A magical item allowed a player in Dungeons & Dragons to attempt something with such an unlikely chance of success that even a natural 20 seems easy.
What did the player accomplish? A DM (Dungeon Master) reported to the D&D community on Reddit that one of his players had such incredible luck that it should only work once in 100 attempts.
His group possesses a magical homebrew item (an artifact invented by the DM), through which they can cast the spell “Wish”.
Wish is a 9th-level conjuration spell described in the Player’s Handbook as “the most powerful spell a mortal can cast” (Player’s Handbook 2024, page 341). The spell can produce various, extremely powerful effects that are detailed in the rules but can also be determined in consultation with the DM.
Accordingly, the DM established the rule that when attempting to cast Wish, a d100 (hundred-sided die) must be rolled, which then determines whether the wish works, nothing happens… or it leads to a catastrophe. The higher the number rolled, the higher the chance of success.
The player wished to get rid of a godlike entity that had been tormenting another character, with whom he is engaged, for some time. They had been trying to fight the entity or get rid of it in various ways for several rounds, so much was at stake given the different possible outcomes of the wish.
The DM recounts how he and his players held their breath as the dice rolled – and the player actually rolled a 100.
With an incredible roll to a cinematic moment, thanks to the dice gods
How did the DM handle the roll and the wish? The DM realized that he could do nothing against that 100, which he didn’t want to do anyway due to the excitement of his players. He allowed the player to describe the nearly impossible success in great detail, capturing the entity in a gemstone and ending his partner’s suffering.
Such a roll the DM had never seen in all the years he has been playing Dungeons & Dragons, and the thrilling and crucial situation in which it happened made the moment even greater: “The dice gods sometimes truly grant us cinematic moments.”
What does the community say about this story? The D&D community on Reddit celebrates the DM and his group for experiencing such a wonderful moment through such intense dice luck.
“I love everything about it,” writes gremlinowl, “I love that the character had all this power and used it out of love for their fiancée to spare them pain. I love that you as a DM honored that moment. D&D is sometimes truly amazing.”
They also praise him for associating significant risks with potential successes to raise the stakes – because these can also lead to strong, albeit tragic moments.
“Man, I love critical fails that disturb players,” writes SolKaynn, “I remember one particularly bad roll where I caught syphilis from a book.”
Balance in Dungeons & Dragons is just as important as in many other games, so that players do not feel over- or under-challenged. To ensure this balance, a DM had to intervene since the rules alone could not help. Instead of helping a player to defeat a god, he made him one himself: DM admits he makes a player incredibly strong in Dungeons & Dragons because he can’t handle him otherwise
