005: Move Any Mountain

I went to the mountain and I’d say that I was a little underwhelmed

Name:  Kerwellsi Sharp Edge Resin DND Dice Set, Snow Mountain

Description: This is a sharp-edge resin set of dice from Amazon (yes, again). They are made of clear resin with 3D black and white snow-capped mountain designs inside. They have gold numbers in a angular Gothic font with dots on the 6 and 9 faces to indicate orientation. The edges are sharp but the vertices have been very slightly dulled on all dice except the d4 which is surprisingly sharp, even for a sharp resin set.

Size (d20): 24mm (right in that sweet spot)

Where did they come from: Amazon, now a Subsidiary of China, LLC

How much did they cost:  $30

Material / color:  Clear resin with black and white mountain designs

Quality:  Very good. There are a few flaws in the coloring and notably the finish on the one completely dark side of each die. Probably to do with how they sit in the molds

Readability: Good but not great. Again the gold numbers on a black/white/clear resin body doesn’t work that well.

Value: A good value at $30. I think that this is a little sub-par for what $30 normally gets you in dice from Amazon though.

Overall Rating: 7/10 The mountains are hard to see and I don’t like the font as much as I’d hoped.

Attempts needed to roll a natural 20:  5

Ten d20 rolls:  20, 12, 9, 7, 9, 6, 2, 14, 9, 9 (9.7 avg) I rolled maybe 25 more times and only got one additional 9, so I’ll call that random enough.

4d6 drop 1 stat block: 15, 12, 8, 15, 8, 6 (64 total): A Helpful Dragonborn fighter from the sealed city who wants to prove they’re no longer that goofy kid

Random Tables rolls:

Magic Skulls: 40 – Demon Skull: horned skull can detect good and cast protection from it once per day

Magical Plot Twists: 62 – The PCs aren’t really going to die. The villain gave them a drug to mimic the symptoms of a deadly poison so that the villain could coerce them into doing his or her bidding.

Final Thoughts: I like the 3d mountains inside the dice. You really have to look up close to see them well. They don’t have a huge “wow” factor but they’re still nicely intricate. Whoever made them chose to put the dark base of the design on the high face for all of the dice so that to see the mountains in their correct orientation, you have all of the 1 faces on top (except for the d4 which was made with the 4 on top when the mountains are oriented.) This seems like a strange choice.

I think this would be an interesting set to do a salt-water balance test with as I feel like while rolling them, the low faces come up a bit more than other faces.  Subtle variations in the weight of the dark dyed resin used for the bottom of the dice compared to the clear resin that the other faces have may throw off the balance. Just a theory but I only got these last night and I already suspect their balance. That’s the price of beauty. 

I’m underwhelmed by the rolls I’ve made with these dice. Both the 10xd20 and the stat block rolls were low. The standard array in D&D 5e starts you with 72 points total compared to the 68 I rolled (with two 8s and a 6!)

Deciding to start reviewing dice again might not be good for me financially. I’ve probably bought >10 new sets of dice since I registered the domain and started up the site. “but it’s for reviewing purposes” I tell myself. Sure it is goblin… sure it is.