The d4 is a Terrible Thing

Okay, it's sarcasm time, but some excellent points are here.

Except for the d4, none of its points are good.

Especially if you step on them.

The d4 is probably the worst die ever invented. I don't like picking them up; my fingers fumble, trying to grab them. They never roll correctly, and I avoid games that use them. And if you ask me to roll multiple d4 dice for a spell, such as 4d4, and I have one?

No.

Introducing the d4 into fantasy gaming was a mistake. I could say the same for the d8 and the d12, and I far prefer the White Box method of using the d20 and a d6 with modifiers to any of the other special dice.

When I play White Box, I have a d20 and a few d6 dice. It feels like a different game.

Even DCC uses a special rounded d4, which is a nice touch, and there are cut-ended d4 dice and d12 Roman numeral d4 dice to use as well. Anything but the pyramid dice, which I hesitate to even call dice.

Dice, by definition, roll. This die is tossed like a weapon. An anti-foot weapon.

Many games go out of their way to include the d4, justifying their use by assigning weapons damage and certain classes the d4 as a hit die. The die is associated with low damage, weak classes, and the worst weapons - a loser's die. Playing a class where that is your damage die feels like the game is punishing you with physically hard-to-manipulate dice. The d4 should be banned just because of accessibility issues.

I get it; strange, funky dice are the hobby. I collect them. But some are worse than others.

Most games I play don't have a d4 in them, except for DCC. If I do play OSR games that use them, I use a cut-down DCC set with the rounded d4 dice or the other unique versions (Roman numeral or cut-end). All my pyramid d4s are in storage.

But really, I question their use and going out of the way to use them when a modified d6 works just as well, and the average roll is only 1 off from a d6. The d8 is the same story; average-wise, there is no long-term statistical difference between a d8 and a d6+1, except in the maximum roll.

A d6-1 with a floor of one has an average of 2.66 compared to a d4 with a 2.5. If you floor it at one and cap it at four, guess what? A "cap and floor" d6-1 average is 2.5, just like a d4. Uncapped? You can roll a zero and a five, but the 0-5 range has that same 2.5 average.

5E uses a double hit point scale, and 4E uses a triple. Pathfinder 2 is an above-average numeric range game. Many newer games have many hit points, making the d4 even more pointless. Only in the OSR do you find games where the d4 is a threat since the numbers are controlled and the hit points are low. You start upping the modifiers, raising level one hit points, the die choice becomes meaningless, and the d4 is marginalized again.

When you look at it cinematically, most weapons should be a d6 damage or slightly modified off that. A deep thrust with a dagger is more damaging than an extended cut with a sword. In a movie-style game? There is no real difference or need to grade damage to that extent. A hit is a hit. Even with guns, in a movie, all damage is similar. Someone gets hit and falls down. Or takes an injury.

We tend to let special dice take over good designs just because of "the hobby."

White Box gets it right with a +2 at 18, not a +3 or +4. Anything higher than a +2 causes stat inflation on 3d6 and puts too much importance on modifiers. You start to be required to roll 4d6 and drop the lowest when you generate scores, a symptom of modifiers being far too important to gameplay.

Good design with a d4 is tricky unless you go old school. Justifying their use or trying to make them used often leads to poor design choices.

Then again, the oldest school of White Box eliminates the die, along with most others except for the d6 and d20. There is something immaculate about a d20 and d6 combo in a game like Cypher System, and that game leans heavily on a d20 while keeping the d100 viable. Only owning and using four dice is a very streamlined and enjoyable design.