Weird, Funky Dice in D&D 5 - And how to use it.

[Carlos Barreto]

https://s31.postimg.org/6dtob85nv/Odd_and_weird_dice.jpg


Funky Dice and D&D

ATTENTION: I Know that many players just hate the idea of new dice in D&D for different reasons (extra cost buying dice, lots of dice at the table and so on). So it's just a matter of flavor and maybe you just don't like it. But there're people out there who love this idea, and since this forum is so great, I want to share the idea and see the feedback. The dice in the picture are mine, so it's not a picture from the google.

About one year ago, I found that my wife (who doesn't play any tabletop RPG) just love the funky dice of D&D. All those different colors and shapes just looks fascinating to her. So I decided to buy some dice set, hoping that I could bring her to the D&D universe one day.

Looking over the internet, I found a set containing a d24 and d30. My first thought inevitabily was Why the hell would someone want a d24 or d30? What are these dice good for? It was then that I found the Dungeon Crawl Classics (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dungeon_Crawl_Classics) (DCC), which is a D&D Retroclone. Then I realized that the d24 were not the only weird dice out there. DCC not only use the D&D dice, but also use dice that I never saw before. The dice chain is d3, d4, d5, d6, d7, d8, d10, d10%, d12, d14, d16, d20, d24 and d30. Reading about the subject, I found that Mr. Goodman (the DCC designer) felt that the D&D dice were astonishing back in the 70s, but now they aren't so surprising. So since DCC was designed to bring back the D&D spirit from the old good days, he decided to introduce new funky dice in DCC, odder even to D&D players. I decided that DCC deserves a try, so it was time to buy those dice.

It was then that I realized that there were out there other dice, odder even to DCC!! d9, d11, d18, d22, d60... And the list goes on! In the end, i just bought a lot of dice.

Unfortunately, I'm not playing DCC at the moment. And maybe I won't have the chance to play it for a long time. That made me wonder how could I use all these dice in d&d. The good news is that D&D5e has a lot of opportunity to use at least some of these dice. One option is to use the optional Proficiency Die rule from DMG and insert there the new dice, as you can see below. Another great option is to use these dice as the special dice that some class use (like Bards, Fighters and Monks). Take a look at the custom options bellow:


BARD

Levell / Bardic Inspiration
1-2..............d6...........
3-4..............d7...........
5-7..............d8...........
8-9..............d9...........
10-12..........d10..........
13-14..........d11..........
15+.............d12..........

Level / Song of Rest
2-5..............d6.........
6-8..............d7.........
9-10............d8.........
11-12..........d9.........
13-14..........d10.......
15-16..........d11.......
17+.............d12.......

FIGHTER (BATTLE MASTER)

Level / Superiority Die
3-6..............d8...........
7-9..............d9...........
10-13..........d10.........
14-17..........d11.........
18+.............d12.........

MONK

Level / Martial Arts
1-2...........d4.........
3-4...........d5.........
5-7...........d6.........
8-10.........d7.........
11-13.......d8.........
14-16.......d9.........
17+..........d10.......

PROFICIENCY DIE

As mentioned above, the DMG (p. 263) brings an optional rule called Proficiency Die. With this rule, you can use one of the standard D&D dice (d4, d6, d8, d10 and d12) alongside with the d20 while attacking, instead of just using the flat Proficiency Bonus. That's another great opportunity to fit these weird dice, as you can see in the table bellow:

Level / Proficiency Bonus / Proficiency Die
1-2...............+2...............1d3 (Avg. 2)
3-4...............+2...............1d4 (Avg. 2.5)
5-6...............+3...............1d5 (Avg. 3)
7-8...............+3...............1d6 (Avg. 3.5)
9-10.............+4...............1d7 (Avg. 4)
11-12............+4...............1d8 (Avg. 4.5)
13-14............+5...............1d9 (Avg. 5)
15-16............+5...............1d10 (Avg. 5.5)
17-18............+6...............1d11 (Avg. 6)
19-20............+6...............1d12 (Avg. 6.5)

These are just some few idea. What do you think? Do you have any ideas you would like to share?

EDIT:

Watch out, guys! Here comes the RAGE DIE

Barbarian's Rage gives a melee damage bonus ranging from +2 to +4. What about replacing these flat values for a die with the same average number? 1d3 instead of +2, 1d5 instead of +3 and 1d7 instead of +4.

Or even better, make a more linear progression with the "Rage Die":
D3 -> d4 -> d5 -> d6 -> d7

1-4..............d3...........
5-8..............d4...........
9-12............d5...........
13-15..........d6...........
16-18..........d7...........
19-20..........d8...........

Personarly I prefer the second method because it gives a more linear progression in the dice chain. However, with the even dice (d4 and d6) the average value is a little higher than the fixed value: 2.5 and 3.5 respectively, an increase of 0.5 in the normal average.

Another point that applies to either of these two options is that as they are dice, therefore they are also doubled in a critical hit (eg.: if a normal attack would roll 1d12 + 1d4, the critical would be 2d12 + 2d4).

That said, although this rule creates a slight "boost" in damage, I don't think it's gamebreaking.

