Dice on Every Virtual Tabletop: How VTTs Handle Dice (and the Dice We're Building Into DungeonsDeep)
Dice are the heartbeat of the table. The clatter, the held breath, the natural 20 that turns a doomed fight around. Move your game online and that little ritual has to come with you, which is why every virtual tabletop has a dice system. What surprised us when we started digging is how differently each one treats dice. Some give them away. Some sell them like skins in a video game. One built a whole creator marketplace around them.
So we went and looked at how the major virtual tabletops handle dice, from free sets to premium storefronts to community marketplaces. Here is the short version: across the big platforms, digital dice fall into three buckets. They are bundled in free with the app (Roll20, Foundry VTT, Owlbear Rodeo, TaleSpire), sold as premium cosmetic sets (D&D Beyond, Fantasy Grounds), or traded on an open creator marketplace (DDice). Below we break down each one, the patterns we noticed, and then a first look at the dice system we are building into DungeonsDeep.ai.
Quick honesty up top: the dice themselves are done, and you can see them in motion in the videos below. Every roll on DungeonsDeep already comes from a true random number generator. What we are still working out is the fun part: cool and creative ways to make rolling them feel as satisfying and as trustworthy as sitting at a real table, plus pricing and exactly how the sets reach your hands. We will update this post with hard numbers once those calls are made.
Last updated July 8, 2026.
Why Digital Dice Matter More Than People Think
It is easy to wave off digital dice as a cosmetic afterthought. A d20 is a d20. The computer picks a number from 1 to 20 and moves on. But spend a few sessions on any virtual tabletop and you start to feel why the dice layer is worth getting right.
First, there is trust. At a real table you watch the die tumble and land, so nobody argues about the result. Online, the roll happens inside a black box. If players cannot see how the number was generated, a run of bad luck starts to feel like the software is cheating them. This is not a hypothetical for AI driven games. Dice fairness and combat math are the single most common complaints we see about AI Game Masters in tester threads and across the solo RPG communities. A dice system that rolls in the open is how a platform earns that trust, and it is why every roll on DungeonsDeep comes from a true random number generator.
Second, there is expression. The dice you roll are part of how you show up at the table, the same way a character portrait or a token is. A set of glowing emerald dice or a pair that looks carved from bone is a tiny bit of identity. Platforms that let players customize their dice are tapping into the same thing that sells physical dice by the truckload at every convention.
Third, there is accessibility. One of the most upvoted tabletop threads in recent memory was a player realizing a kid at their table was colorblind and could not read the numbers on half the set. Good digital dice can solve that quietly, with high contrast faces, readable numerals, and clear results, which is something a bag of physical dice can never guarantee.
So dice are not just set dressing. They are trust, identity, and accessibility all riding on one little polyhedron. With that in mind, here is how the major platforms actually do it.
How the Major Virtual Tabletops Handle Dice
We grouped the platforms by their dice model rather than going alphabetical, because the model is the interesting part. The prices and set counts below come from our own research and are a snapshot in time, so treat them as directional and check the live storefronts before quoting any number.
D&D Beyond: Free Sets Plus a Premium Storefront
D&D Beyond runs a mix of free and premium dice. There are roughly 12 free sets, including fun themed ones like healing potion dice, plus options that vary purely on looks: fuzzy dice, black dice, spotted dice, and so on. On top of that sit around 16 premium sets, priced from about $5.99 to $7.92 each.
A couple of things stood out. Some of the dice appear to be tied to specific adventure modules, though it is not clear whether buying the module unlocks the dice for good or just lets you roll them while you play through it. And while D&D Beyond does have a dice storefront, the only publisher on it is Wizards of the Coast. So it is a storefront, not a true open marketplace. Their animated sets, like the mimic dice that come to life when you roll, are a good example of how far the premium cosmetic layer can go.
DDice: A Real Creator Marketplace
DDice is the one that does something genuinely different. Like the others it has free dice and paid dice, but its free offering is built around a rotating "free dice of the week" plus some basic static sets. That weekly rotation is smart. It is a try before you buy approach that lets players roll dice they would normally have to pay for, which is a great way to get someone attached to a set.
The bigger deal is that DDice runs a true marketplace. Other creators can make dice and sell them, not just the platform itself. Those community made sets usually land around $5.99 and climb past $10.00 for rarer pieces. There is also a Patreon style subscription, around $5 a month, that unlocks 300 or more community dice, kept separate from the premium sets you buy outright. It is the closest thing in this space to an app store for dice.
