During play, when your character attempts to do something that has a possibility of failure, you might be required to roll one or more dice. Regardless of how many dice you roll, you roll them only once, unless specified otherwise. Some rolls might also have modifications to how they are made based on certain prerequisites, as explained later in this section.

TYPES OF DICE

The game uses the following polyhedral dice: d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20. Below are descriptions and examples of how these dice are used.

THE D4, D6, D8, D10 AND D12

The following dice are typically used for determining a certain amount of damage or healing, and can even be combined for greater results, as specified by the statistic or feature that uses the die.

• The d4 (four-sided die) is often used to determine the amount of damage caused by a small weapon, such as a dagger or a spike, as well as certain smaller spells, like cantrips. Some features that use a die start with the d4 and eventually evolve to bigger die sizes.

• The d6 (six-sided die) is the most common die and is used for many things, including determining the amount of damage dealt by most weapons, healing, and several class features. It is also used by certain classes to determine their hit points and hit dice regained during a rest, such as the sorcerer and wizard.

• The d8 (eight-sided die) is typically used to determine the amount of damage dealt by larger weapons, such as a longsword or battleaxe, as well as certain spells or abilities, and to determine a random direction, with north being 1 on the die. It also used by certain classes to determine their hit points and hit points regained, such as the artificer, bard, cleric, druid, rogue, and warlock.

• The d10 (ten-sided die) is often used to determine the amount of damage dealt by two-handed weapons, such as a greatsword or a halberd. It is also used by certain classes to determine their hit points and hit points regained during a rest, such as the fighter, magus, monk, paladin, and ranger.

• The d12 (twelve-sided die) is typically used to determine the amount of damage dealt by two-handed heavy weapons, such as a greataxe or lance, as well as spells. The barbarian is the only class that uses the d12 to determine its hit points and hit dice.

These dice are typically used during combat to determine damage and healing, and sparsely used for rolling random chances or determining success or failure on smaller tasks.

THE D20

The d20 (twenty-sided die) is the most important die. It is used for attack, check, initiative, and save rolls (also known as d20 rolls), which are the four main types of rolls in the game. If an feature affects a d20 roll, it affects all of those four rolls. These types of rolls determine success or failure on a course of action that has a chance of failure. The higher the result on the d20, the more successful you are at it.

The four types of d20 rolls are briefly described below, and are further explained in their own sections.

• Attack: You make an attack when you attempt to hit a target, either with a spell, a weapon, or while unarmed, against the target's Armor Class (or "AC").

• Check: You make a check when you attempt to complete a task that has a chance of failure, typically with an attribute (and perhaps a skill) against a Difficulty Class (or "DC") determined by the GM.

• Initiative: You roll for initiative when the GM requires an order of turns for players and NPCs.

• Save: You make a save when you attempt to resist a feature against its DC.

All of the d20 rolls have bonuses and penalties, depending on your attributes, training, conditions, and other features.

THE D100

The d100 (one hundred-sided die, or percentile die) is often used for tables to determine a random event or a wide range of possibilities. It is typically rolled in conjunction with two ten-sided dice, with one die representing the tens digit and the other representing the ones digit.

ODD DICE

Occasionally, the GM might ask you to roll an odd dice, which is any die that has a value that is not divisible by 2. For d3s and d5s, double the die's value and, after rolling it, divide the result by two and round it up. For example, to simulate a d3, roll a d6, divide the result by 2, and then round it up.

For higher odd numbered dice, such as d7s, d9s, and so on, after doubling their value, you combine different even dice. For example, to roll a d7, you double its size (into a "d14"), roll equivalent even dice together, such as a d6 and a d8 or a d4 and a d10, combine their result, and then divide it by two (rounded up), thus creating a d7.

DICE MODIFICATIONS

Sometimes the GM or a feature modifies how you roll dice.

ADVANTAGE AND DISADVANTAGE

When rolling a die with advantage, you roll the die twice and take the highest result. The opposite is true for disadvantage: roll the die twice and take the lowest result. Only one additional roll is made, regardless if there are two or more features or conditions grant you advantage (or disadvantage) on that roll. If a roll has both advantage and disadvantage, neither are applied and only one die is rolled.

ADDITIONAL DIE

When rolling an additional die, you add the same die of the base roll. For example, when you critically hit with a greatsword, which has the broad property, you add only 1d6 to the roll, totaling 5d6: 2d6 for the greatsword, 2d6 for the critical hit, and 1d6 for the broad property.

EXPLOSIVE DIE

A die can be explosive: you roll a 6 on the d6, allowing you to roll the d6 again, and adding the the second roll to the total. You keep rolling until you no longer roll the die's maximum possible roll or until the feature that granted you the explosive die reaches its maximum number of additional rolls.

FEWER DIE

Subtracting a die works in the same way, but in reverse: if a feature requires you to deal one less damage die, you subtract only one die. For example, when you critically miss but still manage to hit a target with a greatsickle, instead of dealing 2d4 slashing damage, you deal 1d4 slashing damage. A roll that already has a single die uses 1 for its total instead of rolling a die.

DROPPING A DIE

Some rolls might require you to drop either the highest or the lowest of a roll that has multiple of the same dice. For example, when rolling to determine your attribute scores, you drop the lowest of the d6s of four from each of the six rolls. When dropping a die, you always drop either the highest or the lowest, and always only one die.

DIE SIZE

When increasing or decreasing a d4, d6, d8, d10, or d12, you add or subtract 2 or more even numbers from the die's value, as appropriate to the description of the feature.

INCREASING A DIE

When increasing the size of a die by one, add 2 to its value, or 4 if it increases by two, and so on. For example, a d4 becomes a d6, a d6 becomes a d8, a d8 becomes a d10, and a d10 becomes a d12. Since the highest non-d20 or non-percentile die is the d12, the die becomes a 2d8, not a d14, because the equivalent of a d12 is a 2d6 and the next possible size of a d6 is the d8.

For an increase higher than one, add even numbers to the die's value. For example, if a d4 increases by two sizes, you add 4 to the die's value, turning the d4 into a d8.

DECREASING A DIE

When decreasing the size of a die, reverse the order above, to a minimum of a d4 (or 1d4).

DICE POOL

Certain statistics and features might create a a dice pool. A dice pool can contain multiple dice with different sizes. When using from your pool of dice, you choose which die to use. The statistic or feature determines whether and how often the pool is replenished, if at all.

CHANCES

When a mechanic requires a specific chance on a die, it uses a simple dice chance system. The GM or player rolls a designated die (such as a d4, d6, or d20) and, if it lands on a specific value, the action is successful, the event occurs, or a special effect is triggered.

For example, if you have a 1 in 1d4 chance, rolling a 1 on a d4 would succeed, while rolling any other number would fail. If the chance was a 1 in 1d6, you’d need to roll a 1 on a d6 for success.