I currently have zero experience of playing D&D outside of listening to actual play podcasts but I'm incredibly eager to get involved - I have the Starter Kit coming my way this Christmas.
I had been reading people's opinions of how many dice is enough to play efficiently. It seems the common consensus is that there is no such thing as enough dice lol.
However, some threads I've read on various forums had suggested getting different colours for your dice sets but they weren't really clear as to what benefits this provides.
Could anyone shed a little more light onto what advantage different colours have? Also, is it more beneficial to have entire sets in different colours (ie, a red d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20, and a blue d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20) or to pick a particular colour for each dice (ie, only red d4's, blue d6's, yellow d8's, etc)?
Additionally, more advice on how many sets I should be aiming for would be greatly appreciated.
The primary benefit to getting a set of dice in an interesting colour scheme is so that you know they're your dice.
When you're at a gaming table playing with a number of other people, dice can get mixed up - it just happens.
If all of your dice are recognisable, it's easy to go, "Oh hey, can you pass me my d12 please?"
When I am DM, I sometimes use a set of purple d12s I have as monsters on the map, with the dice set to the number of remaining hit points of the creature. Not so useful at higher levels, but good for fighting goblins etc.
You only need a single set of dice to start playing - typically this will include one of each die type.
Depending on what you're playing, you may want to purchase some additional d6, as D&D commonly uses a number of d6 for things. Two-handed swords for example do 2d6 damage, fireballs do 5d6 or more.
It can be common practice also to own two different coloured d10s, so that you can use them to generate a number from 1-100. You may designate the red dice as 10s and the blue dice as units. Some dice sets include two d10s for this reason and may number one of them as the tens dice (so it has 10, 20, 30, 40 etc on the faces). You don't need percentile 1-100 dice rolls to play D&D though. They're useful for other game systems.
tl;dr - to start with, buy a single set that contains 1 of each dice, in a colour you like. Think about grabbing some additional d6.
A typical set contains one of each dice, and often two d10s to use as percentile (d100) dice. As above, you want as many d6s as you can get, and two d20s is helpful for advantage or disadvantage. I recommend starting with two sets, especially if you can get some with multiple d6s as come in some sets.
Having interesting dice is always fun, but be sure they're easily legible. Too many color palettes or esoteric fonts that seem fun until you're trying to discriminate a 1 from a 7.
As the others have said, you really only need 1 set of dice to get going. In fact, even after all these long years of DMing constantly, I often just grab out one set that I like (right now it's the Tomb of Annihilation set) and it's plenty enough dice to run the session with.
Sometimes, however, I like to get out a few sets of different color schemes (and my players often do this too), specifically so that I can roll the dice necessary for resolving a few things all at once - such as a character having multiple attacks; you grab a d20 and the damage dice in one color, and a different d20 and damage dice in another color, and roll all that as a big handful. It speeds up the resolution of two attacks so that it doesn't take twice as long as resolving one attack, which isn't really all that big of a deal but can be dice when you have a larger number of players at the table (and it's a thing I ask for everyone to do whenever I am running a table with 8+ players, because the saved seconds of not re-rolling the same die to resolve multiple attacks add up very quickly in those situations, giving everyone a little more time to do stuff during a session that is already being spread thinly among each of them).
The real reason that so many people believe they can't have enough dice, in my opinion, is just because dice are cool and fun... and who knows when you're going to switch to playing something like Exalted for a while and need like 20d10 for each player "just in case", or Shadowrun where that block of 36d6 you bought isn't "way more than you need" anymore?
One trick I've seen used when rolling for damage involving multiple damage types is to use different coloured dice. This makes it easier to determine which die corresponds to each damage type when your target has immunity, resistance or vulnerability to a specific damage type you deal.
One trick I've seen used when rolling for damage involving multiple damage types is to use different coloured dice. This makes it easier to determine which die corresponds to each damage type when your target has immunity, resistance or vulnerability to a specific damage type you deal.