Fantasy Grounds: Flat Pricing and a Big Bundle
Fantasy Grounds keeps it simple. There are free dice, the basic sets you would expect, and premium dice that are more unique. Every premium set is priced the same, at $4.99 each. If you want to go all in, there is a much larger bundle of 20 dice sets for $89.80, which works out to roughly 10 percent off buying them one at a time. No marketplace, no weekly rotation, just a clean catalog with flat pricing.
Roll20, Foundry VTT, Owlbear Rodeo, and TaleSpire: Dice Are Just Included
The last group treats dice as plumbing rather than product. Roll20, Foundry VTT, Owlbear Rodeo, and TaleSpire all have dice, and none of them charge extra for them. The dice simply come with the platform, whether that is a free tier, a subscription, or the one time purchase that gets you onto it. There is no separate dice economy to think about. You get the tabletop, the dice are in the box.
Here is the honest tradeoff, though. Free almost always means basic. The dice in this group are functional rollers and not much more: a flat default look, a small handful of colors, and none of the character that makes dice fun to own. There is no real variety, no themed sets, and nothing that lets a player make the dice feel like theirs. You get a number, which is all the software strictly needs, but you lose the part of dice that people actually love. It is the digital equivalent of every player at the table reaching into the same bag of identical gray d20s. It works, it is free, and it is a little joyless. Cheap is not the same as good, and a plain roller is a long way from the freedom you get at a real table where everyone brings their own dice with their own personality.
The Dice Models at a Glance
| Platform | Free dice | Paid dice | Open marketplace | Typical pricing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| D&D Beyond | ~12 free sets | ~16 premium sets | No (Wizards of the Coast only) | $5.99 to $7.92 per set |
| DDice | Free dice of the week plus basics | Yes | Yes, creators can sell | $5.99 to $10.00+, or about $5/mo for 300+ community dice |
| Fantasy Grounds | Basic sets | Premium sets | No | $4.99 each, or 20 sets for $89.80 |
| Roll20, Foundry VTT, Owlbear Rodeo, TaleSpire | Included but basic | None as add ons | No | Bundled into the plan or one time cost |
The Three Patterns We Noticed
Step back from the individual platforms and three clear models emerge.
Bundled and free. Dice are part of the price of admission. This is the Roll20, Foundry VTT, Owlbear Rodeo, and TaleSpire approach. It is the friendliest for players and treats dice as a baseline feature, not a revenue stream. The tradeoff is that variety tends to be thinner, since nobody is being paid to keep cranking out new sets.
Premium storefront. A free baseline plus paid cosmetic sets sold by the platform. D&D Beyond and Fantasy Grounds live here. You get polish and themed, sometimes animated, sets, but the catalog is whatever the platform decides to make, and the costs add up if you collect.
Creator marketplace. The platform opens the door and lets the community design and sell dice. DDice is the standout. The upside is near endless variety and a try before you buy rotation. The cost is the same as any marketplace: quality varies, and you are browsing a catalog instead of getting a curated set.
None of these is wrong. They are just different bets about whether dice are a feature, a product, or a platform. Which brings us to the bet we are making.
The Dice We're Building Into DungeonsDeep
When we sat down to design dice for DungeonsDeep.ai, we started somewhere different from most of the platforms above. We are not a dice tray bolted onto a battle map. We are an AI Game Master running the Dungeons Deep Ruleset, an original game system, compatible with fifth edition, with a real rules engine underneath the story. That changes what dice need to do, and it shapes the choices we are making.
The dice sets themselves are finished, and you can see them in motion in the video below. What is still in motion is everything around them: the creative touches that make a digital roll feel as satisfying and as trustworthy as one you throw across a real table. Here is where our heads are at.
Rolls You Can Trust
Because dice fairness is the loudest complaint about AI run games, transparency is our first principle, and it is already how the platform works. Every roll on DungeonsDeep comes from a true random number generator, and when the AI Game Master calls for a roll, you see the roll: the die, the result, and the modifiers that turned it into a final number. No quiet number picking behind the curtain. What we are still designing is the ritual around that roll, the little touches that make a fair digital die feel as satisfying as a physical one landing on a real table.
The AI Game Master Rolls in the Open
On most platforms a roll is something you do. On DungeonsDeep, rolls also happen as the story moves, because the AI Game Master is resolving the rules live. We want those rolls to be just as visible as yours, so the table can follow the math instead of trusting a sentence that says "the orc hits you." Adventures written by humans. Run by Artificial Intelligence. The dice are where those two halves meet, so they have to be legible to everyone at the table.
Dice That Feel Like Yours
The cosmetic layer matters too. We have seen how much players care about the look of their dice across every other platform, and we do not think an AI tabletop should be the place that look goes to die. The plan is for dice to be a real part of how you show up to a session, not a single default set everyone shares. Here is the shape of it.
