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Notation

This section has one entry for what text is used to describe each die in the set. For the standard polyhedral set this is straight forward, d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20. Due to the inconsistencies of how d100s work and their notation, we have decided to notate the “tens” die as d10x. (and save the d100 for the big golf ball… maybe)

However, for games with custom dice, they notate them differently, such as dF for fate or "dv" For Vampire the Masquerade 5e.

The notations you configure here are used in our roll parsers, and in the generated dice equations in our UIs.

Common notations​

The community uses, and we recommend, some common notations for dice. Following these recommendations will keep your dice compatible with the broadest array of tools:

Standard dice​

The standard dice notations are best for dice that are plainly numbered from 1 to 20 — e.g., d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20 — for less common dice d2 and d16.

dF is used for FATE/fudge dice — with pluses (+) and minuses (-) on them.

Percentile dice​

For percentile dice, two notations have emerged, d10x and d10z. A d10x is the dice numbered by tens: 10, 20, 30 etc. with one face labeled 00. A d10z is a die numbered from 1 to 9, with the 10 replaced by zero — z is for zero. Rolling a d10x in combo with a d10 or a d10z will result in an accurate percentile roll. However, using a d10z will give a more traditional experience where one die is the 'ones' and the other the 'tens'. Potential rolls go from 0 to 99. It's up to you to interpret 0 as 100 when the game system calls for that (not all do).

When using a d10+d10x the possible rolls are 1 though 100. However, a roll of 10+90 = 100 and not all players are used to that.

Dice that start at zero​

For a die that starts at 0 and counts up, use the suffix z on the notation. Similar to the d10z above, a d6z would range from 0 to 5.

World of darkness 5e​

World of darkness has some very special and thematic dice. We recommend adopting the dice notation developed by the Foundry VTT world of darkness community to ensure compatibility with the WoD 5e foundry module. The notation is as follows:

  • dv for a vampire die — the ones with ankhs on them
  • dg for a hunger die — the ones with ankh and skulls
  • dh for hunter dice — the ones with flames
  • ds for desperation dice — the ones with two kinds of flames
  • dw for werewolf dice — the ones with claw marks
  • dr for rage dice — the ones with claws and fangs