Changing Dice

[Lost_Nomad]

I've never been good at Maths
but I'm curious

if you had to roll 6D8
could you change it out to 8D6 and still be fair?

[Mellack]

Changing it to 8d6 raises the average slightly and weights it more toward the middle. Less dice is more swingy.

[JumboWheat01]

Unfortunately, the averages don't work out.

The average number on a d8 is 4.5, while the average number on a d6 is 3.5.

Yes, they add up to almost similar numbers (27 on a 6d8 compared to 28 on a 8d6,) but similar is not the same.

Of course, if you want to mess around with the dice, by all means, it's your prerogative as a DM.

[MrStabby]

I am not quite sure I follow.

What do you mean by change it out?

And what do you mean by still be fair?


Do you mean add the results of the set of dice together and have the same probability of the sum matching a given total? In general no. You can't.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Changing it to 8d6 raises the average slightly and weights it more toward the middle. Less dice is more swingy.
Pretty much this. Doubt you'd ever notice a difference at the table.

[Saeviomage]

Also note that the smaller the dice, the bigger the advantage of going with more dice.

For example if you were to switch out 4d20 for 20d4, you would go from an average of 42 to 50.