History Main / LuckManipulationMechanic

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*** ''Repentance'' introduces the [[spoiler: Eternal D6, a white-colored version of the D6]]; it has a shorter recharge time (2 rooms instead of 6), but the tradeoff is that it sometimes destroys items instead of rerolling them. The expansion also gives an immense buff to the [[spoiler:D Infinity]], changing its effects from "turns into a random die after each use, but with a 2-room recharge time" to "[[GameBreaker the player can turn it into any other die item at will]]".

** There is also a special reroll where you reroll the scatter dice. Unlike normal dice, Scatter Dice have an arrow all pointing in the same direction on 4 sides; this is to represent a direction the shot deviates to. The remaining 2 sides are "Hit" symbols, meaning the shot was dead on. Rerolling the Scatter Dice means you get another 1/3rd of a chance to directly hit the target, or deviate it into something else (especially useful if the the [[IncrediblyLamePun winds of chance weren't particularly favourable]] and blew your own weapon back to you]]).

* ''VideoGame/HandOfFate'' and ''VideoGame/HandOfFate2'': Some equipment gives you better odds on the minigames; Mask Of Holy Fortunes causes one of the Chance Cards fail cards to always be visible, Gambler's Ring adds 2 to any dice roll, Grifter's Friend allows you to outright shift the Spin-the-card-wheel one card in any direction, etc. Blessings [[note]]the game's perk system[[/note]] can also affect minigames.

* In the ''{{Franchise/Pokemon}}'' games, the base rate for a Shiny Pokémon is 1 in 8192 (before ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'') or 1 in 4096 (''X'' and ''Y'' onwards). Starting from ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'', the Masuda Method was introduced, which is a way to boost the odds of getting a Shiny Pokémon from breeding by breeding two Pokémon with different languages of origin together, which forces the game to reroll a hatched Pokémon's personality value[[note]]a 32-bit integer assigned to each Pokémon upon generation[[/note]] an additional 5 or 6 times to check for Shininess. Starting from ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'', the Shiny Charm was introduced as a reward for [[GottaCatchEmAll completing the Pokédex]], which adds an additional 2 rolls to any Pokémon, including wild Pokémon and hatched Pokémon. Individual games have unique methods of boosting Shiny appearance rate or special events that have a drastically increased Shiny chance by default, such as Poké Radar catch chaining, [[VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield Dynamax Adventures]], [[VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus mass outbreaks]], and [[VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet sandwiches]].

** Applies to the ''[=FATE=]'' system (that ''Dresden Files'' uses) in general; invoking one of your character's freeform Aspects to either get +2 to your one of your rolls ''after'' you've already made it or else pick up all the dice and try again is one of the more basic uses for Fate points. (You can get a +1 bonus this way even without an applicable Aspect, but don't get the reroll option then.)

* ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagicV'' has an ability that adds an extra roll for all luck-based abilities.

* ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'' features an ([[InfinityPlusOneSword arduous to get, but extremely powerful]]) item, the [[spoiler:[[MundaneMadeAwesome almighty D6 die]]]], which allows you to transmute power-ups & activated-items into another random item of either kind. This allows to try to swap {{Powerup Letdown}}s or MutuallyExclusivePowerups for something potentially more useful [[{{Roguelike}} for your current playthrough]].
** The ''Wrath of the Lamb'' DLC adds the even harder to unlock [[spoiler:D20 die]], which instead transmutes more common items (trinkets, keys, bombs, pennies, hearts, and chests).
** ''Rebirth'' adds the GuideDangIt to unlock [[spoiler:D4 die]], which rerolls your passive items you've collected, the unlocked-by-default [[spoiler:D10 die]], which rerolls enemies, and [[spoiler:the insanely hard to unlock D100, which is the D4, D6, and D20 combined.]]
*** ''Repentance'' introduces the [[spoiler: Eternal D6, a white-colored version of the D6]]; it has a shorter recharge time (2 rooms instead of 6), but the tradeoff is that it sometimes destroys items instead of rerolling them. The expansion also gives an immense buff to the [[spoiler:D Infinity]], changing its effects from "turns into a random die after each use, but with a 2-room recharge time" to "[[GameBreaker the player can turn it into any other die item at will]]".
* ''VideoGame/UnlimitedSaga'', as part of its attempt to create the feel of playing a TabletopRPG, has something similar in concept to this: it's replaced the endless literal dice rolling of a TabletopRPG with spinning reels that the player stops by pressing a button, giving the player some degree of control over the outcome. [[ScrappyMechanic Which just makes it even more frustrating when you get a bad result.]]

