5D4

5d4 is a dice-rolling notation used in tabletop role-playing games to indicate rolling five four-sided dice and summing their results. The lowercase letter d stands for die; the first number (5) is how many dice are rolled, and the second number (4) is how many faces each die has. In standard gaming practice, all five dice are assumed to be independent.

Each four-sided die yields an integer from 1 to 4 with equal probability. Therefore, the five-die total can range from 5 to 20. The expected value of a single d4 is 2.5, so five d4s have an average total of 12.5. The distribution is the five-fold convolution of a uniform distribution on {1,2,3,4}, producing a peak near the middle and fewer outcomes at the extremes. The standard deviation of five independent d4s is 2.5.

Usage follows the NdX convention across many games, where different combinations like 2d6 or 3d8 are common. Players may roll 5d4 as part of damage, healing, or random effect calculations, either with physical dice or via software dice rollers. Modifiers such as +2 or -1 can be added to the total, yielding expressions like 5d4+3. The notation is part of a broader system used to express multiple dice and modifiers concisely in role-playing contexts.