I call this rule as "Rage Die".

[TheMightyPotato]

It is a cool idea to have a more scaling progression. The only problem I see with this is that you have to find the die and seeing that many of my players still don't have the basic dice set it will probably take a while.

Cool idea though might be fun.

[mgshamster]

I bought that set for one of my players last Christmas, and he's playing a bard. I'm sure he'll love that idea.

So far, all we've used them for is when we have to roll on a newly created random table that just happens to align with the weird dice.

[smcmike]

These are good uses. The other obvious place for new dice is weird and/or magic weapons. A d7 short sword, for example, or a d14 greataxe, or a +1d3 fire effect.

Rogue could, potentially, upgrade sneak attack dice, though finding a whole pile of d7s might be a challenge.

[Laserlight]

I have some eight-sided d4, which roll better than tetrahedra, and occasionally cause someone to think my character is more powerful than he actually is ("he's rolling 2d8 for a dagger!").

[Joe the Rat]

It is a cool idea to have a more scaling progression. The only problem I see with this is that you have to find the die and seeing that many of my players still don't have the basic dice set it will probably take a while.

Cool idea though might be fun.

Technology to the rescue! The Dicebag app I use and the /roll command in Roll20 will let you put in any number of sides. I've found it handy for the d10,000 wand of wonder table we sometimes use.

[Specter]

For the proficiency bonus, it's easier to just adjust the table itself. Make they players have +3 proficiency at level 4, and add another point at every four levels (max of +7 at level 20).

[smcmike]

Technology to the rescue! The Dicebag app I use and the /roll command in Roll20 will let you put in any number of sides. I've found it handy for the d10,000 wand of wonder table we sometimes use.


For the proficiency bonus, it's easier to just adjust the table itself. Make they players have +3 proficiency at level 4, and add another point at every four levels (max of +7 at level 20).

I feel like you are both missing the point entirely.

[R.Shackleford]

I have some eight-sided d4, which roll better than tetrahedra, and occasionally cause someone to think my character is more powerful than he actually is ("he's rolling 2d8 for a dagger!").

My favorite die is a 12 sided d4 That uses Roman numerals ...

Love pulling that out for spells and daggers.

[Carlos Barreto]

It is a cool idea to have a more scaling progression. The only problem I see with this is that you have to find the die and seeing that many of my players still don't have the basic dice set it will probably take a while.

Cool idea though might be fun.

Yes, it's a lot of fun, at least for me. I like dice pooling. Sometimes I used to roll d20+d3+d4 (Bless spell) and it was really fun.

I understand it may be hard to find at your local gamestore. But you can find them in the internet. I bought mine from Impact Miniature, if that helps.


I bought that set for one of my players last Christmas, and he's playing a bard. I'm sure he'll love that idea.

So far, all we've used them for is when we have to roll on a newly created random table that just happens to align with the weird dice.

Your ideia might be interesting. Do you mind to share the details?

In any case, if you have these dice, try to use the rules I presented here and them give us some feedback.


These are good uses. The other obvious place for new dice is weird and/or magic weapons. A d7 short sword, for example, or a d14 greataxe, or a +1d3 fire effect.

Rogue could, potentially, upgrade sneak attack dice, though finding a whole pile of d7s might be a challenge.

d3 had some uses in the 3.5 edition for unarmed attack that lacked proficiency.
I may be wrong, but I guess I saw some use for the d3 in the 5e edition. I guess I saw it somewhere in the DMG.

About the weapons, I was thinking about a system of weapon quality for d&d 5e. If you look at the dice in a dice chain, you will find this:

d3-d4-d5-d6-d7-d8-d9-d10-d11-d12-d13

So for a Masterwork weapon quality, you could step up the weapon dice in the dice chain.
For example, a Masterwork Shortsword would be d7 and a Masterwork Longsword would d9 if one-handed and and d11 if two-handed. On the other hand, a Cheap Dagger woud be d3 and a Cheap Shortsword would be d5.

The only problem is that it's really hard to find a d13, although you could just use a d14 and roll again if you roll a 14. At least until you get the true d13.

Another problem with this idea is that eventually all the party would have Masterpiece weapons, so the odd dice would just replace the normal dice, which was not my goal.

The Sneak Attack option... I'm not sure. It's a lot of dice. And I'm not only talking about the dice availability, but the damage improvement.


I have some eight-sided d4, which roll better than tetrahedra, and occasionally cause someone to think my character is more powerful than he actually is ("he's rolling 2d8 for a dagger!").

My favorite die is a 12 sided d4 That uses Roman numerals ...

Love pulling that out for spells and daggers.

I remember that once I saw a d6 in a d12 shape with twice the 1-6 numbers. At the time I thought it was kind of a useless dice, but now I think they might be cool just because you can do some crazy RPG stuff. For example, I would like to play GURPS using these d6 in d12 shape.

About the d4, there's a new d4 out there. It's not in the picture, but it's a d4 with rounded corners, so it actually roll through the table, depending on how you roll it. In any case, the secret of a good roll with a traditional d4 is rolling the dice up, so it will roll a lot in the air. And if the dice falls in a solid base (like the floor), it will bounce several times till it finally stop.


