But only suck sometimes?

I've played CF since 95/96ish. I have a real good handle on areas, preps, and game mechanics. I can play characters with 20:1.5 PK ratios, and do. But then I can go from a character that just whoops all manner of booty, racks up 100s of kills, and dies very very little to a character with a ratio fo 3:2. Its not a question of playing a different race/class, because I'll go from playing a 2handed dwarf paladin that lands 80+ kills in a short amount of time, to a 2handed dwarf paladin that dies more than he wins.

What the hell changes? It can't be that for 100 hours I only fought the newbies, then rolled a new character and fought only the 9 year vets for 100 hours. Keep in mind, I've been play for close to 10 years now, and I'm speaking of a scope that spans that much time. It seems like I play 10 crappy ass die-aton characters and then once or twice a year BOOM, out comes this wonder that can't be stopped.

What the F is wrong with me? I'm open to any suggestions.