The caltrop of the dice bag
The d4 is the pointy little pyramid of tabletop gaming. In D&D 5e it rolls damage for daggers, the magic missile spell, the Bless and Guidance bonuses, and healing for healing word. Because a real d4 lands point-up, it’s notoriously hard to read (and painful to step on) — a virtual roller solves both problems. Rolling 2d4 gives totals from 2 to 8; 5 is the most likely total at 25%.
Four faces and a sharp point
The four-sided die is the odd one out in a standard seven-dice set. Every other die rolls along and settles on a flat face pointing up. The d4 is a tetrahedron, so it lands on a face and points a corner straight at the ceiling. There’s no “top face” to read.
Manufacturers have solved this two ways, and you’ve probably owned both without noticing:
- Top-reading d4s print three numbers on each face, one near each corner. The number that appears at the top point, the same on all three visible faces, is your result.
- Bottom-reading d4s print the numbers along the bottom edges. You read the number that sits upright along the base of the die.
Mix the two styles at one table and somebody will misread a roll sooner or later. A digital d4 just tells you the number, and it doesn’t hide under the table and wait for your bare foot. The d4 gets compared to a caltrop, the spiked iron weapon armies scattered to cripple horses, and anyone who’s stepped on one in the dark understands the comparison.
A shape with a very long history
Four-cornered dice are some of the oldest gaming pieces we know of. The Royal Game of Ur, played in ancient Mesopotamia about 4,500 years ago, used tetrahedral dice with two of the four tips marked. Each throw was a yes-or-no, and players threw several and counted the marked tips. The British Museum holds a board and pieces excavated by Leonard Woolley in the 1920s. Their d4s were really coins in disguise; ours count from one to four.
What the d4 does in Dungeons & Dragons
In fifth edition D&D, the d4 handles small, reliable numbers. It’s rarely the big hit; it’s the bonus that turns a near-miss into a success.
| Where you’ll roll it | What it does |
|---|---|
| Dagger, club, sickle, light hammer, dart, whip | 1d4 weapon damage |
| Magic Missile | Each dart does 1d4 + 1 force damage |
| Bless | Adds 1d4 to attack rolls and saving throws |
| Guidance | Adds 1d4 to one ability check |
| Bane | Subtracts 1d4 from the target’s attacks and saves |
| Healing Word (2014 rules) | 1d4 + your spellcasting modifier |
The Bless bonus is worth thinking about. Adding a d4 averages +2.5 on a d20 roll, which on most checks is worth about 12.5 percentage points. That’s a lot for a first-level spell, and it’s why experienced players keep it handy for boss fights.
Rolling Bless with this roller
You can’t add a d4 to a d20 in a single roll here, but you don’t need to. Roll your d20 on the d20 roller, then roll 1d4 on this page and add it. If you’d rather roll both in one place, the main dice roller lets you switch die types between rolls.
The odds on one d4
| Roll | Chance of exactly this | Chance of this or higher |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25% | 100% |
| 2 | 25% | 75% |
| 3 | 25% | 50% |
| 4 | 25% | 25% |
Each face has a 25% chance, the highest of any die in the standard set. The average roll is 2.5. A single d4 is so swingy that minimum and maximum damage are both common, which feels very different from rolling a d12, where any one number is rare.
Two, three and more d4s
Things get more interesting when you roll several. With two d4s added together, totals from 2 to 8 are possible, and the middle bunches up:
| Total | Ways | Chance | This or higher |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | 6.25% | 100.00% |
| 3 | 2 | 12.50% | 93.75% |
| 4 | 3 | 18.75% | 81.25% |
| 5 | 4 | 25.00% | 62.50% |
| 6 | 3 | 18.75% | 37.50% |
| 7 | 2 | 12.50% | 18.75% |
| 8 | 1 | 6.25% | 6.25% |
Five is the most likely total for 2d4, and you’re more likely than not to land between 4 and 6. That’s the core idea behind dice pools: the more dice you add, the more the results cluster around the average. Magic Missile, with its three darts, is the classic example. Three 1d4 + 1 darts almost never deal 6 or 15; most of the time they land somewhere between 9 and 12.
To roll Magic Missile here, set Dice to 3, the modifier to +3 (one per dart), and Roll mode to Sum all dice. The total is your damage. Upcast it and add a dart and another +1 for each level above first.
Off-table uses for a d4
Four is a handy number outside games too:
- Pick a quarter. Which quarter of a pizza is the “spicy” one, which quarter of a garden gets weeded this weekend.
- Card suits. A d4 picks a trump suit for a trick-taking card game.
- Four seasons. Writing prompt: roll for the season, then write a scene set in it.
- Multiple choice answers. Roll 1d4 for each question when writing a quiz to scatter the correct answers across A to D. The 1 to 4 number page has more on why that’s worth doing.
Advantage on a d4?
The roll mode menu includes Advantage and Disadvantage, and they work on any die. On a d4, advantage pushes the average from 2.5 up to 3.125, and the chance of rolling a 4 climbs from 25% to about 44%. Few game rules ask for that, but some homebrew systems use it for “lucky” damage, and it’s there if you need it.
If you’re after a different die entirely, the d6 roller is next in the set, and for big damage rolls the d8 and d12 pages are waiting.
Why the d4 average matters for small bonuses
A +1d4 bonus isn’t the same as a flat +2 or +3, even though the average sits between them. When you need exactly a little more to succeed, the die gives you a spread of outcomes. If you’re one point short, a d4 bonus gets you there every time. Two short, three times in four. Four short, only one time in four. That’s useful to remember when deciding whether to burn a Bardic Inspiration or a Guidance on a borderline roll.
d4 questions
How do you read a real d4?
Most d4s show the result at the top point (or along the bottom edge on some styles). This roller just shows the number.
What uses a d4 in D&D?
Dagger damage, magic missile darts, healing word, Bless and Guidance bonuses, and many cantrip effects.
How much damage does Magic Missile do on average?
Each dart deals 1d4 + 1, which averages 3.5. Cast at its lowest level the spell fires three darts, so the average total is 10.5, with a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 15. It never misses, which is why players love it.
Is a 1 to 4 random number the same as this d4?
Yes, the odds are identical. The difference is that this roller handles several dice, modifiers and advantage at once, and it shows the total.
Published · Last updated by the WhimWheel team.
