Some abilities, powers, or effects call for a dice flip when a certain number is rolled during a skill check. A dice flip is also called a difference flip. This is written as “Flip-6” or “F6”, meaning that if any die on a roll shows a 6, it should be flipped to a 1 before being totaled to figure result points.

There are six different values for a difference flip: Flip-1 / F1, Flip-2 / F2, Flip-3 / F3, Flip-4 / F4, Flip-5 / F5, Flip-6 / F6.

With standard casino dice, the opposite sides of a six-sided die always add up to 7. When the die is flipped, the final number will be the difference between 7 and the original number. The number pairs are 1:6, 2:5, and 3:4.

Other Dice and the Difference Flip

Not all dice are six-sided; a standard set of role-playing dice include four-sided, six-sided, eight-sided, ten-sided, twelve-sided, and twenty-sided dice. When the difference flip is applied to any die, the result must always equal the difference between the number rolled and a value one greater than the highest value of the die. Not all dice are designed with the same rotational symmetry or value distribution pattern, so that physically flipping a die does not yield consistent results between manufacturers. “Flipping” mathematically is the only way to get a consistent result.

d4	d6	d8	d10	d12	d20
1:4	1:6	1:8	1:10	1:12	1:20
2:3	2:5	2:7	2:9	2:11	2:19
	3:4	3:6	3:8	3:10	3:18
		4:5	4:7	4:9	4:17
			5:6	5:8	5:16
				6:7	6:15
					7:14
					8:13
					9:12
					10:11