Dice

Dice are polyhedral shapes with numbered sides used to generate random numbers in Dungeons & Dragons. The term polyhedral dice typically refers to dice with more or fewer than six sides. The singular of dice is die.

Standard dice

Every edition of Dungeons & Dragons has required the use of 4-sided, 6-sided, 8-sided, 12-sided, and 20-sided dice. Most editions of the game also use 10-sided dice.

With the exception of 10-sided dice, all standard dice used for D&D are platonic solids: a convex polyhedron where all faces are the same shape and size, all angles and sides are equal, and the same number of faces meet at each vertex.

Dice notation

Since Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition, game rules describing the use of dice have used the 'd' notation. A number after the letter 'd' refers to dice with that many sides. An optional number before the 'd' means to roll that many dice and add the result. The roll may be followed by a bonus or penalty that should be applied.

For example, "d20" refers to twenty-sided dice. A player in D&D 3rd edition might make an attack by rolling 1d20+5 (one twenty-sided die, and add 5 to the result), and his damage with a greatsword might be 2d6+4 (roll two six-sided dice and add 4 to the total).

Individual dice

d2/d3

Not real dice, but rather a pair of methods used to generate numbers between 1-2 or 1-3 respectively. A six-sided die is rolled and divided by three to generate a number between 1-2, or divided by 2 to generate a number between 1-3. A coin flip may also serve as 1d2.

Some manufacturers have since developed actual two-sided and three-sided dice, but these are uncommon.

There is no such thing as a d1. The D&D 3rd edition rules mention a damage die below d2, but it's simply known as "1".

d4

A four-sided triangular pyramid-shaped die. All faces are equilateral triangles. The numbers are typically written in the corners, so that the number which appears at the top is the result.

The d4 is the lowest standard die and is traditionally used for attacks which deal low damage, such as a dagger or the Magic Missile spell. In many editions of Dungeons & Dragons prior to fourth edition, the wizard class rolled 1d4 at each level for hit points.

In the roleplaying game community, four-sided dice are nicknamed "caltrops" for their pointed tops which the owner might accidentally step on while barefoot. They are the only standard dice which do not have a flat face at the top. Four-sided dice do not roll especially well, and are relatively infrequently used compared to other dice.

d6

The most common type of dice known outside of tabletop roleplaying games. Six-sided dice are widely used in every edition of Dungeons & Dragons.

Players use multiple six-sided dice to generate a character's ability scores, traditionally three six sided dice added together, although in later editions of the game it became commonplace to roll four six-died dice and discard the lowest roll.

Many spells use multiple six-sided dice added together for their damage, such as Fireball, which in D&D 3rd edition deals 1d6 per caster level in damage. In some editions of the game, a high level spellcaster may need to roll handfuls of dice.

Due to their popularity outside D&D, six-sided dice are easy to buy cheaply in large numbers. Players are generally expected to own more six-sided dice than any other sort, and many game rules rely on this.

d8

Eight-sided dice are shaped like a regular octahedron. They regularly see use for weapon damage, hit dice of certain classes, and certain spells.

d10

The newest of the standard dice, and the only one which is not a regular polyhedron, instead having a spindle shape.

Ten-sided dice are often marked from 0-9 instead of 1-10, on the understanding that a 0 is to be interpreted as a 10. This is occasionally a source of confusion, and is related to a usage where two dice are rolled together to generate the digits of a percentile number from 00 to 99, known as d100 or d% (see below).

d12

A twelve-sided polyhedron, or dodecahedron. The d12 is possibly the dice with the fewest uses, and a player might play every week for a year without ever needing to roll one.

Certain weapons in some editions of the game use the d12, although many numbers in this range simply ask for two six-sided dice (2d6) instead. The barbarian uses the d12 for their hit dice in later editions of the game, with editions of D&D gradually increasing the hit dice of many classes over time; Original D&D, which used the d6 for all hit dice, would have found a d12 hit dice excessive.

