandits after you get tartucio and linzi in party were 3.2,2,3,3,3,2,1,3,4,2,3,3,3,4,3,3,1,2,4,2,2,1,3 then my kensai run out of shield spells, bandits full health, they rolled around 13 roll +7AB for a while (I had 22AC with shield spells) then started rolling over 16 constantly after while.
But at least my Dmg rolls are almost always high( in 1d6 I roll 5 most of time).

[Maximum Sloth]

Originally posted by InEffect:

Well with proper builds you largely ignore the rolls. Worst that could happen - the combat will be slightly longer.

DnD and PF are like that in general. Early levels involve a lot of luck due to limited character options at the point. It's the reason a lot of modules start you at level 3-5. It's less of an issue in PnP as early questing involves little combat.

There is also a matter of rather inflated mob stats that make early-game a lot harder than it should be. Early control spells do wonders though, so it's not a big deal. Color spray, grease, web, entangle - all amazing at totally crushing early encounters.

Thanks for the tips!

I have been using ensnare, just picked up color spray at level 5

[Swordman_Red]

Originally posted by Maximum Sloth:

At level 4 - Consistently rolling 1-5 in combat (so around 12-15 with bonuses) while the ai rolls 15+ (without adding bonuses - god forbid I go one combat without at least 1 natural 20 critical hit being rolled against me), rolling 1-3 on skill checks (here's a consecutive sequence of what my basic rolls look like for skill checks, stuff like this happened at least 3 times in this one play session - 3, 1, 3, 5, 1, 2).

Before you ask - I am on normal, with critical hits on weak, and ai damage on 0.9.

I am not saying the game is bad or flawed, I really enjoy it so far (and all the time on my profile is just spent making characters and playing the first 1-2 levels - now sticking with my current character and class because I love it) just astounded my luck with the rolls has been so amazingly bad.

What God have I p----d off to get f---ed on by the dice rolls so fantastically and consistently..and how do I regain its favor?

Same thing here. I keep telling myself im just being paranoid and there is no tweaks in numbers generator.

[Mky]

I don't think there's an actual tweak behind this, and if there is we'll never know as it will never be communicated.

But i noticed several very odd similar situations as you described. Huge series of 5- or 15+ rolls in a row.
I played a lot of physical game and computer games, i'd start by saying it's not the same randomness at all (computer is a simulation of randomness, almost correct).
But even then when i compare one big RNG game like path of exile to Pathfinder i notice a big difference too. Like i said, i never experienced such huge series of quite similar results in any other game than pathfinder : kingmaker.

If i add some parano to this i'd say it's always in the disfavour of the player, but it's a common human feeling : being obsessed by our fails more than our success.

[Matt]

Originally posted by Immortal Reaver:

I am also unlucky with rolls, mostly 3 or less.
My consecutive attack rolls in prologe on hard againts 3 bandits after you get tartucio and linzi in party were 3.2,2,3,3,3,2,1,3,4,2,3,3,3,4,3,3,1,2,4,2,2,1,3 then my kensai run out of shield spells, bandits full health, they rolled around 13 roll +7AB for a while (I had 22AC with shield spells) then started rolling over 16 constantly after while.
But at least my Dmg rolls are almost always high( in 1d6 I roll 5 most of time).

The chance to roll 24 times in a row between 1 and 4 is 1 out of 60 millions of billions.

(yes, that's 1 out of 60 000 000 000 000 000)

So, either that didn't happen or there's a bug (which I doubt).

[=[NK]= Col. Jack O'Neil]

I love how with games like xcom. People don't want random, they want dice rolls that the more you roll bad, the higher chance you'll roll good. So many people don't want /complain about a random dice generator

[Matt]

Originally posted by =NK= Col. Jack O'Neil:

I love how with games like xcom. People don't want random, they want dice rolls that the more you roll bad, the higher chance you'll roll good. So many people don't want /complain about a random dice generator

That's true, alas. Sid Meyer did a talk about this some years ago.

People also tend to be biased when it comes to analysing/remembering the rolls they get.

[Titan]

In the pen & Paper i've often had issues with my rolls being subpar(avg feel like a 9 on the d20) got around it for my latest build on offense by going for touch attacks and at lvl 15 I do 6 such a turn, attacks that against most opponents hits on 2+.

[SmooshieBanana]

Sounds like you need to go buy a new dice set. The Gm has cursed your dice set.

[InEffect]

some dice are just flawed and you won't be able to tell. even well-balanced expensive ones can be on occasion. for the game... computers don't understand random - it's always some complex pattern that can amount to randomness but it truly isn't. Some systems fudge the dice so player is not too upset about failing too often. XCOM for example increases real hit chance with every missed shot afaik.

[Mario]

This game uses the worst random number generator of all the games I played.

[Janthis]

Originally posted by InEffect:

some dice are just flawed and you won't be able to tell. even well-balanced expensive ones can be on occasion. for the game... computers don't understand random - it's always some complex pattern that can amount to randomness but it truly isn't. Some systems fudge the dice so player is not too upset about failing too often. XCOM for example increases real hit chance with every missed shot afaik.

The best system for this I found personally was in a little RPG called Dungeon of Naheulbeuk. Every time you have a bad dice roll or critical failure, a "fortune" meter fills up. You can then use this fortune meter to activate various powerful abilities. I thought it was really well done and actually made me somewhat look forward to bad dice rolls instead of considering them an annoyance. I wish more games adopted such a system.