D&D Dice Explanation

Dungeons And Dragons made very unique-looking dice set which includes 7 dice. Each dice is named with the letter “D” followed by the number of sides that it has. For example, a ten-sided dice is called a D10. A standard dice set includes: D4, D6, D8, two D10, D12, and D20. You’ll most likely want multiple sets to make larger rolls easier. In general, the D4, D6, D8, D10 and D12 are used for attacks, weapons damage, spells and healing amounts. D20 dice is used most likely to see if an attempted action succeeds.​ 

Now let us go into more details for each dice to have a deeper understanding.

1- The D4 (Tetrahedron)

d&d di 4

This is a four-sided triangular pyramid-shaped dice which is one of the strangest dice in D&D because it has several numbers on each side. When rolling a D4, the result is determined by the number that is along the bottom edge of the dice. Because of their triangular shape, these dice don’t roll as well as others. I recommend you shake them in your hands and do more of a “toss” to prevent them from sliding on the same number over and over. The D4 is used for:

  • Small weapons damage (like daggers)
  • Some spells (like Magic Missile)

2- The D6 (Cube)

d&d dice d6

The most common type of dice found in many boardgames is also used to D&D. However, a D6 in D&D, as well as other D&D dice, use traditional numbers rather than the dots. Due to their popularity outside D&D, the D6 are easy to buy cheaply in large numbers. It is used for:

  • Several Spells
  • Wizards Hit Dice
  • Many Weapons

3- The D8 (Octahedron)

d&d dice d8

It looks like two conjoined pyramids and is one of the dice that you’ll be rolling fairly often because it’s the damage factor assigned to many weapons. The D8 is generally used for:

  • Many weapons
  • Bardic Inspiration, Battle-master Maneuvers
  • Some spells

4- The D10 (Pentagonal Trapezohedron)

d&d dice d10

It is used very often while playing D&D. There are two types of D10s: single and double digit. The 2D10 dice are used for percentile rolls when your DM determines that something has a percentage chance of succeeding. In a set, the 2D10 are usually in different colors. For example, you make the green D10 dice first and the blue D10 dice second. You roll, and the green comes up a 6, the blue comes up a 4. You just rolled a 64… or a 64%. You will roll the D10 for:

  • Several weapons (like longsword)
  • Paladin and Fighter class’ Hit Dice
  • Percentile Dice
  • Some spells

5- The D12 (Dodecahedron)

d&d dice d12

This dice is usually used for damage to large weapons carried by a raging Barbarian. Other than that, you will not often roll it. The D12 is used for:

  • Damage Rolls with heavy weapons (like a Great-axe)
  • Barbarian’s Hit Dice

6- The D20 (Icosahedron)

It is the most important thing in your D&D dice set. The D20 is used any time you want to know if an attempted action is successful. After rolling 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. For instance, you encounter a monster that tries to kill you. You roll a 15 on the D20. Your DM rolls for the monster and gets a 13. It means you successfully deal damage to that monster, then you can roll a D4, D6 or D8, depending on the weapon you’re using, to see how much damage you deal to it.

You’ll usually be needing the D20 for:

  • Ability Checks
  • Skill Checks
  • Saving Thows
  • Attack Rolls
  • Determining turn order in combat

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