The d12 is the highest dice typically used for things like weapon damage, with the d20 reserved for to-hit rolls and the like. The ^{[citation needed]} initially allowed the monk to deal 1d20 damage at high level, but the later D&D 3.5 revised that to 2d10 to preserve the d20's special meaning.

The d12 often trips up new players who mistake it for the more important d20, and thus short-change themselves. It can be identified by its pentagon-shaped (five-sided) faces, whereas the d20 has triangular faces.

d20

The twenty-sided die is an icosahedron, or a regular polygon where all sides are triangular in shape. It is the most important dice used in Dungeons & Dragons, having been used for attack rolls since the earliest editions of the game. D&D 3rd edition's ruleset is named the d20 System for its importance to core gameplay.

The d20 is regularly used for core mechanics such as attack rolls, saving throws, ability checks and skill checks. Prior to D&D third edition, roll-under checks were common, e.g. rolling a d20 and aiming to roll lower than your own Strength score. From third edition onward, the d20 system established a core mechanic of rolling 1d20, adding relevant bonuses, and aiming to meet or exceed a difficulty class set by the Dungeon Master or game rules.

d100/d%

The term d100 or d%, also called percentile dice, is used to refer to a system of generating a number between 1-100 or 00-99 generated by rolling two ten-sided dice to generate a two-digit number.

Typically, two ten-sided dice are rolled, each numbered from 0 to 9, to generate a two-digit number from 01 to 99, with a roll of 00 interpreted as 100. Dice sets often include a d10 marked from 00 to 90 especially for rolling the tens digit.

Percentile dice are most commonly used to roll on a random table.

Some editions of D&D prior to third edition used the d100 for a system called percentile strength, where fighters with 18 Strength could roll an additional 1d100 to determine how much stronger they were.

It's possible to add more d10s to add more digits and roll d1000, d10000 or higher, but this is typically not used in Dungeons & Dragons.

Unusual dice

Dice manufacturers have produced other unusual sets of dice, including standard-numbered dice in unorthodox shapes, or dice with non-standard numbers of faces which are not typically used in Dungeons & Dragons.

Uncommon form factors

Barrel dice or long dice are prism-shaped and roughly cylindrical, often with tapered ends so that the die can only roll in one direction when thrown and land on one of its faces. Theoretically, fair dice of any odd or even number can be made in this form factor.

The zocchihedron is a spherical hundred-sided die with a patented internal mechanism to stop the sphere.

Computerized dice are sometimes used, such as software using a pseudorandom number generator to simulate the result of rolling dice. Some software allows rolling arbitrary dice which do not normally exist, although this feature is not normally used in Dungeons & Dragons. Digital dice are most often used in online play.

Non-standard numbered dice

Dice with sides other than standard are not used in standard Dungeons & Dragons rules. They can be used in variant rules, to roll on a custom random table, or to play other games.

Dice have been produced of all numbers of faces from 1-sided (a sphere or mobius strip die made as a joke) to 16-sided, as well as 22, 24, 30, 34, 48, 50, 60, and 120-sided dice.

Dice with more than 20 sides are difficult to use as the shape of the die approaches a sphere, increasing the risk that the die will not stop rolling until it falls off the edge of the table.

History

Original D&D

Men & Magic (1974) recommended that players own at least pair each of 4-sided, 8-sided, 12-sided and 20-sided dice, and 4 to 20 pairs of 6-sided dice.

10-sided dice were not used by this edition of the game until Blackmoor (Supplement 1){{UnknownBook}}, which suggested it to generate the level of ixitxachitl NPCs and the random disease chart.

D&D 3rd edition

The Player's Handbook (3.5) (2003), p.5 advises that each player requires a set of dice including at least one each of 4-sided, 8-sided, 12-sided and 20-sided dice, two 10-sided dice, and four 6-sided dice.

Some game rules refer to d2 or d3, but these are normally rolled using 6-sided dice.