To that point, you have hunters mark on an enemy so you have a d6 (green dice) and you are using fiery ammunition for another d6 (red dice) and your main attack and damage rolls you use your normal dice (we'll say white). It gives you a quick visual way to say oh this is my fire damage, blunt damage, et al.
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
You should also be able to find sets of 10 dice, which include the standard 7 dice (d4, 6d, d8, d10 with 10s numbers,, d10 with 1s numbers, d12, and d20) and also an additional 3d6. I'd suggest at least 2 of those sets of different colors. You'll find the two d20s handy for rolls with advantage/disadvantage.
Game on!
I second that statement.
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I've heard it suggested that getting different colours for each sized dice (yellow d4, green d6, blue d8, etc.) is to make it easier to teach new people. Instead of saying, "Roll a d8", and them having to compare 3 dice to get the right one (I still confuse d10 and d12), you can just say, "Roll a d8, the blue one."
But as others have said, the main reason is that more dice = more fun.
The most practical reason to get more dice is so you can roll many at once to speed up the game. They can also be used to differentiate between attacks, skill checks, and advantage/disadvantage.
I like buying new dice sets for each character I play. Makes each character feel a bit more special.
If you want to simplify it, you could get a set like the Dice of Rolling - this has just finished its kickstarter campaign and should be in amazon soon for wider purchases. An alternative is the Save or Die version - essentially a copy of the Dice of Rolling, however the DoR creator appears happy that his idea is being copied in order to simplify things for new gamers.
Other than that, it comes down to what looks good to you - there are lots of fancy/intricate dice sets out there, however they can be difficult to read, especially if you are older like some of us.
Personally, I like Paladin dice, others prefer Chessex, others just buy the pound of dice sets that you can find on amazon or in game stores.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Aesthetically, I've always liked White-Text on Red dice and Black-Text on White dice. Red for DM dice and White for Players.
D&D Dice are a bit-annoying to me. I prefer all six-siders. However, D&D is D&D; It is what it is; and I still love it!
Has anyone seen the Genesys Dice used by FFG games (a company that makes table-top role-playing games such as Star Wars RPG)?
I messed with them yesterday and bought a pack for $15. The first set of dice, reserved for basic checks, are d8 in colors Green (for Ability, which includes a sun symbol indicating Success) and Purple (for Difficulty, which includes a X symbol indicating Failure). The second set of dice, reserved for situational factors, are d6 in colors Light-Blue (for Boost, which adds a Arrow-shaped Advantage) and Black (for Setback, which adds a Helmet-shaped Threat). The last set of dice, reserved for elites, are d12 in colors Yellow (for Proficiency, which adds a bordered-sun Triumph) and Red (for Challenge, which adds a bordered-X Despair).
If you want to make D&D interesting in a similar way (N.B., Genesys is using some sort of neuromarketing ploy there), I would try out:
1) Red Dice for nasty, high-CR monsters and bosses 2) Yellow Dice for when players cast high-level spells or use high-level abilities. If a 5th-Level Rogue lands his or her Sneak Attack, then throw the player three yellow six-siders! 3) Black Dice for an unexpected use of a yet-unknown Monster Feature. For example, when a character goes to Grapple a Grung, his or her poison save is made with a Black d20 4) Light-Blue Dice for a surprise win. When a friendly-NPC Elven Tribe appears out of nowhere, their Longbows and Longswords hit and damage using these blue eight-sided dice 5) Purple for Monsters/NPCs and Green for Players in normal modus operandi
Dungeons and Dragons dice is definitely the most popular tabletop roleplaying game, because there are so many settings and strategies are used while playing. When you start playing you need only standard 7 dice sets such as D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, and D20. One of the best thing about the D&D dice is that at the starting level you need only some things like pencils & papers, copy of rules, set of dice and last but not least your strong imagination power. Dice are available in market with so many attracted colours like: 1. Aqua Copper Dice Set 2. Blue Gold Polyhedral Dice Set 3. Dragonwrath Orange/Black Dice Set 4. Green/Black Polyhedral Dice Set 5. Green/Brown Polyhedral Marble Dice Set 6. Turquoise Silver Polyhedral Marble Dice Set 7. Wizard Purple Blue Dice Set
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I currently have zero experience of playing D&D outside of listening to actual play podcasts but I'm incredibly eager to get involved - I have the Starter Kit coming my way this Christmas.
