Dice roller

Reading the notation

Tabletop shorthand writes a roll as 2d6: the number before the d is how many dice, the number after is how many sides each one has. So 2d6 is two ordinary six-sided dice, 1d20 is a single twenty-sided die, and 4d4 is four four-sided dice. The heading above the result shows the notation for whatever you rolled, which is handy if you are following instructions from a rulebook.

Why the individual faces matter

We show each die separately as well as the total, because plenty of rules care about the individual values rather than the sum. Rolling doubles might trigger something. A single die showing its maximum might mean a critical result. A rule might tell you to keep the highest two of four dice. If we only gave you a total, all of that would be lost, and you would have to roll one die at a time.

Several dice are not the same as one bigger die

This trips people up constantly, and it is worth understanding if you are inventing a rule rather than following one. A single twelve-sided die gives every number from 1 to 12 exactly the same chance. Two six-sided dice also produce totals from 2 to 12, but the middle values are far more likely: there is only one way to total 2 and one way to total 12, while there are six different ways to total 7. In practice, 2d6 clusters heavily around 7 and rarely produces extremes.

So if you want a flat, equally likely spread, roll one die with more sides — or use the number generator, which is designed exactly for that. If you want results that usually land near the middle and occasionally surprise everyone, roll several dice. Board games use multiple dice precisely because that bell-shaped distribution feels better to play with than a flat one.

Fairness

Every face has an equal chance, and each die is rolled independently of the others. The values come from your browser's cryptographic random generator, and we convert them into a die face without the rounding shortcut that would quietly favour the low numbers.

Physical dice, by contrast, are rarely perfect. Cheap moulded dice with hollowed-out pips are measurably lopsided, because the material removed for the six is more than for the one. Casino dice are machined flat and filled precisely for this reason. A virtual die has no centre of gravity to get wrong, which makes it more even than most dice in most homes — though obviously less satisfying to throw.

Can I roll different dice together, like 1d8 and 2d6?

Not in one action — every die in a roll shares the same number of sides. Roll each group separately and add the totals yourself. A single mixed-notation parser is on our list, and if you want it, saying so moves it up.

Is there a roll history?

No. Each roll replaces the previous one, and nothing is stored or uploaded. If a result matters — a contested game, a recorded session — copy it before rolling again.

Can I use this instead of dice in a game with money on it?

Please do not. Not because the randomness is inadequate, but because a roll on someone's phone cannot be verified by the other players in the way a die on a table can. For anything with stakes, use physical dice that everyone can see land.