Technology to the rescue! The Dicebag app I use and the /roll command in Roll20 will let you put in any number of sides. I've found it handy for the d10,000 wand of wonder table we sometimes use.

Indeed, dice are not even required to play tabletop RPGs today. You can emulate any dice you want using software tools, so you really don't need to spend a single penny buying dice.

But... Well, it's just not the same. It does not feel the same, even if you can see 3D dice rolling (as you can in Roll20). In the last few years, it's becoming increasingly hard for me to meet my friends in a given place and play together, just like we used to do back in the old days, specially because we now live in different places. So I really need to say: Blessed be the powers of the Technology! Thanks to the internet, we can play together, even if we are in different countries.

However, when the subject is dice rolling, I'm still kind of old school. I know that dice rolling is not the most important aspect of a RPG, but it's still important to me. You know, to shaken the dice in your hands and throw it, all in the expectation that you will succeed while they roll through the table is a sort of feeling that is unmatched by any tecnhology that I ever met, although I recognize that the 3D dice from Roll20 are really cool

That said, I still use my Webcam to show my dice rolls when I play at the Roll20. I even builded a Dice Tower from cardboard and it works incredibily good.


For the proficiency bonus, it's easier to just adjust the table itself. Make they players have +3 proficiency at level 4, and add another point at every four levels (max of +7 at level 20).

You can do that. But the presented idea here is meant to do these things:

A) Make the other dice to be something more than just a mere "damage dice", so they can also be rolled for Attack rolls, Ability and Skill checks;
B) Add an extra granularity to the D&D dice chain, making a more linear progression.
C) As an excuse to use your DCC and other funky dice in your preferred RPG system.

[N810]

You could have a magic weapon where you get a bonus effect if you roll max damage.
(like rolling a 7 on a D7 sword)

[Cybren]

I feel like you are both missing the point entirely.

I feel like assuming people will use this before getting the dice is the bigger point-miss

[mgshamster]

Your ideia might be interesting. Do you mind to share the details?

In any case, if you have these dice, try to use the rules I presented here and them give us some feedback

I've already sent my player this link and he likes the idea, so we're probably going to try it next session.

As for what we've done, it's random. Sometimes I want them to roll on a random treasure table that I found online, and there are 24 items to choose from. So I'll have them roll the d24. Other times there's a list of random encounters, but I want to exclude some, which makes it match up with the d5 or d9.

It's not really planned - it just happens that way. And when it does, we use the special dice.

[Xyk]

If my group were to do this, we'd have to seriously organize our dice collection. Right now, we just implement the "big ol' heap o' dice" method of sorting, and it would be a huge hassle to try and find the d9 when you need it.

[bid]

I feel like you are both missing the point entirely.
Indeed.

The only DCC die I like is the d5, it's fun to roll. The d16 just won't stop rolling.

[Malifice]

Someone recently was talking about a magic item that let the party barbarian make attack rolls on a d30 (with 21-30 being treated as addtional 11-20's by subtracting 10 from the total over 20).

Effectively you have a 1/30 chance of rolling each number from 1-10, and a 1/15 chance of rolling each number from 11-20.

I thought that was a pretty cool idea.

[N810]

Seem like a great use for a D30. :cool:

[some guy]

I use my d30 as a sort of shifting inspiration die. It starts in hands of the players. It can be used in place of a d20 after the d20 is rolled. If it is used, the d30 moves to the dm, if the dm uses it, it again goes to the players.
My players are so afraid to use that d30. Even if I remind them of it's existence when someone's on their third death save, they refuse because they don't want me using the d30.

I use my d16,18,22 and 24 as single use items which can replace a d20 roll as a reaction.
(and of course random tables)

[Carlos Barreto]

I feel like assuming people will use this before getting the dice is the bigger point-miss

I don't think anyone is assuming that.


If my group were to do this, we'd have to seriously organize our dice collection. Right now, we just implement the "big ol' heap o' dice" method of sorting, and it would be a huge hassle to try and find the d9 when you need it.

Yes!! I can tell you for sure because that happened to me!

You know, I have more than 120 dice, with sets of 6 dice of each type (although some dice are in sets of 10) and it's really hard to find a d14 or d16 among all these dice, so I organized them inside small plastic bags, according to each dice type. And that works fine!


I use my d30 as a sort of shifting inspiration die. It starts in hands of the players. It can be used in place of a d20 after the d20 is rolled. If it is used, the d30 moves to the dm, if the dm uses it, it again goes to the players.
My players are so afraid to use that d30. Even if I remind them of it's existence when someone's on their third death save, they refuse because they don't want me using the d30.

I use my d16,18,22 and 24 as single use items which can replace a d20 roll as a reaction.
(and of course random tables)

It's really easy to use the dice from d3 to d11 in D&D 5e, but higher dice are tricky.

I was thinking about how to use the d16 to d30 together with the advantage/disadvantage, but that's a mess with the critical chances for attack rolls and skill checks. Higher dice actually decrease the chance to critical, while lower dice increase it.