* ''VideoGame/AncientDomainsOfMystery'' had luck-affecting status conditions: Doomed, Cursed, Lucky, and Fate Smiles. This changed the mechanics of the RNG, to be more or less favorable to the player.

* The ''TableTopGame/PokemonTCG'' for UsefulNotes/GameBoy uses coin flips as per the card game, but here it's possible to always get heads if you know how to time your flips correctly and during which battles (some battles have heads if the coin was flipped tails up, or the other way around, or on its edge, or...)

* In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', the Luck statistic is established as the ability to calculate and manipulate probability; a high luck means you can nudge chance into giving more favorable outcomes. In general, this means that every casino game gives you better odds, critical hits are more likely, and all of your skills gain a slight increase. This also means that low luck makes critical hits less likely, and can actually jinx your gambling odds.
** When gambling, a player with high Luck can easily take any casino for everything until they get banned (which usually happens after net winnings of 10,000 caps). On the contrary, a player with low Luck will have a much harder time. Playing perfect blackjack strategy means nothing when the dealer repeatedly gets blackjacks with the accompanying message that "You feel unlucky".
** In-story, Mr House has been calculating the probabilities for an extensive web of plans in order to rule New Vegas; in-game, he has a maxed-out Luck of ten.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' introduced special tokens in ''Mists of Pandaria'' that allow players a second chance at getting an item when killing a raid boss. The number of tokens a player can have is limited to a maximum of ten for the current raid tier and only three can be earned each week through ordinary means. Opinion in the player base is split due to the relatively low chance of receiving an item and the low gold pay-out compared to the cost of the token. The tokens have their own built-in manipulation mechanic to protect against bad luck streaks. Each failed bonus roll increases the chance of receiving an item on a subsequent bonus roll.
* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' allows you to raise or lower your level (and therefore Maximum HP) on the status screen whenever you pause, for a 1:1 [[RandomDrops drop rate]] increase per level below max, up to 100 (further increased by chaining battles, which multiplies enemy stats and your drop rate per encounter, for up to sixteen battles). Since the in-game Noise Report states the base drop rates for some pins are set at 0.03%... you are going to need it.
* ''VideoGame/AzureStrikerGunvolt:'' After every mission you're given some tries of taking an item out of 15 "covered boxes". The mechanic comes in where getting a higher rank in the mission and/or collecting medals on the run will let you take more tries on the same 15 boxes.
* ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' has the ability to ''force'' an AlwaysAccurateAttack CriticalHit to occur in V.A.T.S., by filling up the critical bar via hits in V.A.T.S. It's a great way to hit an opponent if your attack was about to miss. Certain Luck perks make this easier, such as Critical Banker to store more critical hits, and Four Leaf Clover to instantly fill up a critical bar by hitting enemies in V.A.T.S.
* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'': By killing enemies with the type of Djinn they're weakest to, you gain additional gold and experience, and the chance of dropping its item is greatly increased (though it still takes a lot of LevelGrinding depending on the monster, some drops are only bumped up to 1/'''256''' with this method). Other methods include manipulating the RNG with specific commands (which character attacks, in what order, using what skill, etc. but requires a lot of resetting).
* In ''Pocket Quest'', a game where you literally roll giant dice to move to board tiles, you can use Loaded Dice (purchasable from shops and dropped by some monsters) to specify the number of spaces you want to move. Additionally, a traveling merchant sells the expensive Red Ears which skews the BettingMinigame's odds in your favor.
* ''VideoGame/HandOfFate'' and ''VideoGame/HandOfFate2'': Some equipment gives you better odds on the minigames; Mask Of Holy Fortunes causes one of the Chance Cards fail cards to always be visible, Gambler's Ring adds 2 to any dice roll, Grifter's Friend allows you to outright shift the Spin-the-card-wheel one card in any direction, etc. Blessings [[note]]the game's perk system[[/note]] can also affect minigames.
* ''VideoGame/ForTheKing'': Stat checks (including attacks) normally make one to five rolls against a specific character stat, tallying successes and failures. Characters can spend points of Focus for automatic successes on rolls. However, each character has a small Focus pool and limited means of restoring it, including consumables, [[CharacterLevel leveling up]], and rare events.
* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'': There is a "Luck" status effect which can be applied to the player and temporarily increases the chance of rare and more desirable loot appearing in procedurally generated chests or from fishing. There is also a "Bad Luck" status effect which has the opposite effect. [[DummiedOut Neither status effect can be obtained in legitimate gameplay, however.]]
* ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'': Several games in the series have a Shuffle function to allow you to redraw your hand of Battle Chips three times per turn, but it can only be used under specific circumstances.[[note]]In ''[[VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork4RedSunAndBlueMoon Battle Network 4]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork5TeamColonelAndTeamProtoMan Battle Network 5]]'' it's tied to [=SearchSoul=], which is VersionExclusiveContent. In ''[[VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork6CybeastGregarAndCybeastFalzar Battle Network 6]]'' it's available as a Navi Cust program and not version exclusive, but it takes up a lot of space.[[/note]] Very useful for trying to get the chips you need for fast battles.

