Everyone has their preferences for how they roll their dice when it comes to playing DnD. Some save dice for important rolls, some use dice towers, and many people use online dice rollers. But is there a superior way of using DnD dice? And what are the pros and cons of using an online dice roller? Let's explore those questions.
Online Dice Rollers
Pros
- Free: Perhaps the greatest motivator of using an online dice roller.
- Easily accessible: Anyone with an internet connection and a device that can access the web can use an online dice roller.
- Consistent: Meaning they never bounce weirdly, roll off the table, or land on an edge.
- Numbers great and small: you can increase and decrease the amount of dice you want to roll very easily, and, again, for free.
Cons
- No tactile feedback: You can't jiggle the dice in your hand, perform superstitious rituals over them or listen to that satisfying clackity clack.
- True Randomness: A simple online dice roller probably isn't truly random.
- They don't look cool: You can't roll up to your table carrying a sick dice bag full of new dice, if you roll one your phone.
Physical Dice
Pros
- Feel good: Real dice do give tactile feedback, you can feel their weight and hear them clack.
- Look rad as hell: just look at these bad boys.
- Are truly random
- Come in a beautiful, complementary Only Crits dice bag or box for no extra charge.
- Whoops, ignore that last one (but remember they also come with a free adventure).
Cons
- Can be expensive
- Can be addicting to buy
- Bounce and roll all over the place if you don't have something to roll them into.
- You need to buy or borrow more if you need multiple of the same die for a roll.
Listen, this was only partially an excuse to shill our quality products via blog post. The reality is, physical DnD dice can be great, and offer a huge variety of ways to express yourself and your style of gameplay. But the reality is, they present a greater barrier to entry, since real dice cost money and online dice rollers are free. If the option is use a free dice roller or don't play DnD, we will always advocate for using an online dice roller. There's really not that much of a reason to actually spend money on real dice, except the sweet anticipation of desperately needing a Natural 20 while holding a dice bouncing wildly in your hand is simply thrilling. They sound good, they feel good, and they are an awesome and appropriate symbol of the TTRPG hobby. But then again, we may be slightly biased.