D&D Dice Explained
7 mystical shapes link your decisions to your character's fate. As the dice fall from your hand, your character boldly advances. Roll with the Best!
Dungeons and Dragons made these seven dice an unstoppable team. Use of a "D&D dice" set is common to most tabletop role playing games today.
You might be wondering:
Which 7 dice make a set?
To start playing, you only need one of each: the D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, and D20, but standard 7-dice sets also include a second D10 which is used for percentile rolls. Gamers often prefer to have multiples of some die in order to roll pools of dice, such as 3D6 in one roll instead of 3 individual rolls.
But what are their common uses?
In general, the D4, D6, D8, D10 and D12 are used for weapons damage, attacks, spells and healing amounts. The D20 is used most often, to see if your attempted action succeeds.
Now:
Check out the detailed descriptions below, or jump right into our store to find unforgettable metal dice or polymer dice today.
New: Click+drag to "roll" each die at our animated D&D Dice Roller page.
D20
Icosahedron
The signature die of Dungeons & Dragons, and taller than its siblings, the D20 rolls further because it is the most spherical. The faces are equilateral triangles.
The D20 is used any time you want to know if an attempt is successful: attacks, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks. Each value has a 5% chance. After you roll a D20 to see if you hit an enemy, you will roll other dice to see how much damage you deal. Small weapons use a D4, larger weapons deal D6 or D8 damage, and the biggest deal D10 or D12.
D20, The "decider" of D&D dice. Style of each example shown on this page is our Copper/Turquoise Alloy D&D dice set
One of our Best DnD dice sets, shown here is Sinister Chrome Rainbow
Octahedron
D8
The eight sided die, each face is triangular and it resembles two pyramids attached base-to-base. Often used for damage done by larger weapons.
The Cube
D6
The standard cube shape die found in most boardgames is also used in D&D. Many gamers gather a set of D6 for quickly rolling multiples, like the original 3D6 rolls for attributes during character creation, which later turned into 4D6 discounting the lowest roll, and assigning each number where the player wants.
D12
Dodecahedron
One of the best looking of the bunch, the faces are pentagons. Not as commonly used in D&D except for some damage rolls. Can be used to determine the hour of day or night, or month of year.
Pentagonal
Trapezohedron
D10
The ten sided die is used often while playing D&D. There are actually two ten sided dice in a standard 7-dice D&D set. The faces of one are numbered 0 to 9, and the faces of the other go from 00 to 90 by tens.
To make a 'percentile' roll, you roll both die and add them together, with one exception: a double zero roll is 100.
Many gamers prefer to have multiple sets. We sell a variety of beautiful multi-set polymer dice bundles.
D4
Tetrahedron
The unloved D4, also known as the caltrap. If you have stepped on a D4 with bare feet, you will never forget it. Because of its large flat sides it does not roll as well as the other shapes. In Dungeons & Dragons, the D4 is used where you want low variation, and an average roll of 2.5. Determining damage done by small weapons is a common use.
We will soon be releasing a custom designed set which makes the D4 roll better.
Quick Links
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Our DnD Dice roller page lets you click and drag to roll any of the 7 dice in a D&D set.
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Read our Reasons to buy from Die Hard Dice page and shop with confidence.
"He [rolls the dice] to find the answer,
The sacred geometry of chance,
The hidden law of a probable outcome,
The numbers lead a dance."
- Sting, Shape of my Heart