"Max number of dice you would roll at once" Topic

What is the maximum number of dice you wouldn't mind rolling in one throw.

2? 4? 12?

When my opponent complains about my grapeshot!

Seriously though, I find about 12 is my limit.

A baker's dozen.

I think it depends on the size of dice. I can throw a bunch if small, but only a few if they are large.

Bakers dozen works for me

I play 2e (AD&D) BattleSystem, mass battles fantasy rules: one Attack Die per figure attacking… I've rolled 50, d6, more than once. I love it. I also employ a Dice Tower, to control, and to contain, the masses of dice I roll.

I find it a blast to roll 50 dice, then pick through the results to group them by the number of successful Hits/misses each die scores. Great fun, actually. Cheers!

50 dice!! That's cool but I would be annoyed counting them out haha

If one uses a dice cup, any more than six dice runs a good chance of having dice stacked atop each other. The alternatives are an aesthetic-ruining dice tray or tower, or a pell-mell toss across field and stream.

So I'll go for NMT six as a general rule. IMHO, there are elegant alternatives to buckets-o-dice mechanisms.

Historically in my area there were several rulesets that involved lots of dice rolls. 20, 30 and 40 were quite common, sometimes more split into smaller batches. It was seen as quite acceptable although players from those days might not be so accepting nowadays.

I'm going with "depends on how they're used".

If I'm just looking for sixes I can happily roll a lot of dice, but if I'm supposed to total a roll of 7 or 11 or 13 dice, you designed your game wrong.

If you roll 3-6 dice for most attacks, but once or twice a game you get a really good attack and roll 20 dice, I'm happy. If I have to roll more than three dice for every attack something is wrong.

What people forget is that the more dice you roll the less they matter. The likelihood that you're going to get a typical result increases *radically*. So if you roll two six sided dice you have a 27.8% chance of rolling under 5. If you roll 20d6 and total you have a 0.49% chance of rolling under 50. Similarly, if you roll two or three dice looking for sixes that's one thing, you could get none and you could get two. If you roll 20 d6s you are *very* likely to get 3-4 sixes, and the odds of getting none or getting 6 are very small. You might as well just say 1/6th of the dice are hits and skip the roll.

Depends on how often we are rolling large numbers of dice.

Sgt Slag may be right: rolling 50 dice is exhilarating! It's a great story: "Dude, do you remember the time Craig had every modifier in the book and ended up rolling 50 dice?"

But every time you need to roll dice?
I think 5-6 is quite sufficient for most rolls, and for many purposes 1 or 2 will do it.

Edit: Agree with Adrew, who was typing while I was: large numbers of dice would tend to average out the dice rolls.

Grelber

Probably 6 to 8.

Twelve all the time for Mersey games. I think if it got much higher I'd need a different dice tray.

Just started Orks in WH40K…so lots ;)

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@Cerdic

The ultimate answer, to be sure. But hardly practical.

10

2e BattleSystem uses a unique dice setup. Each figure is assigned an Attack Die, based on its size and combat ability: d4, d6, d8, d10, or d12. The results are not added together, typically (there is one exception, not worth discussing here). You look on a Hits Table, to see how many Hits (successful attacks) are scored, based on each individual die roll, adding the total number of Hits:

1-3 = 0 Hits
4-5 = 1 Hit
6-9 = 2 Hits
10-11 = 3 Hits
12+ = 4 Hits

Since each die roll is valued individually, averaging is not really a thing. Each die that is rolled has an equal chance of scoring each digit on its faces: 1 in 4; 1 in 6; 1 in 8; 1 in 10, and, 1 in 12.

Side-bar: if you use a Dice Tower, with multiple baffles, you are guaranteed random results. Cheers!

Depends on the size of the dice and how many fit in one hand.

Maybe I should have asked what is the maximum volume of dice we are ok with throwing haha.

Two. And don't add them together. The mechanics are to help move the game along, not slow it down. Keeping track of 24 dice is madness.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
Bunker Talk blog

In some version of The Sword And The Flame you could easily roll 20 x d20… I am happy to do that, I even bought the dice in case I ever get organized…

60 D6s. Kings of War legion with 20 attack dice hit an opponent elite calvary in the rear and tripling the rolls. They were well and truly wrecked by that attack

I'm with Andrew Walters on

I'm going with "depends on how they're used".

My personal record was 57 d6, while playing Champions RPG.

12 dice a la Dragon Rampant is fun, and feels about the max to me. I also like the 5d10 limit built into Oathmark.

1 to 100% odds so 2, not at home maybe 5

20.

I think that's about my top end in games of Dragon Dice.

Handfuls of dice are a feature of games where each roll represents an individual warrior, or an individual attack by an individual model that can make multiple attacks.

Sure it can be fun to a point. I would say above 6 the fun trails off and above 12 it's a chore.

In simulation games, dice generate a test against a probability. There's no reason to roll more than one die unless the game designer is using dice to simulate bell curves, in which case 2 or at most 3 are all that are needed.

You know, I still want a Youtube video where someone rolls a big handful of dice, and the dice go--everywhere. Cocked on troops and terrain. Hidden beneath trees. Under the table. Still spinning.

The music is the theme from The Great Escape.
YouTube link

@Lucifus

Rolling more than one die for a probability is important for resolution.

In my game when making a fire attack at very long range against excellent cover. The odds of scoring a casualty may be less than 1%. Not even possible to model with percent dice. The die roll is also determining suppression which is much more likely and the reason to actually fire in those conditions.

It can also make the game easier to play.
My system uses a few non standard dice to represent the different variables so you don't actually have to calculate your odds at 0.5% its just built into the possible combinations that could result in a hit in those circumstances.

I have an irrational preference for rolling dice in pairs.

I don't mind rolling single ones, though, nor up to a handful. If a set of rules expects me to roll a dozen at a time on a regular basis it's probably not for me.

One more than my opponent …