** The Golden Loaded Die is a legendary-rarity item that not only adds an extra selection choice to both your upgrades and items, but also guarantees that the extra choice will be of Rare or better quality. [[spoiler:SecretCharacter [[{{Shopkeeper}} Roger]] starts out with this]].

** A sufficiently powerful cavalier can become [[UpToEleven immune to luck itself.]] While all characters, from peasants to kings to dragons to gods, are vulnerable to random chance forcing a critical fumble or a stroke of improbable luck, a high-level cavalier ability allows them to treat a [[EpicFail natural 1]] as if they had rolled one lower than a natural 2.

[[folder: Video Games]]

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' ''XP'' and ''25th Anniversary,'' Perversity points are a combination of this and ExperiencePoints. On skill rolls, they can be used to push someone's chances to succeed in an activity up -- or down. There is also a luck manipulation mutation, but it has limited use on the grounds that really lucky people aren't in Alpha Complex to start with.
* ''[[TabletopGame/ProseDescriptiveQualities Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies]]'' has "style dice," which are earned for [[GenreSavvy acting in genre]] or otherwise entertainingly and constructively. They net a player extra dice for rerolls, or flat +1 bonuses to any roll (useful when you need just a little more but a reroll is more likely to harm than help). There's a limited pool of style dice available which replenishes as they're used, meaning players are encouraged to not only act outrageously to acquire extra dice but spend them like water (usually on said outrageous actions) to keep the dice flowing.

* Karma points in the old ''TabletopGame/MarvelSuperHeroes'' (a.k.a. FASERIP) system were a combination of this and ExperiencePoints with an added dash of, well, KarmaMeter: your character earned them for acting like a proper superhero, could lose them for ''un''heroic behavior, and they could be spent either in game to adjust die roll results or use your character's powers in new and unusual ways or ''between'' games for mechanical character advancement. The game also had a separate "Probability Control" superpower that let the character's player dictate in which order his or her (percentile) dice would be read after any given roll.

* Stella Atlas from ''Roleplay/NothingIsSacred'' is able to, once per duel, substitute one of her standard draw with a Destiny Draw, allowing her to draw any card from her deck so long as she has the spiritual energy to call it forth.