Set of Elemental Dice (5e Equipment)

A five-count set of elemental dice, each with 10 sides with a symbol inscribed.

Elemental dice are used in various games among various kinds of people. They're incredibly popular within magic academies and other magical institutions. Cheap sets often make for easy gifts for students, while more expensive sets may be given as prizes by the schools. On the less respectable side of things, gamblers and swindlers like these dice for their abstract but familiar symbols and common usage, allowing for them to be used inconspicuously for scams.

The standard set includes generic symbols representing each type of primarily-magical damage. Other sets may have letters, runes, or other means of communicating the damage types.

Acid	Cold	Fire	Force	Lightning	Necrotic	Poison	Psychic	Radiant	Thunder
Waterdrop	Snowflake	Fire	Fist	Bolt	Skull	Leaf	Eye	Sun	Bell

Cost: 3 sp
Weight: 0

Games

Kerimbo. The gambling-derived game kerimbo's name comes from thieves' cant, although the popularity has lead to changes in the language so the words don't become common knowledge. Players collect points by locking in a roll of the dice, with the goal of getting all of the elements on the dice to match or to fit within a specific category. Each element matches with itself and with one other element.

Kerimbo used to have many variations, with different ways of matching up and categorizing the dice. Swindlers would often change the rules on the fly, using the abstract nature of the dice and existence of multiple variations to convince their targets they'd simply mistaken the rules for another version of the game. As it became more popular, the rules began to solidify, though variant rules do still exist and it's not uncommon for different settlements to have slightly different categories.

On their turn, players roll the 5 elemental dice once, and can reroll as many dice as they choose two more times. The player must then choose one of the scoring categories to use their roll in, even if it will not give them any points. The game is generally played with up to four players, and the winner is the one with the most points once all categories are filled for all players.

Matching Categories

Title	Scoring Dice	Maximum Score
Thunderstorm	Each die of the elements Thunder or Lightning.	5 points
Toxicity	Each die of the elements Acid or Poison.	5 points
Temperature	Each die of the elements Fire or Cold.	5 points
Temperament	Each die of the elements Radiant or Necrotic.	5 points
Terrify	Each die of the elements Force or Psychic.	5 points

Common Standard Categories

Title	Scoring Dice	Maximum Score
The Evils	At least 2 Poison, Acid, or Necrotic dice, two points each, invalidated if any Radiant dice.	10 points
The Trinity	At least 2 Cold, Fire, or Lightning dice, two points each, invalidated if any Psychic dice.	10 points
The Senses	At least 2 Thunder, Force, or Psychic dice, two points each, invalidated if any Poison dice.	10 points
The Light	All die must be Radiant, Lightning, Fire, Force, or Acid, invalidated if less than 3 are represented.	15 points
The Dark	All die must be Necrotic, Thunder, Cold, Psychic, or Poison, invalidated if less than 3 are represented.	15 points
Generalization	5 of any dice. Any die that does not match any of the other dice is worth 5 points.	25 points
Specification	All dice must match. 5 points for each die in the majority, 2 points for each die in the minority.	25 points

Mage's Throws. An elemental dice game played among mages to narrow down options when making a decision, or for - although less-encouraged by the academies - betting purposes. There are three popular versions of the game: Elimination, burst, and duel.

Elimination Mage's Throws can be played by up to 10 players. Two dice are thrown at once, and the losing element is eliminated. If playing with more than two people, the player with the losing die rotates out as well. If there is a tie or an eliminated element is rolled, both dice are rerolled. The game ends when only one element remains. Ideas or money are typically assigned to each element, leading to decisions or payouts.

Burst Mage's Throws are usually played between 2 players, but can be played by more or less. Each player throws 5 dice at once if enough are available, or in succession with a note of the previous rolls. They then count up the wins and losses between each of their dice and each of their opponent's dice. The player with the most wins or least losses is the winner, with any overall ties being sorted by the tied players each rolling a single die and taking the result as the winner.

Duel Mage's Throws is the simplest and quickest version to play. Two players throw an elemental die, and the winner is determined by the result. Duel can be played multiple times in a row, allowing for more than two people to play.

The Standard Mage's Throw Outcomes

x	Acid	Cold	Fire	Force	Lightning	Necrotic	Poison	Psychic	Radiant	Thunder
Acid	x	W: Cold	W: Acid	W: Forc	W: Ligh	W: Acid	W: Acid	W: Acid	W: Radi	W: Acid
Cold	W: Cold	x	W: Fire	W: Forc	W: Cold	W: Cold	W: Pois	W: Cold	W: Radi	W: Thun
Fire	W: Acid	W: Fire	x	W: Fire	W: Ligh	W: Fire	W: Pois	W: Psyc	W: Fire	W: Thun
Force	W: Forc	W: Forc	W: Fire	x	W: Forc	W: Necr	W: Pois	W: Psyc	W: Forc	W: Thun
Lightning	W: Ligh	W: Cold	W: Ligh	W: Forc	x	W: Ligh	W: Ligh	W: Psyc	W: Radi	W: Ligh
Necrotic	W: Acid	W: Cold	W: Fire	W: Necr	W: Ligh	x	W: Necr	W: Necr	W: Radi	W: Necr
Poison	W: Acid	W: Pois	W: Pois	W: Pois	W: Ligh	W: Necr	x	W: Pois	W: Pois	W: Pois
Psychic	W: Acid	W: Cold	W: Psyc	W: Psyc	W: Psyc	W: Necr	W: Pois	x	W: Psyc	W: Thun
Radiant	W: Radi	W: Radi	W: Fire	W: Forc	W: Radi	W: Pois	W: Radi	W: Psyc	x	W: Thun
Thunder	W: Acid	W: Thun	W: Thun	W: Thun	W: Ligh	W: Necr	W: Thun	W: Thun	W: Thun	x

5.00

(one vote)

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