Metal or Plastic Dice?

Metal or Plastic Dice? Both have positives and negatives so which should you get? Let's have a discussion and find out!

#dice #metal #plastic

[darthhodges]

I read an article someone posted about dice that applies to what you mentioned here about having sharper edges. He, a college professor who also plays Warhammer, did an experiment with his students to see how fair different kinds of dice really were. He compared dice (all d6s) with heavily rounded corners, dice with more modestly rounded corners (the most common in typical sets), dice with fairly sharp corners, and "Vegas equivalent" dice. He (and his students) rolled enough dice in each category enough times to get one million individual rolls in each category. The heavily rounded dice got 1s 25% percent of the time, the average dice 22%, the sharper dice 20%, and the Vegas dice 18%. A perfectly fair d6 would only show 1s 17% of the time. They noticed that the dice with most heavily rounded corners also had the deepest cut outs for the numbers, while the Vegas dice relied solely on paint. They concluded that a combination of the rounded corners and the unequal balancing created by the milled out numbers created the unfairness in the dice. He also said he was able to speak to someone at Chessex (company that makes dice) who admitted they knew that rounding the corners and deep cutting the numbers made them less fair, but that they meticulously saved the scrap which led to them creating more dice from the same amount of plastic. Supposedly to the degree that the amount of plastic to make 100 Vegas dice they can use to make 130 heavily rounded dice of the same size.

[rickershomesteadahobbyfarm]

I like my metal dice more then my plastic ones. I bought a dice tray simply because I didn’t want to dent up other people’s tables.

[CorkiCork]

Something not mentioned is resin dice, especially ones with little objects in them, can be weighted to certain numbers, or even have air pockets, this can obviously be good or bad depending on if it’s weighted towards a 20 or not, but still something to be considered.

[godofzombi]

Metal dice are for when your character was unfairly killed off by your DM and you wanna eff up his mahogany table.

[net_spider]

Plastic, full stop. They don't leave dents in my table (or crack glass ones) and the d4's don't puncture my feet if I accidentally step on em.

[madi_stellar]

I got bloodstained metal dice and a castle dice tower for a total of 60$ a steal tbh. The dice were 20 with tax and the tower, 40. Super excited for our next in-person DND session

[randomuser]

This is a situation where I prefer quantity over quality. I like having as many different colors/designs/etc as possible and unfortunately I can on average get 10 sets of plastic for every 1 set of metal.

[EinsamPibroch]

Durability.
I'm handing down my Metal Dice through the Generations.

[niemand]

I chose two sets of metal die yesterday which I like for their design. And I think to have some heavier sets can sometimes make a difference. Otherwise the usual plastic variations are fine and often times look very nice too. It's nice to have choices.

[dustinakadustin]

I bought a nice set of metal dice for $60 AUD at pax on the weekend and I think they're great, using them in my next session.

[MusashiOtsu]

Chessex has Lab Dice that are "heavy" they are plastic, but super dense and if you like the feel of the luxurious weight, those are my go to dice.

[Sigurd]

Recently ordered an amazing looking set of metal dice from China, they were definitely better looking than anything I've seen on Amazon and almost twice cheaper. Thanks to your video I've also ordered a leather dice tray for them. Thanks dude!

[mauriciolacruz]

I'm a newbie in this world and have noticed the following about the 7 dice set I received:

1. The opposite sides on the D6, D12 and D20 dice sum the same, as it should:

D6: (1/6) (2/5) (3/4)
D12: (1/12) (2/11) (3/10) (4/9) (5/8) (6/7)
D20: (1/20) (2/19) (3/18) (4/17) (5/16) (6/15) (7/14) (8/13) (9/12) (10/11)

2. The opposite sides on the D8 and two D10s, however, do not sum the same:

D8: (1/2) (3/4) (5/6) (7/8)
D10: (0/1) (2/3) (4/5) (6/7) (8/9)
D10: (00/90) (10/80) (20/50) (30/40) (60/70)

And the sequence on these dice neither follow any logic nor match one another, as the order looks scrambled for instance on both D10s. Here below the numbering on these two dice from left to right by hemispheres:

D10: (0-8-2-6-4) and (3-9-1-5-7)
D10: (00-40-60-20-80) and (70-30-90-10-50)

When, to match one another, it should be:

D10: (0-8-2-6-4) and (3-9-1-5-7)
D10: (00-80-20-60-40) and (30-90-10-50-70)

Or:

D10: (0-4-6-2-8) and (7-3-9-1-5)
D10: (00-40-60-20-80) and (70-30-90-10-50)

Or perhaps better (unscrambled):

D10: (0-2-4-6-8) and (1-3-5-7-9)
D10: (00-20-40-60-80) and (10-30-50-70-90)

Maybe other makers do it correctly, but these (Chinese 😖) are the ones I've got.

3. Both D10s are not numbered starting by "1" (1-10) and (10-100) like all other dice do, but (0-9) and (00-90).

Yes, I know these dice are mainly used for percentages (%), but still is somewhat weird starting by "0" and "00" instead of by "1" and "10", despite you can assume when you need the "0" is "10" and the "00" is "100".

[bonemagnus]

Sharp edged dice are usually well over $15 - even on Amazon - unless you get them on a sale or get a color that isn’t selling.

Personally, I like them all - plastic round and sharp edge, metal. I have a few different bags and kind of rotate which one I grab for a session.

[twitchster]

All of the above and many more please!
lol I had no idea that when I jumped into D&D a few months ago that I'd get so addicted to collecting dice sets! >.<' I can't get enough!!

[thundermoon]

I have big hands and brutish strength. I like the metal dice because I don't feel like I'm going to launch them across the room when I roll them.

[OnlyTwoShoes]

I was too distracted by the unbuttoned button. What was the conclusion?

[AncientRylanor]

Hi everyone I need sum DICE ADVISE

the TLDR is basically how many of each kind of dice do you need for dnd?

Some one told me I need 2 of each dice from D4 to d20 aka two D4s two d6s two d8s two 2xd10s two d12s two d20s
but I see on line there are also sets with d24 d30 d60 do I need them as well??

I've also seen on a YouToube video they some times you need to role 3 8Ds at ones so do I need 3 of them?

I'm not interested in "collecting" decorative collars or glow in the dark metal/exotic material or otherwise fancy dice.

I just want to functionally have a full set of dice with no more or less then is necessary to play DnD even at high levels of play.

[themagician]

I got lucky with my cousin spending a lot at my local game store and building up lots of points from them and then moving so he gave them to me, so I was able to get a really nice set of metal ones for completely free

[justinland]

I got a set of metal dice for a gift a few years ago. He keeps mentioning using protection for metal dice, and that's because they really will destroy pretty much anything you roll on. I think the metal dice I have are the same style as the $25 dollar set mentioned in the video. $15 is too much for plastic dice, the shop selling them for that much is probably paying less than a dollar per set. I got 25 sets of nice polyhedral plastic dice from Amazon for $21. I gave a free pack to everyone at the table and have enough left over to give a set to anyone I play with for probably the next decade. The metal dice are nicer, but I much prefer playing with plastic.