How many dice do I need to be the DM for a game of D&D? - Tips & Tactics - Dungeons & Dragons Discussion - D&D Beyond Forums (2024)

I've played a couple of games of D&D before, and I wanted to get my friends into it. I have a set of dice consisting of 1d4, 4d6, 1d8, 2d10 (1d10, 1d%) and 1d20. Most of the friends that will play with me have never played D&D before, so I will be the DM. How many sets of dice do I need? I'm sure these will be enough:, but I want to know if I could get away with less.

Edit: Forget to mention that we are playing D&D 5e.

In my experience, as long as you aren't also providing dice for your players, I would say having at least 2 of each basic die and a box of numerous small d6s is enough. If for some reason you need, say for example, 4d8 for a particular effect, you can either roll your 2d8 twice or ask to borrow 2d8 from your players. Usually a box of d6s is good because there are spells like fireball that deal a multitude of d6 in damage.

So, if your looking for the bare minimum, I would say 2 or 3 of every die and if you need to roll larger numbers you can either borrow dice from your players (which might make the effect more exciting as they wonder why you need so many dice) or you can also find a dice-rolling app on the internet I am sure if you dont care about the "flourish" of rolling alot of dice on the table. {if you are going to be rolling in the open for your players, using an app may be less exciting}

Quote from 1AmGroot >>

I've played a couple of games of D&D before, and I wanted to get my friends into it. I have a set of dice consisting of 1d4, 4d6, 1d8, 2d10 (1d10, 1d%) and 1d20. Most of the friends that will play with me have never played D&D before, so I will be the DM. How many sets of dice do I need? I'm sure these will be enough:, but I want to know if I could get away with less.

Edit: Forget to mention that we are playing D&D 5e.

As long as you can get a d12 for your set and get a another set of at least 1 each of d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20, you'll have enough to play reasonably streamlined. You'd have one set for you and one set for the players to pass around. Even that is just a concession so that you can roll on responses while the party is telling you what is happening and not having to pass the dice back and forth. The next step would be to have a set of all the dice for each player.

Find a good online dice roller for your phone and you're all set. I like this one:

http://www.brockjones.com/dieroller/dice.htm

Quote from JackOfAllTirades >>

Find a good online dice roller for your phone and you're all set. I like this one:

http://www.brockjones.com/dieroller/dice.htm

You could also set up a spreadsheet (excel, Google sheets, etc) to do "rolls". =randbetween(1,x) where x is the number of sides on the dice. You could also set it up so that you enter the number of dice (say in b2), the size of the dice in c2, and the =randbetween(b2,b2*c2) in a2. Then just change b2 and c2 for the appropriate rolls.

Quote from Jhfffan >>

Quote from JackOfAllTirades >>

Find a good online dice roller for your phone and you're all set. I like this one:

http://www.brockjones.com/dieroller/dice.htm

You could also set up a spreadsheet (excel, Google sheets, etc) to do "rolls". =randbetween(1,x) where x is the number of sides on the dice. You could also set it up so that you enter the number of dice (say in b2), the size of the dice in c2, and the =randbetween(b2,b2*c2) in a2. Then just change b2 and c2 for the appropriate rolls.

Excellent idea.

Well, if you are like me, and are a dice hoarder, you 10000000s. If you are not a dice hoarder a couple of sets of what everyone is saying will work just fine. Amazon has some good deals on bulk sets.

D&D Beyond also has a dice roller extension for Chrome

Also, fireballs do 8d6.

Smites do a lot of d8's.

Magic missiles do a lot d4's.

Quote from Sigvard_Vigrid >>

The dice that you currently have is all that you need to effectively DM with. Are you planning on supplying dice to your players? If so, each player would need a set just like yours. The dice set you linked to should have enough dice to make that happen.

Where this is technically true, having only 1 set of dice as a DM and 5 - 10 monsters / NPCs to roll for can make it feel really really long for your players, especially if they all roll low initiative

As a player and a DM I use four sets of distinct dice. Distinct sets can help you in swarm fights of lots of low damage so you match the d20 with the same set damage die like the d6 or d8. Of the four two are plastic and two are metal so I can pair the metal for advantage / disadvantage rolls or large damage dice needs.

Dice rollers are handy for large numbers of dice, but I still prefer the feel and sound if I'm not presses for time or too tired to do math.

As stated, you can never have enough. If you are playing in person, roll dice, don't use an app. Way less enjoyable. If you want to be a nice DM, until players get there own I recommend the following...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0794Z8XRP/ref=sspa_dk_detail_2?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B0794Z8XRP&pd_rd_w=M5MrW&pf_rd_p=8a8f3917-7900-4ce8-ad90-adf0d53c0985&pd_rd_wg=USR33&pf_rd_r=68XRJA95CAYH0SR6SAQ9&pd_rd_r=aa8bb98f-9393-11e9-9d02-b33be0c06c26

https://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Double-Colors-Polyhedral-Pouches/dp/B07QPXGFXT/ref=pd_day0_hl_21_5/141-1076105-2699732?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07QPXGFXT&pd_rd_r=aa8bb98f-9393-11e9-9d02-b33be0c06c26&pd_rd_w=FBl5E&pd_rd_wg=USR33&pf_rd_p=ad07871c-e646-4161-82c7-5ed0d4c85b07&pf_rd_r=68XRJA95CAYH0SR6SAQ9&psc=1&refRID=68XRJA95CAYH0SR6SAQ9

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DLXD9F4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Quote from 1AmGroot >>

I've played a couple of games of D&D before, and I wanted to get my friends into it. I have a set of dice consisting of 1d4, 4d6, 1d8, 2d10 (1d10, 1d%) and 1d20. Most of the friends that will play with me have never played D&D before, so I will be the DM. How many sets of dice do I need? I'm sure these will be enough:, but I want to know if I could get away with less.

Edit: Forget to mention that we are playing D&D 5e.

From a purely mathematical perspective, youjust need a d20, d12 and d8, because they can substitute for the smaller dice. For example, you can use a d20 as a d10 by dividing the result by 2(rounded up), that sort of thing. But you're going to get sick and tired of doing that before too long. More practically speaking, I'd probably go with more like:

d20 - 2, for rolling with advantage/disadvantage

d12 - still rarely used, you're probably fine with just 1

d10 - 2, but make one a regular d10 and one a percentage d10(with the double-digit numbers on it) for rolling d100 more easily

d8 -1, more depending on experience

d6 - 2, more depending on experience

d4 - 2, more depending on experience

When I say "depending on experience", I mean look at the monsters, NPCs & environmental effects you find yourself using in your game. For example, if you have NPCs throwing fireballs or lightning bolts around, maybe pick up extra d6's.

If you're talking about having dice sets available for players, the standard 10-piece sets(with 4d6, and a d%/d10 pair) are fine, though giving players a 2nd d20 for adv/disadv rolls would be helpful. You could even get away with a shared pool of the smaller dice, and a pair of d20s for each player so everyone can roll things like Perception checks and Initiative all at once.