There are many weird dice for sale, some of which are used by certain game systems, others of which are really just for fun. Dungeon Crawl Classics, for example, is known for its use of “funky dice”: the d3, d5, d7, d14, d16, d24, and d30, which aren’t a part of the traditional D&D set of d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20, and d100.

A lot of the DCC dice don’t roll true and fair. (Of course, a lot of traditional dice are not manufactured carefully enough to roll fair, either.)

Scroll to the bottom to learn what is the best die of all.

d1 (1)

Imaginary die. It’s always 1. More useful than you might think.

d2 (1 to 2)

Roll 1d6. If it’s odd, read it as 1. If it’s even, read it as 2.

d5 (1 to 5)

Roll 1d10. If it’s greater than 5, subtract 5.

d16 (1 to 16)

Roll 1d8 and 1d6. If the d6 is odd, read the d8 normally. If it’s even, add 8 to the d8.

d24 (1 to 24)

Roll 1d12 and 1d6. If the d6 is odd, read the d12 normally. If it’s even, add 12 to the d12.

d40 (1 to 40)

Roll 1d20 and 1d6. If the d6 is odd, read the d20 normally. If it’s is even, add 20 to the d20.

d50 (1 to 50)

Roll 1d100. If the 10s die is greater than 40, subtract 50. However, 50-0 (and 00-0) is 50.

It would be great if someone make a d10 numbered 0 to 4 twice, so this wouldn’t require math.

d59 (10 to 69)

Roll 1d6 and 1d10. Read the d6 as the 10s die, like a d%. Read 0 on the d10 as 0.

d66 (really d36: 11 to 66, excluding 0s, 7s, 8s, & 9s)

Roll 2d6. Read the left one as the 10s die and the right one as the 1s die, like a d%. This produces 36 flat results that aren’t all-inclusive.

• 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16
• 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26
• 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36
• etc…

d79 (10 to 89)

Roll 1d8 and 1d10. Read the d8 as the 10s die, like a d%. Read 0 on the d10 as 0.

d200 (1 to 200)

Roll 1d100 and 1d6. If the d6 is odd, read the d100 normally. If it’s even, add 100 to the d100.

d1000 (1 to 1000)

This one is pretty well known. Roll d100 and an extra d10. Read the extra d10 as 100s, so 4-00-7 is 407; and 0-00-0 is 1000.

Progressive Die

A progressive die can be used, for example, as a hero die that grows with the character. This could be used for gaining points of luck, backstab damage, extra damage, etc.

At low level, it’s a d3, and the character gets the heroic boost of some sort if it turns up a 3. A little later—perhaps 3rd level—it grows to a d4, making a 3+ much more likely. Then it grows—perhaps every three levels—to d6, d8, d10, and d12. A roll of 6+ gets a double boost and 9+ gets a triple.

The Best Die

The best die is the d12. Do yourself a favor and buy some 12-sided d4s (pictured above, marked with Roman numerals) and throw away those caltrop dice (not pictured above, because they are the worst).