What is dice notation?

Tabletop role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons use a short notation for dice rolls. NdX means roll N dice with X sides and add them up, so 2d6 is two six-sided dice and d20 is one twenty-sided die. A number after a plus or minus sign is a modifier, as in 1d20+5 for an attack roll with a +5 bonus. A standard D&D set has seven dice: d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20, and a percentile die, written d100 or d%.

Tool description

This tool rolls dice for D&D and other tabletop games. Click a die for a quick roll, or type any roll in dice notation, such as 8d6 for a fireball or 4d6kh3 for an ability score. Switch the roll mode to advantage or disadvantage to roll each d20 twice. The result shows the total, every die rolled, and a note when you roll a natural 20 or a natural 1. Recent rolls stay in the history.

Features

  • One-click rolls for the d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20, and d100
  • Dice notation with several dice and modifiers, such as 1d8+2d6+3 or 1d20-1
  • Keep or drop the highest or lowest dice with kh, kl, dh, and dl
  • Advantage and disadvantage for d20 rolls, showing both dice
  • Minimum, average, and maximum of a roll before you roll it
  • Natural 20 and natural 1 highlighting
  • History of the last 100 rolls with every die shown

How it works

Each die is rolled with your browser's cryptographic random number generator, and values that would favor some faces are thrown away and rolled again, so every face is equally likely. With kh or kl, the tool sorts the dice and counts only the ones you keep; 4d6dl1 is the same as 4d6kh3. Advantage and disadvantage follow the 5th edition rules: they only change d20s, and each d20 is rolled twice with the higher or lower result counting. The average is calculated exactly from the dice, not estimated from past rolls. Everything runs in your browser.

Tips

  • Roll 2d20kh1 or 2d20kl1 to get advantage or disadvantage without changing the roll mode.
  • For a critical hit, double the damage dice, as in 2d8+3 instead of 1d8+3.
  • 4d6kh3 rolled six times gives a classic set of ability scores; each averages about 12.24.
  • Press Enter in the dice field to roll again.