Dice Notation Guide
Dice notation is the shorthand tabletop games use to say which dice to roll: 2d6+3 means roll two six-sided dice and add 3. Here's every part of it, with examples you can type straight into RollFate and roll in 3D.
Quick reference
| Type | What it rolls |
|---|---|
d20 or 1d20 | One 20-sided die |
2d6 | Two six-sided dice, added together |
1d20+1d4 | A d20 and a d4, added together |
1d20+5 | A d20, plus 5 |
1d8-1 | A d8, minus 1 |
2d20kh1 | Two d20s, keep the higher one (advantage) |
2d20kl1 | Two d20s, keep the lower one (disadvantage) |
4d6kh3 | Four d6s, keep the highest three (ability scores) |
1d8*2 | A d8, doubled |
4d6/2 | Four d6s, halved and rounded down |
1d100 | A percentile roll, 1 to 100 |
The basics: NdX
The number before the d is how many dice to roll, and the number after it is how many sides each die has. 3d8 is three eight-sided dice. Leave out the first number for a single die: d20 is the same as 1d20. RollFate adds the dice up for you and shows each die's result next to the total.
Rolling different dice together
Join dice with a plus sign. 1d20+1d4 rolls a d20 and a d4 and adds them, and 2d6+1d8 rolls two d6s and a d8. A Fireball is simply 8d6.
Modifiers and math
Put a number at the end of the roll to change the total:
1d20+5adds 5, like an attack bonus.2d6+3adds 3, like damage with your ability modifier.1d8-1takes 1 away.1d8*2doubles the roll, handy for a critical hit.4d6/2halves it, for half damage on a successful save.
The math happens after the dice are added up, and division rounds down. Type the roll without spaces: 1d20+5, not 1d20 + 5.
Keep highest and keep lowest: kh and kl
Add kh and a number to keep only that many of the highest dice, or kl to keep the lowest. The other dice still roll, so you can see what you nearly got, but they don't count toward the total.
What does 4d6kh3 mean?
Roll four six-sided dice and keep the highest three. It's the classic way to roll a D&D ability score: drop the lowest die and add up the rest. More about rolling stats.
What does 2d20kh1 mean?
Roll two d20s and keep the higher one: advantage in D&D 5e. 2d20kl1 keeps the lower one, which is disadvantage. In RollFate the ADV and DIS buttons do this for you on a d20 roll. More about advantage and disadvantage.
Any number works
5d10kl2 rolls five d10s and keeps the lowest two. If you ask to keep more dice than you roll, RollFate keeps them all.
Percentile dice: d100
1d100 rolls a percentile pair, a tens die and a units die read together as a number from 1 to 100, as in Call of Cthulhu. It counts as two dice.
Which dice you can roll
d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20 and d100, in any combination, up to 50 dice in one roll. Other sizes, like d3 or d7, aren't supported yet: RollFate tells you so instead of rolling. Capital letters work too (2D20KH1).
Rather not type?
- The Roll Builder lets you click dice and buttons together into a roll.
- Quick rolls save the rolls you use every session, like "Longsword:
1d20+5", for one-tap rolling. - In the app, the ? next to the notation box opens this guide with a Try button for every example. On a phone, it's in the Roll tab.
- Playing Daggerheart? A
2d12roll can become your Hope and Fear duality dice.