This may be a common trick, but you never know! Whether it’s a high-level fireball, a gaggle of dice types in a multi-die system, or fistfuls of d6s (I’m looking at you, Champions, with your 12d6 energy blasts…), here’s a method I’ve been using to speed up counting dice:
First, group the dice into clusters that add up to 10. This is a pretty easy visual task to do. Once you have the clusters, it’s quick to count the number of clusters to get a 10s value.
Next, group (if any) highest number on the remaining dice. Multiply the value by the number of dice to get a value. Then, add any remaining individual dice to that total, starting with the largest die and working down. By this point, there are usually only a few dice left, so you can even count up by ones/count the pips.
Take that number, and add the 10s value from the cluster.
For example: rolling 12d6:
6, 4, 1, 4, 3, 5, 4, 6, 5, 3, 4, 4
Getting the 10s together:
(6,4) (5,5) (3, 3, 4) (6,4)
This leaves us with
4, 4, 1
Adding the highest pair
4 x 2 = 8
add the last die
8+1 = 9
then add the 4 clusters of 10
9 +(4×10) = 49
Another example, rolling one of each 1d4 to 1d12:
4, 3, 5, 5, 9
Grouping 10s:
(5,5)
There’s no pairs, so add the remainder:
9+4+3 = 16
and add the cluster of 10s
16 + 1×10 = 26
And voila! Hope this proves to be of some use. Game on…