I had been reading people's opinions of how many dice is enough to play efficiently. It seems the common consensus is that there is no such thing as enough dice lol.
However, some threads I've read on various forums had suggested getting different colours for your dice sets but they weren't really clear as to what benefits this provides.
Could anyone shed a little more light onto what advantage different colours have? Also, is it more beneficial to have entire sets in different colours (ie, a red d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20, and a blue d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20) or to pick a particular colour for each dice (ie, only red d4's, blue d6's, yellow d8's, etc)?
Additionally, more advice on how many sets I should be aiming for would be greatly appreciated.
The primary benefit to getting a set of dice in an interesting colour scheme is so that you know they're your dice.
When you're at a gaming table playing with a number of other people, dice can get mixed up - it just happens.
If all of your dice are recognisable, it's easy to go, "Oh hey, can you pass me my d12 please?"
When I am DM, I sometimes use a set of purple d12s I have as monsters on the map, with the dice set to the number of remaining hit points of the creature. Not so useful at higher levels, but good for fighting goblins etc.
You only need a single set of dice to start playing - typically this will include one of each die type.
Depending on what you're playing, you may want to purchase some additional d6, as D&D commonly uses a number of d6 for things. Two-handed swords for example do 2d6 damage, fireballs do 5d6 or more.
It can be common practice also to own two different coloured d10s, so that you can use them to generate a number from 1-100. You may designate the red dice as 10s and the blue dice as units. Some dice sets include two d10s for this reason and may number one of them as the tens dice (so it has 10, 20, 30, 40 etc on the faces). You don't need percentile 1-100 dice rolls to play D&D though. They're useful for other game systems.
tl;dr - to start with, buy a single set that contains 1 of each dice, in a colour you like. Think about grabbing some additional d6.
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"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊
A typical set contains one of each dice, and often two d10s to use as percentile (d100) dice. As above, you want as many d6s as you can get, and two d20s is helpful for advantage or disadvantage. I recommend starting with two sets, especially if you can get some with multiple d6s as come in some sets.
Having interesting dice is always fun, but be sure they're easily legible. Too many color palettes or esoteric fonts that seem fun until you're trying to discriminate a 1 from a 7.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.
As the others have said, you really only need 1 set of dice to get going. In fact, even after all these long years of DMing constantly, I often just grab out one set that I like (right now it's the Tomb of Annihilation set) and it's plenty enough dice to run the session with.
Sometimes, however, I like to get out a few sets of different color schemes (and my players often do this too), specifically so that I can roll the dice necessary for resolving a few things all at once - such as a character having multiple attacks; you grab a d20 and the damage dice in one color, and a different d20 and damage dice in another color, and roll all that as a big handful. It speeds up the resolution of two attacks so that it doesn't take twice as long as resolving one attack, which isn't really all that big of a deal but can be dice when you have a larger number of players at the table (and it's a thing I ask for everyone to do whenever I am running a table with 8+ players, because the saved seconds of not re-rolling the same die to resolve multiple attacks add up very quickly in those situations, giving everyone a little more time to do stuff during a session that is already being spread thinly among each of them).
The real reason that so many people believe they can't have enough dice, in my opinion, is just because dice are cool and fun... and who knows when you're going to switch to playing something like Exalted for a while and need like 20d10 for each player "just in case", or Shadowrun where that block of 36d6 you bought isn't "way more than you need" anymore?
One trick I've seen used when rolling for damage involving multiple damage types is to use different coloured dice. This makes it easier to determine which die corresponds to each damage type when your target has immunity, resistance or vulnerability to a specific damage type you deal.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I've heard it suggested that getting different colours for each sized dice (yellow d4, green d6, blue d8, etc.) is to make it easier to teach new people. Instead of saying, "Roll a d8", and them having to compare 3 dice to get the right one (I still confuse d10 and d12), you can just say, "Roll a d8, the blue one."
