The dice a game asks for tell you a lot about how it plays. A single-die system like D&D lives on one big swingy d20; a dice-pool game like Shadowrun buries the swing under a fistful of d6. Before you buy, match the dice to the system — here’s the practical rundown.
What each system actually needs
| System | Dice you need | Buy first |
|---|---|---|
| D&D 5e | The full seven-dice polyhedral set (d4, d6, d8, d10, d%, d12, d20) | One set, plus a spare d20 and a handful of extra d6 |
| Pathfinder (1e & 2e) | The same full seven-dice set as D&D | One set; add spare d6 for damage-heavy builds |
| Call of Cthulhu | A polyhedral set plus percentile focus — two d10s (one as the “tens”) for d100 rolls | A percentile pair (00–90 and 0–9 d10s) |
| Shadowrun | A large pool of six-siders — you count successes, not totals | Ten or more matching d6 |
| World of Darkness / Chronicles of Darkness | A pool of ten-siders, counting successes | Ten or more matching d10 |
| Warhammer (40k, Age of Sigmar) | Lots and lots of d6 | A tub of twenty-plus d6, ideally matching |
| Fate / Fudge | Four special Fudge dice (faces marked +, blank, –) | A set of four Fudge dice |
| Genesys / Star Wars (FFG) | Proprietary narrative dice with custom symbols | The official narrative dice set (or an app) |
Single-die systems: D&D and Pathfinder
If you play D&D 5e or Pathfinder, one standard polyhedral set covers the whole game. The d20 does the heavy lifting for attacks, saves and checks; the rest handle damage and hit dice. The only reason to buy more is convenience: a second d20 for advantage, and a small pile of extra d6 so a fireball doesn’t mean rolling one die eight times. Our companion guide breaks down what every die shape is for.
Percentile systems: Call of Cthulhu
Call of Cthulhu (and other d100 games like Runequest or Delta Green) resolves skills on a roll of 1–100. You make that with two ten-sided dice: one printed in tens (00, 10, 20…) and one in units (0–9). Read them together and 00 + 0 counts as 100. A normal set includes both; if you play a lot of percentile, buy a dedicated, clearly-coloured pair so you never misread which die is which.
Dice-pool systems: Shadowrun & World of Darkness
Pool systems flip the model: instead of one die plus modifiers, you roll a handful and count how many beat a threshold. Shadowrun uses d6 (5s and 6s are hits); the Storyteller/Storytelling games behind World of Darkness use d10. Your character’s big pools can hit a dozen dice or more, so buy plenty in a single matching colour — sorting mismatched dice mid-roll gets old fast.
Bucket-of-d6 systems: Warhammer
The Games Workshop wargames — Warhammer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar — are almost entirely d6. Rolling to hit, to wound and to save can mean throwing twenty or thirty dice at once. Here quantity beats variety: get a big tub of identical six-siders, and consider a second colour to roll two things at once. Faction dice with custom pips are cosmetic, not required.
Narrative & special-dice systems: Fate and Star Wars
A few systems use dice you can’t improvise. Fate and its Fudge ancestor use four special dice whose faces read plus, minus or blank — you sum the symbols for a result from −4 to +4. Genesys and Fantasy Flight’s Star Wars RPGs use proprietary narrative dice marked with success, advantage, triumph and threat symbols instead of numbers. You either buy the official sets or use a roller that has them built in.
What to buy first, overall
If you’re new and unsure which system you’ll settle on, start with one good full polyhedral set — it plays D&D, Pathfinder and Call of Cthulhu out of the box and covers a huge slice of the hobby. Add matching d6 or d10 pools only once you commit to a pool-based game, and treat Fudge and narrative dice as game-specific purchases. Or skip the shelf of tubs entirely: a digital roller carries every die type, including the odd ones, and never rolls short a d6 mid-fight.
Try it yourself. Dice Drop rolls real physics dice in your browser — full polyhedral sets, big d6 and d10 pools, advantage, modifiers and mixed pools built in.
🎲 Roll dice freeKeep reading: every dice type explained, d2 to d100 — including the oddities most sets never include.