Maximum amount of dice needed?

[Jhaelen]

I was wondering what was the total amount of dice any 1 player or DM might need in any given session? I.E. If I was rolling for "x" damage, I'd roll 2d4+4 or 1d8+2, etc. What would the maximum amount of any particular dice would I need?
Don't know if that made sense, but I'd like to give my players a full set so they wouldn't have to roll twice for any given situation.

Nice idea that won't work, unfortunately. Not having to roll buckets of dice was one of the promises WotC made for 4e but did not keep.

If you use a weapon using two dice for base damage (like 2d4), you'll end up needing well over twenty dice in the high epic tier (when rolling crit damage, at least).

What you could do is limit the maximum number of dice rolled to, say four, and simply add average damage for the rest. E.g. if a power would be doing 20d4+12, you'd use 4d4+52 instead.

 

[RangerWickett]

What amuses me, coming out of 2nd edition, is that people think 18 dice damage for a single attack is too much. My players loved rolling tons of dice back in the day.

Actually, this would be a fun thought experiment:

What is the maximum number of dice you can roll for damage on a single hit against a single target in 4e, assuming a party of no more than 5 PCs? Bonus points for using at least one each d4, d6, d8, d10, and d12.

(I was originally going to go for total dice in a round, but then you get dependent on how many enemies are around, and that just gets silly.)

So first of all, what powers exist that let you add to an ally's damage dice?

 

[RangerWickett]

If you use a weapon using two dice for base damage (like 2d4), you'll end up needing well over twenty dice in the high epic tier (when rolling crit damage, at least).

You forget that crit damage just maxes out; you don't have to roll for the base attack, just the crit dice. Often when you crit you end up rolling fewer dice.

 

[Piratecat]

Sorry, I'm having trouble parsing what you mean by "maximum number of dice." Every time I hear those words my mind goes blank.

*twitch*

 

[eamon]

A vorpal weapon damage roll can involve an unlimited number of die rolls.

 

[lukelightning]

Way back when I started playing (AD&D), my DM had a special houserule spell that we were granted occasionally as a reward: the All-Dice Fireball. It's a fireball; how much damage does it do? All the dice. Every one you can find. Every D6, D4, D8, D12, D2, D20, all the dice from the Monopoly set, all the ones from the Yahtzee, every die you can scrounge up. So you end up with more than a heaping handful of dice, drop them on the table, and spend 5 minutes adding up the damage. Sure, the DM could say "they all burn to death" but that wouldn't have been as fun.

 

[Jhaelen]

You forget that crit damage just maxes out; you don't have to roll for the base attack, just the crit dice. Often when you crit you end up rolling fewer dice.

Doh! You're right! Still, the number of dice can get quite high.

 

[Herschel]

Sorry, I'm having trouble parsing what you mean by "maximum number of dice." Every time I hear those words my mind goes blank.

*twitch*

QFT! There is no such thing as too many dice, just too little storage.

 

[Mengu]

Just as an exercise to add different dice to the damage roll:

against a target with the reptile keyword, you can get

1d4 Dragonscale Armor, White
1d6 Horned Helm
1d8 Vanguard (off-hand weapon)
1d10 Skull Bracers
1d12 Waraxe (base)
1d20 Waraxe (scalebane)

 

[Hellzon]

A vorpal weapon damage roll can involve an unlimited number of die rolls.

So can a Brutal weapon, if the dice gods hate you.