Looking for a place to buy dice online

[Impalla]

I'm looking to get back into some table top gaming, most likely D&D and need some new dice as I no longer have mine from years ago. Aside from my local gaming store, what other places are popular or recommended by members here?

Additionally, what numbers of what dice are recommended? Or are the generic sets of 7 dice more than sufficient?

Thanks!

-Impalla

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Try searching for Chessex dice. Lots of places sell them online. You can always buy generic WotC dice sets from Amazon.com, too, but you'll get more bang for your buck from Chessex. And then there is ebay, which usually has numerous dice lots for sale.

Frankly, though, dice is something I support my FLGS with -- cheap and I like to pick them out in person.

 

[Impalla]

Thanks for the reply, Olgar! I did do a search before I made this thread, actually that's kind of why I made this thread. I was overwhelmed by the number of places that you could buy dice from. I was just looking for opinions on what online stores people liked or disliked for one reason or another.

I plan to support my local gaming store however I do like to browse online as well. That way I have an idea of what I am looking for before i go shopping for something. Otherwise I find myself to be excessively indecisive.

Is there a combination of certain numbers of dice that you recommend picking up or do you think the 7-die Chessex sets are the ones to go with. They have the percentile dice but only one of everything else....

-Impalla

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I personally tend to favor the 7-die sets when I buy dice, but I also already have a number of sets. Are you primarily playing or DMing?

If playing, I recommend a 10-die set if you can get it (1 d20, 1 d12, 2 d10 (d%), 1 d8, 4 d6, 1 d4). That's plenty to keep a character busy until 6th level or so. A 7-die set will last a good while, though -- you'll just have to re-roll the d6 a lot.

If DMing, I find that 4 sets of dice come in handy -- I find that having at least 4 d20s, 2 d12s, 2 d10s, 4 d8s, 4-8 d6s, and 4 d4s covers most situations until you get up into the high levels (d10s and d12s don't get much use, so you can get by with fewer).

One useful consideration if you DM ... don't get all your dice in the same color if you get multiple sets. I find that having multiple d20s in different colors is useful for rolling multiple attacks simultaneously. If you get damage dice (d4-d12) that match the d20s, you can roll multiple attacks and damage simultaneously, keep the attacks/damage separate, and save lots of time. So, if you were to buy 4 7-dice sets, get each set in a different color scheme, but make sure that within the set they are all the same. Make sense?

That's the real benefit of Chessex matched-color sets over WotC (or other) mixed color sets IMO -- having matched d20 and damage dice really makes you DMing combat job quicker.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Chessex pound 'o dice is available from the ENWorld game store.

The best dice value for the buck - no question. Well worth it.

 

[Impalla]

I personally tend to favor the 7-die sets when I buy dice, but I also already have a number of sets. Are you primarily playing or DMing?

If playing, I recommend a 10-die set if you can get it (1 d20, 1 d12, 2 d10 (d%), 1 d8, 4 d6, 1 d4). That's plenty to keep a character busy until 6th level or so. A 7-die set will last a good while, though -- you'll just have to re-roll the d6 a lot.

I'm just going to be playing for the foreseeable future. I am just trying to get back into D&D from a long layoff.

I think that's great advice about the 10-die set. I actually ran across this site that sells all sorts of dice. They sell 7-die sets as well as individual dice of the same sets. I thought maybe piecing a set of 10 together would work well.

Anyone have any opinion or history with the store linked above? Good or bad?

-Impalla

 

[Pbartender]

Chessex pound 'o dice is available from the ENWorld game store.

The best dice value for the buck - no question. Well worth it.

I wouldn't recommend Pound o' Dice, and neither would any of my players... It's a toss-up as to what kind of dice you get and in what proportion.

Last summer, one of my players bought a Pound o' Dice and ended up with only two d20s, no d8s, and a dozen or so six-siders numbered 0-1-1-2-2-3 (utterly useless). In the end, we ended up dumping the lot of them into the cimmunal dice bucket, and no one has used them since, except (occasionally) our kids when they want to "play along". It was generally considered a waste of $28.


Just buy the standard 7-dice Chessex packs. If you want them inexpensively, stick to the plain "opaque" sets, which will run you about $3.50 a pack. Transparent dice are $4.50 a pack, and speckled are $5.50. Any other style of "pretty" dice will run upwards of $9 or $10 a pack.

For starters, I'd usually recommend an "opaque" 7-dice pack, with an additional 12-pack of d6s of the same style... About $7 altogether.

 

[Tetsubo]

I just ordered two of the Pound O Dice from these guys:

http://www.dacardworld.com/gaming/item.das?sku=BVCM0P9MTR&nPar=2

I had one sent to our troops in Iraq. The other is MINE!

 

[Festivus]

Chessex pound 'o dice is available from the ENWorld game store.

The best dice value for the buck - no question. Well worth it.

I am still looking for a good use for the dispropotionate d12 distribution I got with my pound. I bet fully a quarter pound of those suckers.

I had so many that I came up with a math game where you use a 12 sider for random math problems. You can get it here: http://www.zackfamily.com/pdf/horserace.pdf

Personally, I have come to the realization that the basic D&D game got it right. Make all your dice of a type a certain color, e.g. all blue d8's, all green d12s, etc. Much easier to spot them in the dice box. The exceptions for me are D20s, I want at least three different colors for iterative attacks and the like and d6s where I want at least two color varieties for typed damage (I play a wizard with bane magic)

 

[werk]

Try searching for Chessex dice.

I prefer Chessex opaque, sharp-edged dice in contrasting colors...black with white, yellow with black, etc.

The rounded edge dice roll too much for me and while the 'ninja' dice is cool looking in the store's flourescent lighting, but once you get into a nice, shadowy dungeon, they are a bit hard to read.

I get mine from www.paizo.com (the folks that used to do Dungeon/Dragon magazines)but you can find them anywhere fine RPG products are sold.

(Yes, I've found my dice preferences have changed as I age...)