A robust set of free dice. The plan is a genuinely solid free assortment, enough that a player who never spends a cent still gets dice they are happy to roll, not a single sad default set.
A premium assortment for players who want more. On top of the free dice we are building a premium collection for players who want something special. Pricing is still to be decided, and we would rather get the lineup right than rush a number out the door.
Enough variety to actually express yourself. This is the part we care about most. The goal is a large enough range, across materials like wood, metal, marble, and gemstone, that your dice can say something about you or about the character you are playing. A grizzled dwarf cleric and a flighty teenage sorcerer should not be reaching for the same gray d20. Dice are a tiny bit of identity, and we want there to be room for yours.
Dice that look and feel as good as we can make them. We come from playing tabletop RPGs ourselves, and we know the difference between dice that feel like an afterthought and dice you actually want to pick up. So we sweated the look and the feel: the weight of the material, the way light catches a face, the little moment of satisfaction when one lands. If we are going to put dice in an AI tabletop, they are going to be dice we would want to roll.
Here is a closer look at a few of them in motion. Hit play, and turn the sound on if you want the full effect.
What We Have Not Decided Yet
We are being upfront: the dice are built, but we are still deciding what the premium lineup costs, exactly how sets reach your collection, and which creative touches make the roll itself feel best. If you have a strong opinion, we would genuinely like to hear it, because we are players building this for other players, and these are exactly the kinds of calls we would rather make with the community than for it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are dice free on Roll20 and Foundry VTT?
Yes. Roll20, Foundry VTT, Owlbear Rodeo, and TaleSpire all include their dice at no extra cost. On Roll20 and Owlbear Rodeo the dice are there even on the free tiers, and on Foundry VTT and TaleSpire they come with the one time purchase that gets you onto the platform. There is no separate dice purchase and no add on cost. The dice come in the box.
How much do premium dice cost on D&D Beyond?
Based on our research, D&D Beyond offers roughly 12 free dice sets and around 16 premium sets priced from about $5.99 to $7.92 each. Some sets appear tied to specific adventure modules. Prices change, so check the live storefront before relying on a number.
Is DDice a real dice marketplace?
Yes. DDice is the closest thing in this space to an open marketplace. Independent creators can make and sell dice, not just the platform itself. Community sets usually run around $5.99 and up, and a roughly $5 a month subscription unlocks 300 or more community dice.
Are digital dice rolls actually random and fair?
On a well built platform, yes. The roll is generated by the software rather than a physical die, so fairness comes down to whether the system is transparent about the result. The best dice systems show you the die, the number, and the modifiers, so the math is visible instead of hidden.
Will DungeonsDeep have custom dice?
Yes. The dice sets themselves are designed and finished, spanning wood, metal, marble, and gemstone finishes, and you can see them in motion in the videos in this post. Every roll already comes from a true random number generator and is shown in the open, so both your rolls and the AI Game Master's rolls are easy to trust. What is still being decided is pricing and exactly how the sets reach players, and we will update this post as those details land.
Which virtual tabletop has the best dice?
It depends on what you want. For sheer variety, DDice wins, because its creator marketplace means hundreds of community made sets. For polished, themed, sometimes animated sets, D&D Beyond and Fantasy Grounds lead. If you only need a working roller and do not care about looks, the free dice bundled into Roll20, Foundry VTT, Owlbear Rodeo, and TaleSpire do the job, though they are basic and not customizable.
Are free virtual tabletop dice customizable?
Usually not much. The dice bundled free into platforms like Roll20, Foundry VTT, Owlbear Rodeo, and TaleSpire are functional but plain, with a default look and a small set of colors. Real variety and themed sets tend to live behind premium storefronts (D&D Beyond, Fantasy Grounds) or a marketplace (DDice). Free almost always means basic.
Will DungeonsDeep.ai dice be free?
The plan is a robust set of free dice that every player can roll, plus a premium assortment for players who want more. Pricing for the premium dice is still being decided. Our priority is enough variety, across materials like wood, metal, marble, and gemstone, that your dice can express your own personality or your character's.
Roll With Us
Dice are a small feature with an outsized effect on how a virtual tabletop feels, which is why we are taking our time getting ours right. If you want to be there when the dice drop, that is the experience we are building DungeonsDeep.ai for. Sign up for the closed beta, and take a look at the rest of what the platform can do while you are there.
If you would rather talk dice with us first, including how you think we should handle them, find us on Discord or the DungeonsDeepAI subreddit. We are real players too, and dice talk is our favorite kind of talk.
This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2 (“SRD 5.2”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.