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Argyle Offline OP
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The 12-sided polyhedral dice was always my favorite in the D&D set (d4, d6,d8, d12, d20), but it was also the least used. Why was it there in the first place?

It turns out, the D&D polyhedral dice set comprises the five Platonic Solids. Yes, "Platonic" referring to Plato himself, who postulated that the basic classical elements of the universe were made of these solid forms. Theaetetus, a contemporary of Plato, proved that these five shapes are the only regular convex polyhedral shapes that exist. "Regular" means essentially that if you roll the die, you have an equal probability of landing on any of the faces.

So why is the 12-sided dodecahedron dice there? Because otherwise the universe would be missing one of its elements! Certainly this applies to the D&D universe as well. And that is not all ... it turns out the d12 is also the first one which embodies the famous Golden Ratio. It's no coincidence that I have always been drawn to the d12, and now I know why. I hope we see a dodecahedron or two somewhere in BG III; I am sure it would have made Plato happy.

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The greataxe uses a d12 for damage smile

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What about the d10? Isn't it mean to leave it out? wink

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Originally Posted by kanisatha
What about the d10? Isn't it mean to leave it out? wink


Impostor! It’s not a regular polyhedron.

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Originally Posted by Dagless
Originally Posted by kanisatha
What about the d10? Isn't it mean to leave it out? wink


Impostor! It’s not a regular polyhedron.

Yes I know. Just making a joke of it. smile

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Originally Posted by neongreg
The greataxe uses a d12 for damage smile


no one respects your intelligence greg- but i do.

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Argyle Offline OP
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I don't think Plato ever comprehended the damage of the greataxe, but he did make associations of the elements with the Platonic Solids:

tetrahedron (d4) = fire (probably because it is so pointy)
cube (d6) = earth
octahedron (d8) = air
icosahedron (d20) = water

But that leaves out my favorite d12 dodecahedron ... for this one, Plato noticed it had special properties, and therefore he assigned it the stuff of the cosmos, from which stars and planets are made. Whoa. Cosmos! If Zaviak makes an appearance in BG III, I would love to hear his thoughts on this.

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Originally Posted by Argyle
I don't think Plato ever comprehended the damage of the greataxe, but he did make associations of the elements with the Platonic Solids:

tetrahedron (d4) = fire (probably because it is so pointy)
cube (d6) = earth
octahedron (d8) = air
icosahedron (d20) = water

But that leaves out my favorite d12 dodecahedron ... for this one, Plato noticed it had special properties, and therefore he assigned it the stuff of the cosmos, from which stars and planets are made. Whoa. Cosmos! If Zaviak makes an appearance in BG III, I would love to hear his thoughts on this.


You mean Aether? Or possibly Milla Jovovich?

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Originally Posted by Argyle
I don't think Plato ever comprehended the damage of the greataxe, but he did make associations of the elements with the Platonic Solids:

tetrahedron (d4) = fire (probably because it is so pointy)
cube (d6) = earth
octahedron (d8) = air
icosahedron (d20) = water

But that leaves out my favorite d12 dodecahedron ... for this one, Plato noticed it had special properties, and therefore he assigned it the stuff of the cosmos, from which stars and planets are made. Whoa. Cosmos! If Zaviak makes an appearance in BG III, I would love to hear his thoughts on this.


Ah, is that related to "The Fifth Element" - an extremely dubious Sci-Fi plot.
Or, perhaps related to "The Fifth Elephant" - a totally believable fantasy plot.

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Originally Posted by neongreg
The greataxe uses a d12 for damage smile

What new arcano-technology is this that you speak of?

In 1e the weapon that dominated the d12 was a Long Sword vs Lagre Sized Opponents. And it was nearly exclusive in the d12 club save for the Pike (Awl) vs Large Sized (but this was almost never used due to the lack of support in published modules.)

Back then there was no such thing as a "Great Axe"! wink

The next serious use of a d12 in 1e came with the original Unearthed Arcana when Barbarians (based on the variant first published in Dragon Magazine) used the d12 for their Hit Dice. Fighters were, as you can imagine, quite upset.


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