But as others have said, the main reason is that more dice = more fun.
The most practical reason to get more dice is so you can roll many at once to speed up the game. They can also be used to differentiate between attacks, skill checks, and advantage/disadvantage.
I like buying new dice sets for each character I play. Makes each character feel a bit more special.
If you want to simplify it, you could get a set like the Dice of Rolling - this has just finished its kickstarter campaign and should be in amazon soon for wider purchases. An alternative is the Save or Die version - essentially a copy of the Dice of Rolling, however the DoR creator appears happy that his idea is being copied in order to simplify things for new gamers.
Other than that, it comes down to what looks good to you - there are lots of fancy/intricate dice sets out there, however they can be difficult to read, especially if you are older like some of us.
Personally, I like Paladin dice, others prefer Chessex, others just buy the pound of dice sets that you can find on amazon or in game stores.
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if you cast meteor swarm and only have 1 d6 you might be there a little while ;)
How do you get a one-armed goblin out of a tree?
Wave!
Be prepared.
Buying dice is a disease.
It will consume you.
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
But the cake is a lie.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
You can do it with just one set for each person.
It just depends on the player though. Some people like the different dice and collect them.
Personally I use about 1 set and a few extra D6, but sometimes I use one and just add up the numbers in front of everyone.
Aesthetically, I've always liked White-Text on Red dice and Black-Text on White dice. Red for DM dice and White for Players.
D&D Dice are a bit-annoying to me. I prefer all six-siders. However, D&D is D&D; It is what it is; and I still love it!
Has anyone seen the Genesys Dice used by FFG games (a company that makes table-top role-playing games such as Star Wars RPG)?
I messed with them yesterday and bought a pack for $15. The first set of dice, reserved for basic checks, are d8 in colors Green (for Ability, which includes a sun symbol indicating Success) and Purple (for Difficulty, which includes a X symbol indicating Failure). The second set of dice, reserved for situational factors, are d6 in colors Light-Blue (for Boost, which adds a Arrow-shaped Advantage) and Black (for Setback, which adds a Helmet-shaped Threat). The last set of dice, reserved for elites, are d12 in colors Yellow (for Proficiency, which adds a bordered-sun Triumph) and Red (for Challenge, which adds a bordered-X Despair).
If you want to make D&D interesting in a similar way (N.B., Genesys is using some sort of neuromarketing ploy there), I would try out:
1) Red Dice for nasty, high-CR monsters and bosses
2) Yellow Dice for when players cast high-level spells or use high-level abilities. If a 5th-Level Rogue lands his or her Sneak Attack, then throw the player three yellow six-siders!
3) Black Dice for an unexpected use of a yet-unknown Monster Feature. For example, when a character goes to Grapple a Grung, his or her poison save is made with a Black d20
4) Light-Blue Dice for a surprise win. When a friendly-NPC Elven Tribe appears out of nowhere, their Longbows and Longswords hit and damage using these blue eight-sided dice
5) Purple for Monsters/NPCs and Green for Players in normal modus operandi
Dungeons and Dragons dice is definitely the most popular tabletop roleplaying game, because there are so many settings and strategies are used while playing. When you start playing you need only standard 7 dice sets such as D4, D6, D8, D10, D12, and D20. One of the best thing about the D&D dice is that at the starting level you need only some things like pencils & papers, copy of rules, set of dice and last but not least your strong imagination power. Dice are available in market with so many attracted colours like:
1. Aqua Copper Dice Set
2. Blue Gold Polyhedral Dice Set
3. Dragonwrath Orange/Black Dice Set
4. Green/Black Polyhedral Dice Set
5. Green/Brown Polyhedral Marble Dice Set
6. Turquoise Silver Polyhedral Marble Dice Set
7. Wizard Purple Blue Dice Set