New Dice

Most TTRPGs, including Dungeons & Dragons utilize the standard D20 system which relies on 7 different types of dice to perform various functions throughout the game. In turn, most dice sets sold are 7 pieces, as to offer the minimum required to play the game.  The dice included in a 7 piece set are as follows: d4, d6, d8, two d10 (one of which is a percentile die), d12, and the all-powerful D20.  As players advance however, the need for more dice arises, hence the 11 piece sets.  We currently offer only a few of these, but plan on adding many more (we hear you!).  The 11 piece sets include everything in the 7 piece set plus an additional D20 and 3 more d6s.

While no game goes without having to roll multiple of one type of die, this standard set, realistically, is the minimum all one needs to play DnD. Well… and perhaps some imagination. Minimum does not mean all you’ll ever need. It is common for players of DnD to have several sets of dice, as well as multiple of the same set. After all, stat rolls require a minimum of 4d6, so it comes in handy being able to roll all four at once, rather than rolling on one d6 multiple times. We are starting to offer several larger sets to accommodate this.

The inspiration for our name (D20 Collective) and the iconic shape synonymous with D&D.  The largest and most used die in the set, the D20 rolls like a champ and has faces composed of equilateral triangles.  Rolling the D20 is used to determine if an attack was successful or not, which is then followed by rolling another die to determine the damage.  D20s can come in both standard and over-sized varieties.

The D12 has pentagonal faces and are often used to assess damage inflicted by larger weapons. It’s the highest die after the D20 in a standard set, and is the highest hit die available to any Dungeons and Dragons class.

There are 2 10-sided dice in a standard 7 piece set of DND dice.  One is numbered from 0 to 9, and the other from 00 to 90.  The former is used for damage, or to select from a table. The latter is often called a "percentile" die, and is used to determine chances out of 100, or likelihood of overcoming different amounts of cover.  For a percentile (or D100) roll, you roll them both at the same time and add them together.  00 (double zero) = 100.

This is often used in conjunction with larger weapons to assess damage.  This 8-sided die has triangular faces and looks like two pyramids stuck together.

Smooth rolling and used in almost all gaming types, be it board games, gambling, or roleplay, this dice shape should be familiar to most.  It has six sides to make a perfect cube.  These dice are often rolled in a group of 3D6 or 4D6 to determine character attributes, or singularly to determine damage and add bonus modifiers in recent editions.

The main use of the D4 in Dungeons and Dragons is to determine damage inflicted by small weapons. Older editions also used it as a bonus modifier, given by certain spells and abilities to checks and saves. It does not roll as well as the others due to the relatively large faces in relation to the overall size of the die.  It is often overlooked but essential to any D&D set.

This is all personal preference of course, but many dice goblins out there (us included) have taken to matching our dice with whatever character we are playing at the time.  All white Rogue, use maybe Pearl or Storm.  For a green and blue Dwarf, maybe Metallic Seafoam.  Most of us will have a sense of who our character is and what they look like so it becomes just a matter of finding the perfect semblance of color or combination to match what is in our heads.

Of course there are additional layers of consideration, like materials and fonts.  Maybe your character needs a metal set, or an oversized d20 for the most critical of rolls.  It really is up to you and only you.  There is no right or wrong here, just want you want.  Fortunately, there are options abound and even more on the way.  Dice collections seem to be growing by the day.