Bell Dice

Dice whose distribution is a descrete integer value aproximation of a bell curve. Bell dice designed to closely match the mean and standard deviation of a flat distribution polyhedral die, commonly designated Dn, and with m sides, may be designated as a Belln:m. While the mean and standard deviation may be a close match, the min and max may vary from the base Dn. Where a smooth distribution is desired larger number of side is desirable.


Curiously, Belln:n, where n <= 10, has the same distribution as a Dn.


Bell dice may be used to obtain the randomness of a difficult to obtain or physically impossible die size. They are not suitable where a uniform distribution is specifically desired, such as a die roll to look up an entry in a generator table. A sampling of Belln:6 :



|| 1d4 || 1d6 || 1d8 || 1d10 || 1d12 || 1d14 || 1d16 || 1d18 || 1d20 ||
|| 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 2 || 2 || 2 || 2 || 2 ||
|| 2 || 2 || 3 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 5 || 6 || 7 ||
|| 2 || 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 7 || 8 || 9 ||
|| 3 || 4 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 8 || 10 || 11 || 12 ||
|| 3 || 5 || 6 || 8 || 9 || 10 || 12 || 13 || 14 ||
|| 4 || 6 || 8 || 10 || 11 || 13 || 15 || 17 || 19 ||


Should it be necessary to preserve the min and max, the following Bell dice work:

Bell2:4 through Bell6:4

Bell3:5 through Bell9:5

Bell2:6 through Bell11:6

Bell3:7 through Bell15:7

Bell4:8 through Bell21:8

Bell6:9 through Bell30:9

Bell10:10 through Bell49:10

Bell21:11 through at least Bell100:11

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CategoryRolePlaying