Hero Forge Custom Dice Review - The Perfect Dice Set For Your Favorite Miniature

If you're in the market for customer player character minis for D&D, Pathfinder, or any other TTRPG chances are you've heard of Hero Forge. With an in-depth character editor and recently introduced color options you can build your mini as if it was a video game character and have it 3D printed to your exact specifications. Hero Forge didn't think they had taken the level of personalization far enough and has now moved into dice making, with the added spin that you can include character elements within these resin dice.

This project (which will be coming to Kickstarter soon) lets a player build out their custom character, affix them with a variety of weapons and trinkets, and then take what makes that character so unique, and put it inside dice that you can then roll with them.

For many dice hoarders out there the concept of a set of dice to match your characters aesthetic isn't new, this has just been taken to a whole new level

In the lead up to this Kickstarter Hero Forge sent over a character they had created (in both Medium and Large size) as well as a set of dice for that character, and an oversized D20 for us to take a look at the end result.

The character is a frog humanoid – perhaps a Ribbet from Daggerheart, or a Grippli in Pathfinder – with all kinds of accessories including but not limited to full armor, a top hat, a sword in it's top hat, a sack, and a frog inside it's sack is a barbarian out of a steampunk fever dream.

Being so vivid in his look has made his transferral to dice quite unique though. The dice I received have the following components in them:

• The D20 and Oversized D20 contain the characters full head including it's wild mustache and flailing tongue
• The D12, a barbarian's favorite dice, shows the great axe with a fun explosion effect on the blade
• The D10 features the frog making an angry face with a storm cloud above it's head
• The D8 contains the top hat prop
• The D6 includes the frog's flexing arm and dumbbells
• The D4 contains the small frog from the character's sack

I'm a huge fan of what Hero Forge is doing here, letting you be able to truly create unique dice for your character. Things like damage dice holding the mini of what is doing the damage is also a lot of fun. A Bard could have their lute be inside a D6, ready to give inspiration to a fellow party member. There's no end to fun symbolism to add to your dice.

The Idea Is Almost There But There Are Some Issues

While I like the idea of the end result, I will say that at the moment it's not quite polished enough. An issue that a number of the dice I received faces, especially the smaller ones, is that instead of maintaing a clear color they end up with a tint of the object in the dice.

For my group of dice I can see this most clearly in the frog inhabited D4, which from afar has a far more intense green tint.or the murky brown/green of the D6. Of course the opposite is true for the oversized D20 which looks the clearest.

Talking with Hero Forge about this, as I wanted to verify the green tint on the D4 wasn't an intentional choice, they explained it's an issue with the light refraction. Not only were they able to clearly explain to me what was happening, but let me know they've already been working on a solution and seeing improved results.

When Hero Forge first began to show off their colored prints, I enjoyed the idea but I felt it was still a far cry from having them printed and painting them at home. Seeing their improvements from past colored minis to some I've seen at my D&D table and with the Frog Barbarian is what gives me confidence that Hero Forge will continue to improve upon this.

What I Didn't Get To See In The Hero Forge Dice Process

While I got to get up close and personal with this strange frog guy and their perfectly matched dice there were parts of the process that I wasn't able to see. Namely the picking of the objects to go in the dice, picking the size and number of the dice, and picking the lettering.

I was advised that this will be similar to how you can pick and choose kitbashing elements from their current miniature maker, but now you can place those item in your dice.

I was pleased to learn that the lettering can also have their coloring, size, and location changed. One of my largest pet-peeves with dice is not being able to read them as they're rolled onto the table and being able to craft a set of dice for a predominantly green character and being able to make the colors a fiery red to contract will do a lot to help that.

Hero Forge Custom Dice Review | Final Thoughts

The concept of the idea here is incredible. Take Hero Forge and their incredible ability to print custom high-quality miniatures in full color or the paint at home, and then take the elements you enjoy the most about that character and put them in dice.

It truly makes each character and their corresponding dice feel like part of a complete set in a way that you just can't get unless you're doing it yourself (which will take a lot more time, effort, and money.)

The only reason for now that I would say to hold off would be if you're not just after something unique in your dice, but also clarity around those objects. The refraction definitely takes some shine off such a fantastic and unique product, but if the issue is being attacked similarly to how they've improved their color printing then I'm sure these products will just grow better with time.

The custom dice and frogfolk miniatures used for this review were provided by Hero Forge. All photos were taken over the course of the review