Would you use this? The Gamblers D20 in D&D

[DnDShorts]

I love using weird dice to represent magic and curses in my games! You can print gambler's dice free from my minis account (link in bio). Remember you can also manually alter dice with a coat of paint if you want too!

[Tjalve]

I never thought about the possibility of using special dice like these for special weapons, like cursed weapons and such.
That's actually brilliant.

[unironicallylikesranger]

I thematically like them on a rogue with the gambler background, then at 10th level when they get reliable talent they’re actually good at taking the gambles.

[Jackioz]

The Champion Fighter cries when you give these to him

[acolytetojippity]

i've seen a die that has a similar distribution, but the removed numbers are from the middle of the range. it was called something like a "high dynamic" or "high variance die". it was designed off of the idea that extreme rolls are more interesting, so it just pushes the odds towards such things. the actual spread was really dumb, but it's a neat idea that could be iterated on I would think.

[harutakami]

Fun Fact! Bunkers & Badasses uses a version of this as a core part of the system! The "Badass Die" is a d20 where 18 and 19 are both 20's, but 2 and 3 are both 1's. (instead of 16 and 17)
They're used for the "Badass Move" action, a special turn-encompasing action players can attempt individually, or as a group.
How it works is a player will declare their intent to perform a Badass Move, spend Badass Tokens (described later) based on how many Badass Moves they've initiated this session, then describe EVERYTHING they want to do on their turn, using as many actions as they want.
Any players who haven't taken their turn yet can join in, describing the actions they want to take as well.
Players should be encouraged by the BM (Bunker Master) to go as over-the-top as possible and be the biggest Badass they can be.
Once everyone that's participating has finished, and the BM has decided it's Badass enough, they'll set a DC for the Badass Move based on the number of players, their actions, and how Badass it all sounds.
All players will roll the Badass Die, add their Badass Rank (a special score, roughly 1/2 level on average, though the BM can award increases after impressive displays of Badassery), and then all players total their results together vs the DC.
If they beat the DC, everything they described *Happens*. Players only need to roll to determine how many damage dice they roll, and damage itself, abd they can replace any d20 roll with their Badass Die result if they want. Additionally, the player that initiated the Badass Move gets 4 Badass Tokens and uses their Ability Scores instead of Modifiers until their next turn. (Scores start at 0, not 10.) Other players that participate get 2 Tokens.
On a Failure, players must take their turns as normal, rolling for skill checks, attacks, etc as normal. The initiating player gets 2 Tokens, other players get 1, and the BM gets 1 Mayhem, plus an additional for each nat1 rolled.

- Badass Token: A player resource. These can be spent to increase ANY die roll, ally or enemy, by +1. Players must spend 0 Tokens, +1 per Badass Move that player initiated this session to initiate a new Badass Move. (So 0, then 1, then 2, etc.)
- Mayhem: A BM resource generated by various things. Can be spent by the BM to cause problems for the players. (Things like spawning more or stronger enemies, upgrading enemies, allowing enemies to make extra actions, completing secret boss plans, or rolling on a "Rando-stuff" table of random complications.)

[Akari-brci]

That's really cool. A "loaded die" that hurts you just as much as it helps you.

[Guille]

Halfling Divination Wizard with the Lucky Feat: "I see only benefits here"

[idontknowyt]

Definitely printing off a few of those for my next session 🎰🎰

[baldguy]

This reminds me of Mario party and all the special dies on that game, surprised more people haven’t thought out of the box like this with all the dies; basically infinite possibilities

[sebcadecon]

The gamblers dice for cursed weapons reminds me what i do. For my characters, i start out with crystal clear dice set then as the character progresses through the campaign i start using colored dice depending on the actions they took to get there light colors for good dark colors for evil. As for the apex of each. Good is blue with a liquid gold glitter core, and evil is a liquid core blue slited eye, and morally grey is my uncolored metal dice because despite not aligning good or evil, your actuons still have weight

[BobThePenguin.]

Fighter bouta land 8 consecutive black flashes with this die.

[Emerald-Fluffie]

“If you think that sounds overpowered, There’s a twist”

…and that twist is when the DM asks you to get out

[blacklight]

The dice of "let this dnd session be wildin!"

[jimwormmaster]

Meanwhile it was the goal of my bard to use dive as little as possible. If we had gotten to lvl 20, I'd have had an automatic 38 or 40 in like 7 skills (can't remember if that includes performance, or just what used the bonus). Including bluff, intimidate, sense motive, escape artist...

[john-fury]

this is genuinely a really cool idea, i love the idea of some player in your dnd game getting some insane magic item said to be cursed, and then you the dm just hand them a brand new die like this.

[Wanaskiwin]

The lose of high numbers and increased ones is an erotic challenge.

Im sure its common but i can play a game like XCOM where you have hit percentages and never hit anything that isnt atleast guaranteed and even those miss. Ever miss someone with the blast of a grenade because they were inside it and had a 100% chance to get hit?

No? Gimme that die. I need it.

[agentchaos]

I think personally I'd feel more comfortable linking a dice like that to a homebrew subclass feature then a weapon, but it's an awesome concept regardless

[livedandletdie]

The best d20 is the 19 1s and 1 20. Now that's a real Gambler's dice.

[The_Jragon]

"Only when one throws away reason, does one truly gamble."

-Aventurine
Honkai Star Rail