[DICE] A d4 can be used for...

What do I used my d4s for? Well... watch the video and find out...you will be dissappointed.

[EvilMastermind]

I use a handful of D4s as makeshift caltrops for when someone I don't want approaching the table comes by or when I want to prevent the new player from running.

[xphragger]

D4 is nice when you want to determine a reasonable number of interactions taking place before a dynamic shift. It's a good way to set time limits and to cue up surprises.

1-4 rounds before someone who heard the noise from the hallway kicks in the door. 1-4 hours to search the house before the owner returns. 1-4 days before the wound on your leg begins to fester and you'll need to forage for healing herbs or hire an apothecary.

[robmegently]

My friends and I use the d4 to determine the severity of the consequences of certain actions. Especially useful when somebody rolls a nat 1

[MrShorty]

They make excellent real life caltrops

[edwarduribe]

I use it for determining a random target with a party of 4 when I need it

[awboqm]

I used it to determine how heavily a character sleeps. 1 was a light sleeper, 2-3 was normal, and 4 was a deep sleeper. Those features played into how well the party could roll perception checks if someone snuck up to them

[drawingsaresketchy]

At the start of every session I ask the players for their “fate roll” where they each roll a d4. I do this for several reasons: 1. It signals the beginning of the game; time for catching up with each other is over 2. Gives them each a chance to roll a die immediately 3. I use the results as a group to determine the difficulty of the session and having it only be a d4 helps with the math and their gut reaction to the results—- oh we all rolled 3s and 4s? It’s going to be a good day. Rolled all 1s? Maybe we should hire some backup. Usually I tweak encounters by adding a few more monsters, making them more deadly, more traps, etc. I also use it for individual players if they ask me something I hadn’t planned. For example, is there an open window so they can sneak into the building? A 4, yes and it’s on the ground floor. 3, yes on the second floor and there’s a tree that looks like you can climb next to it (normal athletics check if they proceed) 2, yes, on the second floor. It looks like a challenging climb (hard athletic check). 1, roll a perception check—there isn’t a fully open window, but you can see that the second floor window is cracked slightly. You may be able to open if you can make the climb (harder athletic check). The best part is I only sometimes will let them know that it’s because of their fate roll. So they often will guess and psych themselves out—sometimes for no reason . I equate it to real life waking up and feeling like it’s going to be a good or a bad day. My players have said it’s their favorite roll of the night.

[nomadrlx]

More so relevant for seafaring: i would roll 2d4 to decide wind direction. Cardinal directions of (1-4 North East South West) why 2? Sometimes a winds direction is slightly diagonal, or theres a cross wind. If you get two of the same number its a strong wind. I also use a d4 for severity of weather. If a weather table showed rain, 1 is a misting or drizzle, 2 a proper rain, 3 is heavy rain (maybe a thunderstorm) and 4 is torrential downpour.

[ascenziobilelloiii]

I've loved these "what you can do with a d (#)" shorts. I've been experimenting with homebrewing game systems from scratch and have been thinking a lot about "how should we use dice? WHY should we use dice? do we want dice? how do we manipulate dice numbers and tables and etc. etc. It can get you caught in a wormhole of thought if you let yourself

[chaddemink]

The d4 can be used to determine the season of the year: 1-spring, 2-summer, 3-autumn, 4-winter.

[maximeprevot]

I use it as a countdown for something dramatic in the narrative or combat !

As an exemple : in 1d4 round, the gnoll pack leader, who's been watching the fight from above until now, will join the fray and do something crazy on the battlefield
Or in 1d4 days the Nemesis will look for revenge against the PCs for thwarthing a part of its plan

It helps me coming up with things to disrupt the players plans and improvise some more

[The_Custos]

Old Adnd uses them a fair bit.
Here's a use, for yes and no whether actions will occur. 4 definitely, 3 yes but slowly or less enthusiastically. 2 no but almost, 1 the opposite.

[BigPapaPhilosophia]

I like to use it as counters for certain things. Some examples are...
1: 「Time」outside of combat i like to use these as roughly 2 1/2 minutes per side, and pair them with a d6 for 10 minute intervals and a d12 for hours. Great for keeping track of time when it matters.

2: 「Random Events」I like to roll it and then after a certain amount of time, or rounds if its combat, something will happen. Obviously it isn't truly random, it would be related to the situation, but whether its an ignored quest and how long they take to get to it or a second wave of enemies or a timed trap or puzzle, its a decent method.

[stonelion]

For random navigation in the 4 cardinal directions. Not used often, but it has it's moments

[jakkos]

I liked using hem for changing experiments for example I had one room in a dungeon where they had to fix a broken clock while fighting off enemies but the clock messed with time itself so I used the d4 to decide if time was sped up slowed down frozen or reversed.. It was fun and dynamic so that's a good use for them

[athenaarchon]

I typically have 4 players at my table so it's good for randomly selecting events between players, good for assigning numbers to the players using them as minis when we dont have any or the same for small groups of enemies

[merpins]

Abilities that recharge on a 4 by rolling a d4. There are monsters with abilities that recharge this way, as a DM I give out magic items that do this from time to time, and some homebrew cclasses I've made use this mechanic (usually a subclass ability or some such).

[pit]

My old-school style megadungeon campaign was set in a human-centric world with randomly rolled stats. The setting and such were originally written for OSR systems with race-as-class, where you could e.g. play a cleric or a fighter or an elf. I was using a hack of 5e, so to keep humans dominant, I added a d4 roll to decide whether a new character was allowed to be a non-human race. Worked very well, though I'd only recommend it for very specific sorts of campaign.

[unrulyarcana]

I use them to randomly determine short amounts of time, what watch stuff happens during, or the number of thing X there is. I also use it to determine how many successes it takes to achieve things on the fly when something unexpected comes up. Like, "Ok... you attacked an allied siege crew and took control of their station... l was not expecting that... consequences will follow... but for now, hit the plane shifting castle 1d4 times with the eldritch siege canon to disable it and breach the wall."

[redline]

The D4 is good for when your party rolls for something, then you roll a D4 that you know isn't going to do anything, you just do it purely to make them feel more tension. Whatever the result, just go 'Oo...' And scribble something down before continuing on as if nothing happened.