DF2014:Die

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Examples of dice.

Dice (singular die) are an item randomly found in religious (not titan) shrines located throughout the world, with several able to spawn at monasteries. They can be picked up and rolled to divine the will of the gods relevant to the dice, granting a variety of possible effects both positive or fun. Divination can be disallowed in advanced world generation.

Dice come in several known varieties depending on the number of sides:

• D20 (twenty-sided, known as "icosahedral")
• D12 ("twelve-sided" or "dodecahedral")
• D8 ("eight-sided" or "octahedral")
• D6 ("six-sided" or "cubic")
• D4 ("four-sided" or "tetrahedral" *) (* this is, in fact, TBC due to technical issues with it, according to Toady)

Fortress Mode

In fortress mode, dice can be created in a craftsdwarf's workshop from wood or stone. It is not currently possible to specify the number of sides to make on dice, nor do descriptions on dice mention the number of sides that they have. Divination currently does not occur in fortress mode, making dice only usable as trading goods.

Adventurer Mode

In adventurer mode, dice can be found and used for divination by the player. Each die will have a series of images or series of numbers, with selection of images random, but seem to be related to the deity's spheres. Effects are tied to the specific number or image on the die, but are unique to each specific die. Therefore, rolling the same number or image on the same die after the time since last divination has expired will result in the same effect. A die with large number of faces can have several numbers or images that can do the same effect (such as bad or good luck curses). Multiple dice may be held and rolled at a time, though this only appears to count as rolling the die selected in the inventory, dropping all other dice while mentioning their number or image (but not their effect). Only dice found in shrines have any effect. Dice taken in character creation can be rolled, but won't have any special effect, giving only "You roll." text, without any additional text, as they lack any numbers or images to show after the roll.

List of known dice effects:

• Creates a random divine metal artifact-quality weapon at the tile where the die was rolled. Can be any weapon, including training weapons, blowguns, large daggers or even trap component weapons, such as spikes
• Creates a random artifact-quality piece of armor at the tile where the die was rolled^[Verify]
• Creates a random divine metal artifact-quality shield or buckler at the tile where the die was rolled
• Upgrades the quality level of each worn item, including containers and things strapped to the upper body (like backpacks and shields). One- and two-level upgrades have been observed so far.
• Grants the user an enhanced healing factor, capable of completely healing any tissue damage or other wounds rapidly (duration appears indefinite, but cannot heal certain past wounds) ^[Verify]
• Grants the user a random friendly pet spawned nearby (seems to prefer predatory creatures, but not LARGE_PREDATOR creatures.)
• Grants the user a week of bad luck (20% chance to receive 0% skill rate multiplier) or good luck (50% chance of 150% skill rate multiplier.)
• Various messages that have no effect, giving ominous, foreboding, or fateful advice or statements
• Transforms the user into a random creature for one week (seems to prefer nonpredatory creatures)

It is likely that dice with more sides have more extreme effects; dice with fewer sides than 12^[Verify] cannot cause the stronger effects (shown in bold), either good or bad. Each die can only have one very positive effect in its list of possibilities; this is dependent on the specific die, not the deity represented.

The type of divine material from which the gifted holy item is made will be related to the spheres of the deity associated with the dice. As such, a deity associated with mountains may bless the player with a frosty metal sword.

Dice do not have to be rolled at the shrine, so the player can freely take it them with them on adventures to roll later. If the player has an entirely player-made party of adventurers, each character can roll the dice individually to perform their own divinations.

Warning: each die is tied to a specific deity, not a religion, and using any dice tied to the same deity more than twice in 24 hours–1 week, even if the dice came from different religions, will anger the gods, cursing the ill-fated thrower in a similar way to toppling over a statue. Because of this, its dangerous to roll an unknown die if you recently performed a divination, as it may belong to same deity. If the player does roll the die of the same god a second time, they will get one (and only) warning; the next roll for the same god will result in the character getting cursed. However, the god(s) may choose to "ignore your hubris", resulting in no punishment. Any creature cursed by the gods in such a way will be unable to benefit from any deity's dice ever again.

Rolling a die in Adventurer Mode

An adventurer rolls a four-sided divination die. The ominous message "It is too soon to forgive" has no effect.

You must hold the die in your hand, so either:

• remove it from any containers you're carrying it in, or,
• with a hand empty, get it from the ground or a pedestal;

then Interact with the die, selecting the "roll" option.

Your character will then "Divine the will of <DEITY> according to the practice of <RELIGIOUS_ORDER>".

Bugs

• The "beast transformation" curse seems to be treated as a normal syndrome, and, thus, can be instantly healed by simply unloading the cell (fast travelling, sleeping). However, the victim appears to suffer stat penalties afterwards, as though they still had their animal body.^[Verify]
• Dice may, under unknown circumstances, respawn even after being taken from their home shrine, after a cell reload.^[Verify]

This article or section has been rated D for Dwarf. It may include witty humour, not-so-witty humour, bad humour, in-jokes, pop culture references, and references to the Bay12 forums. Don't believe everything you read, and if you miss some of the references, don't worry. It was inevitable.

• Some dwarves love to roll dice and play games about dungeons and dragons.