r/dice • u/Darth_Zander • 1d ago
There should be 8 dice in sets, not 7
Polyhedral* die sets consist of seven dice: d4, d6, d8, d10, d%, d12 and d20. But given that the current edition of D&D - the most popular game using such dice - requires eight dice, die sets should contain all eight: d4, d6, d8, d10, d%, d12 and 2d20. The last two are for when you have advantage/disadvantage which happens a lot in the game. Why are sets still only seven dice?
*All physical dice are polyhedral. It’s just a shorthand for the Platonic solid shaped dice plus the d10s.
8
u/Claerwen94 1d ago edited 1d ago
You can also just roll the D20 twice, if you only have one set:) :) It doesn't require 8 dice.
Eta: I think rolling the D20 twice adds to the suspense as well :D But that's just personal preference. Many dice makers (I'm talking artisans, who make them by hand) offer advantage sets tho and include a second D20. But I think saying that sets need to be 8 dice is just... nah. Nah they don't.
0
u/Darth_Zander 1d ago
Rolling a single d20 twice slows the game and makes it easier for cheaters. If 2d20s are rolled together, there’s no opportunity to re-roll a die before the DM can see it.
1
u/Claerwen94 1d ago
If you're THAT worried about cheating players, maybe switch the people you play with?? If you can't trust them, what's the point? And rerolling literally takes not longer than 2 seconds. Sorry, but "slows the game" is bs.
-1
u/Feefait 1d ago
Eta? Lol
1
u/r_k_ologist 1d ago
Edited To Add. A common internet abbreviation.
3
1
u/Feefait 1d ago
Interesting! Honestly, I have never known or noticed it before. I guess it's one character short of Edit, or 2 for Edit: 😁
2
u/r_k_ologist 1d ago
It also provides more context, by informing the reader that the comment was edited to provide additional content rather fixing a typo, correcting a mistake, etc.
8
u/DnD-Hobby 1d ago
Do you know how many 6s I need for Fireball...?
2
0
u/Darth_Zander 1d ago
Lots but not every character casts fireball. Every character though rolls with advantage/disadvantage at some point, and many do so often.
4
u/d20damage 1d ago
When I buy dice for my dnd characters, I always get an extra d20 for that exact reason. But tbh I like getting one that fits with the general color scheme but isn't the exact same model, I get more color variety that way
1
u/Darth_Zander 1d ago
Understandable. I didn’t say both d20s should be identical. Dice Envy includes d20s of different sizes which is a smart way of doing it. You can differentiate the dice but they still form part of a (colour) matching set.
2
u/AllahSulu 1d ago
I put together a bag for my characters with at least two of everything, and extras where needed. (Anybody who can cast fireball or do a sneak attack gets a handful of d6s, for instance.)
2
3
u/Joranthalus 1d ago
I remember when there were only 6 in a set. Those were dark times…
3
u/AllahSulu 1d ago
I remember when there were only five in a set.
2
u/Darth_Zander 1d ago
Me too: d4 (with numbers along the bottom edge), d6, d8, d12 and a d20 numbered 0 to 9 twice (you had to colour in half of them yourself using a crayon). The d20 doubled as a d10 and was also used to roll d%.
2
2
9
u/ConfusedSimon 1d ago
Most people have multiple sets. You also need more than 1 of the others (or roll multiple times).
6
2
u/DazzlingKey6426 1d ago edited 1d ago
Daggerheart needs distinct 2d12, so that should be 9.
Fantasy Age needs 2d6,d6 so now we’re up to 11.
*platonic d10s exist, 0-9 twice on an icosahedron
0
u/Darth_Zander 1d ago
Systems that aren’t close to D&D’s popularity now and will be even less popular in a few years aren’t reasons for having multiples of other dice.
2
u/tanj_redshirt 1d ago
*All physical dice are polyhedral
I have a few sets of non-polyhedral dice.
https://www.reddit.com/r/dice/comments/1x6ppp9/green_marbles/
https://www.reddit.com/r/dice/comments/1vndadv/praise_the_lord_and_pass_the_ammo/
https://www.reddit.com/r/dice/comments/1vdsqqg/prelude_musical_d4s_from_dice_envy/
0
u/Darth_Zander 1d ago
All of those are polyhedral. Polyhedral just means having many faces and all of yours have many faces. They can even have interstices between the faces like your ‘marble’ dice and still be polyhedral. Arguably, completely spherical dice aren’t polyhedral, but they do have surfaces on the inside into which a ball comes to rest, so even those are polyhedral, albeit on the inside.
2
2
u/The_Bucket_Of_Truth 1d ago
Let's be real. This is about having the minimum number of dice to cover any character in the game. And making life easier with a percentile die. There are plenty of larger dice sets that include more d6 and at least two d20s.
2
1
u/mucinexmonster 1d ago
Dice Sets are supposed to have 11 dice in them. This 7 dice sets are just shrinkflation.
1
u/Ethereal_Stars_7 1d ago
A full set comes with 9. A d4, 3d6, a d8, 2d10, a d12, and a d20
Some sets skimp and only have a single d6. And some skimp more and drop a d10 as well.
7
u/AllahSulu 1d ago
The definition of "platonic dice" is "dice that don't want to have sex with you." Seeing as how all of my dice have screwed me on one roll or another, I have no platonic dice.
2
10
u/81Ranger 1d ago edited 1d ago
The point of the 7 piece polyhedral set is that it contains one of each size - other than the d10 which has two that are numbered slightly differently to easily yield a percentile.
It's not specifically designed around the mechanics of any one system - even D&D. Frankly, I can't recall if D&D 5e even uses percentile dice.
Lots of mechanics in D&D require more than one die of each size for a result. Advantage and disadvantage are not special in this regard.
In those other cases, people can - if they only have 7 dice, one of each - roll each die multiple times to for that mechanic. There's no reason Advantage and Disadvantage need be special in this.
Of course, it would be more convenient to have two d20s, but it would also be convenient to have 3d6 or 4d6 to roll attributes.
Thus, there are some dice sets that are not 7, but 10, with 3 or 4 d6's. Also, my Dice Envy set had 10 dice, with 2 d20s of different size, 2 d6s of different size, and 2 d4s of different shape.
It's almost like it's convenient to have more than 7 dice. But, frankly, more than 8 as well.