When Art Deco meets dice the results could go either way. These are great
Name: Stabilized Wood Dice- Starlit Azure
Description: This is a standard-size set of sharp edge “stabilized wood” dice. They are made of various chunks of wood pressed together. The colors used are: teal, rosy-brown, purple, burgandy, and darkwood brown. The numbers are inked in white with the high face of each die inked gold. The font is very lithe font with similarities to a light Arno or Pelham DT. It’s interesting the way it has asymetric serifs and some italicized elements (the 3 is at a slight slant and the 5 moreso). I think the font fits the dice well. Something bolder like Helvetica might not have looked as nice. The 6 and 9 faces use well-defined dots to indicate their orientation.. The d10 and d% have sharply edged waists. The dice arrived in a faux-leather single-set dice box with foam inserts to protect them. These are fairly striking dice.
Size:
d20: (Face->Face) 20.2 mm (Point->Point) 24.7 mm
Where did they come from: Dice Nest
How much did they cost: $60
Material / color: Stabilized Wood and Resin. Blue/red/purple/brown/green
Quality: Excellent
Readability: Very good. I could almost read my roll from 8′ away on the rug
Value: Very good
Overall Rating: 9/10
Attempts needed to roll a natural 20: 3 rolls
Fifty d20 rolls: 10, 9, 1, 7, 7, 12, 2, 5, 9, 9, 14, 15, 13, 2, 5, 5, 3, 9, 12, 15, 15, 7, 6, 14, 16, 2, 14, 2, 20, 5, 19, 13, 8, 7, 13, 10, 13, 9, 14, 8, 10, 14, 12, 10, 2, 18, 15, 1, 20, 12
Mean: 9.86
Median: 10
Mode: 2, 9, 14
4d6 drop 1 stat block: 12, 13, 9, 14, 11, 15 (74 total) An Apathetic Half-Orc Bard from Thornwood who realized the importance of literacy far too late in life
For reference: the Standard Array method totals to: 72 and the Point Buy method totals to: 69.
20th level Bard casting Phantasmal Killer at 9th level at a Hill Giant (The bard has maxed INT and CHA, using 5e rules)
“You tap into the nightmares of a creature you can see within range and create an illusory manifestation of its deepest fears, visible only to that creature. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the target becomes frightened for the duration. At the end of each of the target’s turns before the spell ends, the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or take 4d10 psychic damage. On a successful save, the spell ends.
At Higher Levels: When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, the damage increases by 1d10 for each slot level above 4th.”
Total: 9d10 (53) damage at the end of each of the target’s turns on a failed saving throw or 0 damage and spell slot wasted on a successful saving throw. The Hill Giant would be dead (just barely) after the 2nd failed saving throw.
(This is another excuse for rolling dice)
Random Tables rolls:
100 City encounters for Level 1 DND 5e: 17 A group of 1d4+1 bandits have set up camp in the city and are looking to rob anyone they can find. The bandits are armed with short swords and shields, and one is wearing a suit of leather armor.
Rare Zombie-infested D&D locations: 91 The Burning Cathedral – An ancient cathedral which has been set ablaze by an unknown force. The undead roam the halls of this once holy place, and those brave enough to enter will have to battle their way out amidst the flames.
(I’m getting these random tables at: https://d100tables.com by the way
Final Thoughts: The first question you must have about these dice is: “What is Stabilized Wood?”. I’m glad you asked. According to teh Interwebs:
Stabilized wood is wood that has had a stabilizing resin infused into its cellular structure under pressure and vacuum, then cured with heat. This process enhances the wood’s properties, making it more durable, water-resistant, and stable against warping and cracking
So it’s like a hybrid set of resin/wooden dice. The beauty of wood and the stability and durability of resin dice. I like this combination. Wooden dice that look very unique and Art-Deco but have a nice shine, sharp edges / vertices, and the scratch / dent resistance of resin dice.
They feel maybe a little bit lighter than the set of resin dice that I reviewed last week (post #80 Black Coffee In Bed). I don’t know where my kitchen food scale is right now so I’m not going to actually weigh them to see if my theory is correct. They’re definitely not heavy. The smoothness of the sides feels close to stone dice, and the patchwork wood patterns remind me more of stone than wooden dice.
I guess this is technically my first set of wooden dice. I have two chonk d20s made of wood but this would be my first full set. I’ve avoided buying a set of wood dice thus far as I generally don’t like how light they are. With this set being closer to the weight of resin dice, they’re much more favorable to my delicate sensibilities (my dice goblin snobbery).
I enjoy the shapes and definitely the sharpness of the sides / vertices. I find the font acceptable and I love it when the highest number on each die is inked in a different color. It’s a micro-shortcut in my brain to the celebratory “Natural 20!” that I get to call out 5% of the time when I’m at the table playing with friends. The thin font on these and the gold ink for the high faces slightly mutes the effect but I still appreciate it.
The only downside I can think of for the set (and it’s a very minor downside) is that for the d4, they used the rectangular prism shape with pyramid ends (sometimes called a “Crystal d4”) instead of the classic 3-sided pyramid / caltrop shape (the Tetrahedron). I do like both of these d4 shapes better than the “Shard d4” which is two four-sided pyramids of different heights attached base-to-base. (Look at post #67 for an example of the Shard d4.) Oddly that set in post #67 came with both a Shard d4 and a Crystal d4.
Overall I really like this set of stabilized wood dice. There’s one more colorway that these are available in which is a bit brighter color-wise than these. Do I like them enough to spend $60 on another set that’s slightly different? We’ll see I guess. In the mean time I look forward to bringing these to the table.
Leave a Reply