Vampire: The Masquerade: Dice & Strategy Guide

Vampire: The Masquerade casts you as one of the undead, balancing your remaining humanity against the predatory Beast within. Across its editions the dice have always been pools of ten-sided dice where you count successes — but the current edition, V5, adds a brilliant wrinkle that puts your character’s Hunger right into the dice you throw.

What dice VtM uses

Vampire uses ten-sided dice (d10) in a dice-pool system. You build a pool by adding an Attribute to a Skill (for example Strength + Brawl, or Manipulation + Subterfuge), then roll that many d10 and count how many come up as a success.

In V5, a die is a success on a 6 or higher. You compare your total successes to a Difficulty (a number of successes the task requires); meet or beat it and you succeed. A pair of 10s counts as a critical, granting a stronger outcome. The classic editions (Revised and earlier) instead set a variable target number per roll — typically needing each die to show a certain value or better — but the core idea of counting successes across a d10 pool is the through-line of the whole game.

Hunger dice

V5’s defining mechanic is Hunger, rated 0–5, representing how badly your vampire needs blood. When you roll, a number of your dice equal to your current Hunger are a different colour — the Hunger dice — and they replace ordinary dice in the pool rather than adding to it. They still count successes normally, but their 1s and 10s carry teeth:

• A messy critical occurs when your critical (a pair of 10s) includes a 10 on a Hunger die — you succeed, but the Beast takes the wheel and the result turns ugly and public.
• A bestial failure occurs when you fail a roll and a Hunger die shows a 1 — the failure comes with a Beast-driven complication, a stain on your Humanity, or worse.

The higher your Hunger, the more dice carry that danger, so feeding is not just flavour — it changes the odds on your very next roll.

Willpower and re-rolls

Willpower is the resource that lets you push through. In V5 you can spend a point of Willpower to re-roll up to three ordinary (non-Hunger) dice, a reliable way to turn a near-miss into a success on a roll that matters. Willpower also fuels resisting certain influences and steadying your character’s resolve, so it’s a limited pool worth spending on the rolls you cannot afford to lose.

How a scene plays out

Much of Vampire is social and investigative rather than combat-driven. When an outcome is uncertain, the Storyteller sets a Difficulty, you assemble the relevant Attribute + Skill pool (swapping in your Hunger dice), roll, and count successes. Contested actions pit two pools against each other. Combat resolves the same way — an attack pool against a defence — but violence risks the Masquerade and the attention of other predators, so it is rarely the clean solution it looks like.

Winning and effective strategy

• Manage your Hunger. This is the whole game in miniature. Feeding lowers Hunger and shrinks the number of dangerous dice in every future pool; running high on Hunger to “save time” invites messy criticals and bestial failures at the worst moments. Feed on your own terms, before the important scene, not during it.
• Spend Willpower on pivotal rolls. Re-rolling three ordinary dice can rescue a crucial social gambit or a life-or-death defence. Hold it for moments that decide the scene rather than trivial checks.
• Lead with social play. Vampire rewards intrigue, seduction, intimidation and manipulation far more than brawls. A strong Social pool and the right Discipline often win a conflict without a single point of damage — and without breaking the Masquerade.
• Weaponise your Disciplines. Your clan’s vampiric powers (Dominate, Presence, Obfuscate, Celerity and the rest) add dice or bypass rolls entirely. Build a character whose Disciplines reinforce the pools you rely on.
• Protect the Masquerade and your Humanity. Reckless feeding and public violence stain your Humanity and expose your kind; playing carefully is both good survival and the point of the game.

Beginner tips and common mistakes

• Hunger dice replace, they don’t add. They’re part of your pool, not extra dice — a common first-session mix-up.
• Don’t ignore your Hunger track. Letting it climb unchecked is the fastest way to lose control at a dramatic moment.
• Remember 6+ succeeds in V5. If you’re used to needing high rolls elsewhere, note that fully half the die faces are successes here.
• Talk before you bite. New players reach for violence; Vampire is a game of politics, and combat often creates more problems than it solves.
• Know which edition you’re playing. V5’s 6+ successes and Hunger dice differ from the classic variable-target system — check with your Storyteller so your maths matches the table.

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