Western style d6. 5 pips on each side. Why? Where did it come from?
I know WHAT it is, but I dont know why it exists, what use it has, or where it may have come from. All sides are identical, its translucent green. The pips are scalloped, not painted on, and are otherwise unremarkable. Help me out here, its definitely my favorite d6, but I am struggling to figure out a purpose for a +5 dice.
...I mean, aside from that I need a +5 weapon, clearly.
31 replies
Magic tricks, for example.
Apparently they’re called Forcing Dice; obviously they sell different ones but the concept is the same.
How do you look at this for longer than 2 seconds without noticing it? Guess it's a good example of how much of magic is distraction
My guess is the magician rolls the forcing dice (perhaps after showing other identically colored dice for close inspection), instantly reads off the result, giving just enough time to see the top faces match what they said, then scoops them back up and moves on with the trick.
You might not get those two seconds.
Great guess, this is precisely it.
Ikr, baking the dice is a wayyy better option
Baking?
Baking dice can allow any bubbles inside to move up toward whatever side is up during the process. This weights the die toward that side, but not so perfectly it will land there every time.
Slight of hand, distraction of mind.
'Kingdom Come: Deliverance' has this concept and these dice. Great game.
I'm guessing it's part of a magic trick.
Made me think of this lol
Seems like "some kind of joke" is a likely answer, but I don't know for sure.
I had one of these in red. It's for some really shitty magic tricks
Only when you do them
Good point!
Thank ya for verifying.
I cross-posted this to ![email protected], the resident Threadiverse dice experts, so they might also be able to provide some insights.
It's part of a magic set.
It's a misprint.
Secret Third Thing
I have one of these in red, but it is larger than what I would consider a standard d6. No idea why. Someone left a box full of ttrpg dice at my apartment like 20 years ago and it was inside...
I think thats how I came to acquire this
Likely spawned into existence via the same arcane rituals that brought us candy corn and those weird strawberry hard candies on every grandmother's coffee table.
It's part of a pair. The other one has three sides with six pips and three sides with two pips. That way you always roll either 7 or 11. They must have gotten separated.
where is it used?
Maybe a bonus die for a 3d6 system rpg. It would guarantee a higher result at the cost of being unable to crit.
yeah it would guarantee a roll of 5
7 to 17 if the other two dice are normal. It also avoids a critical fail.
why not just roll 2d6+5?
For flavor.
i'd honestly just feel dumb rolling a trick dice at the table.
The idea is it would be given as loot. Something like a single use item to buff a roll. An actual die makes it easier to keep track of and show you're using it.
You can't figure out any possible reason why a dice would have incorrect sides? Have you ever seen that trick coin? What are you imagining it could possibly be?
You come off like an ass, but I'll give the benefit of the doubt that I'm reading that into your words and will answer assuming as much.
A trick coin has the benefit of being deceptive. You can only see one side of a coin at a time. This however only shows 5s. It clearly only shows 5s to the point where from basically any angle, it shows not one, but three 5s. As the other commenters suggest, this does appear to be a forcing die, but also as suggested, its probably for really crappy magic tricks, and won't actually work as a trick die.
A trick die, like a trick coin, is intended to pass scrutiny in use. An all 5 dice may make it a round in yahtzee but its green, so this one at least is obviously different fom most die. If it is actually supposed to pass scrutiny, I'd go with a weighted die.
As for what it could possibly be, cheapo brand magic tricks wasn't something that crossed my mind, but fits. I gave how I would use it in my post and if I already knew what it was, I wouldn't be asking "what's this thing?" In /C/whatisthisthing.